<p>Later this month I'm visiting 3 schools in Boston. I'm visiting Northeastern (love the PharmD program), Wellesley, and ???. I have to choose between BU and Brandeis (I like sm. and big schools equally). Which would offer more aid (merit and fin. aid)???? Which would it make more sense to visit?</p>
<p>lets see, visit Harvard and MIT in cambridge... Much better than crap brandeis</p>
<p>If you're even considering BU, you had better visit it. It's integrated into the city in a way that's quite different from most colleges and therefore has a different feel to it. Visiting will give you an idea of whether you would like this sort of city school.</p>
<p>Another school that might be worth a look is Tufts.</p>
<p>but I'm concerned about aid. Tufts doesn't give merit aid- does it give good fin. aid?</p>
<p>Jibber...you're ridiculous. And honestly..you should visit both. all this stuff about fin aid you can find on the site.</p>
<p>fenway park</p>
<p>I'm not sure of how reassuring this is for you, but Tufts meets 100% financial need. 2005 statistics:</p>
<p>Financial Aid
Of all full-time matriculated undergraduates who enrolled in 2005,: 2,244 applied for aid, 1,924 were judged to have need, 1,924 had their need fully met. 1,888 Federal Work-Study jobs (averaging $1403). 36 state and other part-time jobs (averaging $1900)
In 2005,: 92 non-need-based awards were made
Average percent of need met: 100%
Average financial aid package: $25,749
Average need-based loan: $4287
Average need-based gift aid: $22,465
Average non-need-based aid: $500
Average indebtedness upon graduation: $14,400 (That's not bad! compared to BU's $17,200 avg. indebtedness.)</p>
<p>Brandeis is like a mile or two away from Wellesley, so it would make a lot of sense to visit it if you're going to Wellesley anyway. </p>
<p>I think you made a good choice choosing Wellesley, by the way! ;) (Shameless plug)</p>
<p>I also agree that BU is something you should see... It wouldn't be too hard to even just drive through the campus (or lack thereof!) at some point during your trip. Like Marian said, it definitely has a different feel to it. The buildings are just dispersed within a very bustling part of the city... People generally either love the excitement of being right there in the city, or absolutely hate the lack of a typical campus.</p>
<p>I beg to differ about BU! While it is a city school, it is NO WHERE near NYU or other similar schools in terms of lacking a campus. Unlike NYU, you can actually distinguish the school very easily from surrounding buildings. All the buildings are in a line and there are definitely campus-y parts dispersed around, plus lots of cool side streets with really beautiful student housing. You really can't just drive up and down the street to understand the school; you should walk around and go in some buildings, because a lot of the facilities are brand new and very nice. </p>
<p>Try and visit both BU and Brandeis. As someone else mentioned, Brandeis is very close to Wellesley and since Wellesley's campus is pretty small, a visit to both would not take very long. </p>
<p>One thing you might want consider is the fact that Brandeis is VERY traditionally Jewish. Please do not take this wrong way as I am in NO way anti-Semitic, but if you are not Jewish you may feel somewhat out of place at a school like Brandeis where many students practice their religion very devoutly.</p>
<p>CityGal--just over half of the student body at Brandeis is Jewish (around 55%, I believe?), and that includes a good number of "culturally Jewish" students (not practicing religious Jews) and a whole spectrum from Orthodox to Reform and Reconstructionist. They have a church and a mosque on the campus.
If you're not comfortable with Judaism you might feel out of place there, but I'd hardly call it a devoutly religious school. </p>
<p>But, to the OP: this might be a reason to visit Brandeis and see for yourself.</p>
<p>these are all good points!</p>
<p>runningmoose:
Are you talking about need-based aid or merit aid? It makes a difference...</p>
<p>brandeis does have a lot of diversity. there are things they dont include in their numbers like the typ program and posse which brings them a bunch of inner city kids from ny and boston. im from nyc myself and im indian. ill be the first to tell you that the religion thing is not a big deal on campus particularly bc there are so many non practicing jews and also because now the campus has diversity because of those types of programs. as for aid, brandeis has almost paid for my whole schooling except meals and dorms ofcourse. their financial aid offer was the best offer i got out of colgate, uroch, bu, etc. when i applied.</p>
<p>you need to visit BU. A LOT of people i have spoken to who were thinking about BU absolutely hated it when they actually visited--it was very different from what they imagined. BUT a lot of people loved it too. good school, check it out!</p>
<p>I'll second that Brandeis is very diverse cuturally and thought-wise. Actually, the Professor of Jewish History at Brandeis reported in April that the school is now about 50% and in contrast was 64% in 1988. It is fairly diverse and 55%of the campus actually doesn't participate in any of the Jewish traditions that do take place on campus according to a survey run by the school-paper.</p>
<p>Brandeis is actually deemed the Three Chapel Campus.</p>
<p>Besides the mosque, the campus has three chapels, the Berlin Chapel (Jewish), the Bethlehem Chapel (Catholic), and the Harlan Chapel (Protestant) and a full-time chaplins for each respective religion to represent and resource all three faiths that encompass the campus.</p>
<p>boston comedy club is a blast</p>
<p>yeah he was definitely referring to colleges not comedy clubs, lol.</p>
<p>Visit BU. i thought i would like it because ive always loved boston and would have no problem living there during my college years.... i hated BU.</p>