<p>The colleges I am choosing has been narrowed down to three: Boston University, Occidental College, University of Denver (Honor Program with annual aid $18,000). Additionally, I am an international applicant and hope to major in mathematics, computer science, political science or finance. </p>
<p>I prefer BU, but its too expensive, the cost on its website is $57,000 and maybe this is a minimum cost. So I want to know the average cost for BU student and whether BU is worth that money. </p>
<p>Please help me figure out the pros and cons of these three schools. (Academics, intern, future career ) Thank you~</p>
<p>I don’t know U of Denver, but BU and Occidental are very different. Both excellent. BU is a large, urban university that has a city feel to it. You will have easy access to the city life of Boston. You will be among thousands of students, some of them in graduate programs. By contrast, Occidental is a liberal arts college with about 1800 undergraduates --a lot of small classes and interaction with faculty. Its econ major is very respected. Although it’s in Los Angeles, Occidental feels like a bit of a bubble and you have to drive to get into the city (other than the nearby neighborhood). Unless you leave the campus, you will not feel like you are in Los Angeles. For an internship during the academic year you will have to drive into LA.</p>
<p>hey, i’m deciding between DU and Boston too…we even have similar scholarships to DU. And my main problem with boston is the expense. Wish i had advice…but i’m pretty much in the same boat. oh and i don’t know anything about occidental but i’m from colorado and can tell you quite a bit about DU. the campus is great, pretty, not too big and not too small, and has great access to the rest of the city. The admin is also, in my experience, really accessible and helpful…much better experience with them than with BU. On this site everybody either trash talks DU or says it’s like…the most amazing place in the whole world. I’d say the truth’s somewhere somewhere in the middle. DU is considered one of the most prestigious schools in Colorado (people say CU is slightly better especially for engineering or applied sciences, but Boulder people are pretty much unbearable, so it’s a trade off) but isn’t considered nearly as prestigous as Boston. It’s acceptable on a national level, but you won’t have anybody saying “wow,you went to DU??” Denver’s a great city with lots of opportunities, and my read is that if you’re a good student at DU, you’ll have about as many opportunities there as you will at BU…what I’m saying is you probably wouldn’t be missing out at Denver if you’re willing to work for it a little.</p>
<p>@kelizabeth Wow~~ I also like DU, its location ,skiing, honor program and financial aid are very attracting except low ranking… Since the class size is very small, I am wondering " Does the college ranking really matter especially in education quality?" Thank you~~</p>
<p>@kelizabeth Wow~~ I also like DU, its location ,skiing, honor program and financial aid are very attracting except low ranking… Since the class size is very small, I am wondering " Does the college ranking really matter especially in education quality?" Thank you~~</p>
<p>I’m a student at BU and visited Occidental once. I found the campus to be totally dead and in an area I didn’t feel comfortable living in. The academics are definitely respectable (maybe even excellent), but the area it’s in was the main reason I didn’t apply. BU, by contrast, is in a bustling city that I love. What ISN’T there to do in Boston? No car is necessary if you don’t have one, since the train runs along the center of campus. There are also plenty of job opportunities to be had in Kenmore Square (towards East Campus) or Allston (closer to West Campus). For internships, I vote BU because of its accessibility to pretty much any job you could look for.</p>
<p>Academic-wise, I don’t know enough about Oxy or UDenver to speak to what their courses are like. BU has a large variety, given that it’s a large school, but classes can sometimes fill up quickly. The classes I’ve taken have been interesting (100-level courses aside). It varies by professor and department, but I think you can get a pretty good education here. Whether it’s worth the cost is question I’m unsure of, as BU tends to be pretty money-hungry.</p>