<p>Which one is more prestigious and well known?
Which one has better dorms/campus?
Which one is closer to Boston?
Which one is better in economics/finance?</p>
<p>Go to Boston. Visit both. The main difference between them, the difference that truly trumps all comparisons between the schools is that Brandeis, though a secular university, has an extremely large Jewish population, while Boston College is still affiliated with the Jesuits. That’s not to say a non Catholic would feel uncomfortable at BC or a non Jew would dislike Brandeis, but it does affect on campus life (full disclosure, my mom went to Brandeis and I toured it a couple of years ago). </p>
<p>It’s easy to get to Boston from both schools. The last time I was there, my mom and I paid (I think) $3 for a 20 minute bus ride into the city. There’s also a train nearby campus as well as a ride share program for students. Over Winter Break, I was talking to a hs friend now at Harvard and he said that he went to a party at BC once, so I presume it’s not terribly difficult to access Boston from both institutions. </p>
<p>boston is too far away for me to visit</p>
<p>Are you a current senior who was admitted to both, or are you a junior wondering about which school you should apply to?</p>
<p>If you can’t get out there to visit once before you decide, then maybe it’s too far to attend. It’s a pretty important thing to visit your school before you decide to go and if you’re going to attend a school you’re gonna have to go to and from likely twice a year at minimum… if that’s too much, you shouldn’t have applied in the first place lol.</p>
<p>trying to find a match school to apply to</p>
<p>i live 7 hours from BC andBrandeis, so pretty sure I can handle it, my parents just aren’t too fond of buying airline tickets for the whole family just to visit a college or 2 that I might not even attend…</p>
<p>BC will be the better decision. It’s more prestigious and well known in most parts of US. I can’t say much about dorms but I heard that the campus is beautiful. The students at BC seem to be more open to meet new people than students at Brandeis. BC will open more doors for econ/finance than at Brandeis.</p>
<p>^^^One wonders how one knows such things.</p>
<p>Look, don’t go to a college you haven’t visited. It’s a good way to end up quitting in October and creating a serious mess. Unless you’re a hardship case, if you can afford to apply to both and go to one of these schools, you can afford to spend some money on a visit. If you cannot fly by yourself, take the bus. Or don’t apply.</p>
<p>If you are a hardship case and have great grades, contact their admissions office and see if something can be worked out.</p>
<p>Maria…the “whole family” doesn’t need to go on a college visit. Just you and a parent could go to Boston and visit.</p>
<p>Are you Jewish? If not, then BC may be a better fit. BC is certainly more well-known outside of the NE.</p>
<p>Have you run the Net Price Calculators? That may break the tie as one may be more expensive than the other. Will you need financial aid, merit aid, or will you be full pay regardless?</p>
<p>By the way, run the net price calculator on every website then bring the results to your parents and discuss them. You don’t want to get into some colleges only to find our parents can’t afford them. Also, don’t be placated by “we’ll make it work”, because the students who believe that often end up stuck when March comes around.</p>
<p>You may want to post on each college’s forum, too (here on CollegeConfidential).</p>
<p>You don’t have to go with the whole family and for 7 hours you don’t need to fly - you could go over Spring break and drive with a couple friends, use the time to visit colleges in MA (Holy Cross, Clark, Wheaton… there are more than you can cover in 4-5 days).
If that’s too difficult: apply to both and if you’re admitted to both, go for a visit.</p>
<p>If your family is low-income and you’re URM or first gen, check out the fly-in programs (applications in August-September for October- November visits). Email admissions about it. However if your first thought is “flying the whole family” I imagine that you’re not lower income (35-60k or less).</p>
<p>@jkeil: 
Sometimes, sometimes… the best response is humor indeed.</p>
<p>M2CK, Brandeis is about 50% Jewish, with a very substantial percentage of them identifying as secular Jews, while I believe Boston College has a much higher percentage of Catholics. I also wonder how much BC’s name recognition is due to its sports and the fact that both of your children went to Catholic schools. </p>
<p>lol…the fact that both of my kids went to Catholic schools has nothing to do with my belief that outside of the NE area, BC is far more well-known than Brandeis.</p>
<p>Sports name recognition may have much to do with the fact that BC’s name is more well-known outside of the NE. however, even if BC has more name-recognition because of sports, it’s doesn’t change the fact that BC has more name recognition. </p>
<p>I’m a Calif native. I can almost guarantee you that if you walked around asking which school have you heard of, BC or Brandeis, few would have heard of Brandeis.</p>
<p>As a Brandeis alum, I’d have to say momandherpooch are correct. BC is simply more widely known than Brandeis. Just think of the number of baseball caps you’ve seen with BC on them. BC has done a much better job of getting their football and basketball programs on TV every Saturday. And that is not to say it is not a school every bit as good as Brandeis.</p>
<p>
I agree that BC’s name recognition is higher, and believe that it probably is related to sports attention (wrong on so many fronts, but that’s the topic for another thread). Aside from that, my older daughter attended BC undergraduate and Brandeis graduate. At neither school did she feel out of place for not being a (practicing) Catholic or Jewish.</p>
<p>However does it matter for the people who will matter for OP, ie. employers in the Northeast and grad schools? Because I’m quite sure a New England employer would have equally heard of both and grad schools would be equally aware of both.
Now, if OP plans on working in CA… the solution might be to attend a West Coast school. :)</p>