I’m sure this question has been addressed in scattered forums. My son seems to like Boston. Any advice?
Three winners, but BC is more campus and less city than the others, although just outside.the city (10-15 min).
I think BC still takes the strongest student, but it is a closer than ever before. BU and Northeastern admissions odds change more drastically with ED.
Three very different schools. What are his interests of study? What type of experience does he want (vibrant campus = BC, city life with heavy international = BU, preprofessional with co-op emphasis = NU).
Although it’s much bigger than an LAC, BC has that feel with a strong core curriculum, cohesive campus community, etc.
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Biochemistry/Chemistry w interest in further postgraduate training/possible PhD (not MD).
Has your son visited the campuses? Does he want to cheer for football and basketball teams? (Positive for BC). Any better aid offered by one school? When we visited all 3 my son did not care for the BC campus although he is Catholic. He thought all the buildings were the same, they all looked like a church and all the people were the same. This is obviously highly subjective, others will prefer that campus.
My son chose Northeastern, which gave him more aid than BU and did an outstanding job navigating the pandemic. He has been very happy, socially and academically. It’s a compact campus with some green space in the heart of the city. He has found the students to be nice and friendly, likes all of his professors and sees President Aoun eating lunch. The parents in the NU Facebook group are very positive about their children’s co-op experiences, research opportunities, study abroad and post grad job opportunities. There is some Greek life, but there is no pressure about it and it does not seem to be a big party school. This was an atypical year for gatherings but they did put out tents and fire pits.
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Kids at colleges in Boston don’t cheer for football or basketball teams (Why bother?) They cheer for hockey teams. Boston College alone has won 4 national championships over the past 20 years while BU has also won a championship in the same period and was runner up one other year. Everything in Boston stops for the Beanpot Tournament in February.
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Sadly no Beanpot this year. Hopefully next year. NU is close to Fenway for baseball fans.
@ProudDad721 One of our sons is a junior Biochem major now at BC. Physics is the toughest course, time management is key.
@Mom270 The Beanpot is popular, last year BC lost in a heartbreaker. They were disappointed it was cancelled this year and we were without Fall Football/Parents Weekend. Next year, hopefully!
Tough choice. Co-op seems to be the defining feature of NE, for better or worse. BC has the prettiest campus, NE in the middle, BU basically just buildings along a long busy street. BC seems to have the greatest prestige by a little, but the other 2 are close and maybe closing. BC seems to be the least diverse, with its large Catholic contingent, and, at least from what I have read, is predominantly white upper middle class preppy. Hence BC’s very forward outreach with AHANA. NE and BU have more International, Asian-American, Hispanic, and African-American students. Also politically, it sounds like BC is more center or right of center, NE and BU left of center. BU seems to have a better global reputation. Sports is a large part of social life at BC. And supposedly BC has the best looking students! I thought BU had an edge over BC for the natural sciences, not sure about NE.