I was accepted into Brandeis, Northeastern, and University of Rochester and am very conflicted. I plan on majoring in neuroscience or biology.
Do you want to be in a city or near a city? Preferred school size? Cost of each and how are you paying for them? Boston vs Rochester as well. Have you visited any of them?
Northeastern is ALL ABOUT co-ops. It’s the perfect school for pre-professional students who can’t wait to try their skills in the workplace. Co-ops affect campus culture (at some point a lot of your friends will disappear off campus for months while they’re on co-op) and your own college experience. For some students, that’s a perfect setup. For others – students who aren’t sure what they want to study, who are looking for a deep liberal arts education, students wanting a traditional college experience complete with big-time sports and a lively campus – for those students Northeastern may not be the best fit.
I like Northeastern because it’s right in the city, but it’s also twice the size I’m looking for and I would have to study abroad for the first semester because I’m in the N.Uin program. I haven’t visited any yet, although I signed up for the admitted students day and I’ve visited other colleges in Boston like BC and Tufts. No one from my school has gone to Rochester, but my counselor says its the best school out of all 3. I didn’t apply for financial aid and all of them are around 60,000.
Best is subjective, but for an all-around college experience cum top biology program, strongly consider URochester. Use your visits to all of these schools to confirm fit, however.
The University of Rochester is a wonderful school. But, Brandeis is also a great school. Northeastern is a very splendid school as well. College is kinda funny but anywhere you go you will have a good time. Live it up but don’t lose sight of whats important. Finesse that ish bish
I’d go with Rochester, but consider cost/distance and your overall gut feeling at each
@student653 You will need to visit each to decide. They are each fine schools. A con against Northeastern is it’s larger (13,000 undergrads) than you say you like and you have to study abroad in the Fall, when friendships are mostly made as students get acclimated to their environs. And it’s very big on co-ops, which you don’t say is something that is important to you. In contrast Rochester has only 6,200 undergrad. It has more of a traditional campus feel and no coops. When we visited last year it had a nerdy, quirky, intellectual vibe and this has been confirmed by some kids who I know go there. This may or may not appeal to you. IMO Rochester is better than Brandeis because it has a larger endowment (2.1 billion for Rochester versus 900 million for Brandeis)—this plays out in that Rochester has nice facilities, an abundant of research opportunities and stipends to give out for research, and a hospital (Strong Memorial) right across the street from campus to intern or research at. Also Rochester is noted for neuroscience as a strength. I don’t know much about Brandeis other than reading about what other people say here on CC on the Brandeis threads. Many were not impressed by the campus and facilities. Like I said, you really need to visit each in the next few weeks and make your decision. Best of luck!
One of my son’s friends attended Rochester and hated it because of the weather (cold and snow) that kept the students inside a lot. Sounds silly, I know, but just something to keep in mind if that could be an issue for you. The Boston area isnty exactly known for mild winters either, but apparently Rochester is a lot worse.
In terms of cold weather, Rochester slots into the middle of these three locations:
Average January Low (F)
Boston: 19
Rochester: 18
Waltham: 16
(Sperling’s.)
Rochester does not have a milder weather than Waltham which is a suburb of Boston. Come on people!
Waltham (high/low)
January 35° / 16°
February 38° / 20°
March 47° / 28°
Rochester (high/low)
January 32° / 18°
February 34° / 18°
March 43° / 26°
Waltham and Boston are about the same (more or less) and Rochester is a bit colder but I would not say that there is such a dramatic difference to make or break a decision.
Well, I’d introduced data only as a response to reply #8, which suggested that perhaps a decision should be based on climate differences. Waltham is in fact 2 degrees colder than Rochester at the average extreme (January mornings), which is an often-used standard of measurement for climatic rigor in terms of cold temperature. Others can draw their own conclusions based on that data as well as the expanded data that you supplied, @am9799.
All three are in cold snowy areas. "Climate’ is irrelevant among those choices.
All good schools, congrats.
I’d pick NEU so you can have access to all of the hospitals in Boston and also get some valuable work experience along the way. Also, I was just reading an article somewhere which was describing Boston as the ultimate college city.
Rochester has a bunch of covered walkways between many buildings so that students don’t have to go outside into the cold if they choose not to. U Buffalo and RIT have similar (although, sadly for me, when we have gone on campus tours in the cold we don’t get to use them).
If some of the other campuses mentioned don’t have similar options for staying in the warmth more, perhaps that is why people see more students out in the cold at those campuses.
I appreciate everyone’s thoughts, thanks! I committed to Northeastern University yesterday.
Congratulations on your decision and wishing you a great college experience @student653!
@tomsrofboston- I think the difference in snowfall and number of sunny days are enough to be noticeable. Rochester is in the region that gets lots of “lake effect snow”, although not as bad as some of the other cities in the area.
CLIMATE COMPARISON HIGHLIGHTS
Rochester has 2.3% more rainy days and 21.2% less Sunny Days than Boston.
On the BestPlaces comfort index, Boston scores 8.7% better than Rochester
CLIMATE
…Rochester, NY…Boston, MA…United States
Rainfall (in.)…33.8878…48.7809…39.2
Snowfall (in.)…84.251…51.745…25.8
Precipitation Days…80.8762…79…102
Sunny Days…165…200…205
Avg. July High…81.2316…82.3259…86.1
Avg. Jan. Low…17.9903…19.1644…22.6
Comfort Index (higher=better)…46 …50…54
UV Index…3.4…3.4…4.3
Elevation ft. …492 …60…1,443
https://www.bestplaces.net/compare-cities/rochester_ny/boston_ma/climate
I wouldn’t consider weather as a prime factor – all have four seasons, fairly cold winters, etc. Maybe if there were a huge difference in rainfall and snow it would be worth considering.
I think this is all about vibe, environment, and whether you want to do a co-op, which would add a year to your experience.
@prezbucky - see post #17. 32 inches (62%) more snow in Rochester than Boston.