<p>The original question of GW versus BU was answered at length. It must be a difficult decision when you live on the west coast and must pick between two locations on the east coast: two different places, two different experiences.</p>
<p>I never heard about that story about Fordham - and how can you make a generalization about the entire school based on one incident that might have ocurred and how do you know that the administration did not do anything? That is a very gross generalization and our security is a lot stronger than other schools. You say "you know people" that removed their students, wow that is some coincidence, out of so many students, you just happened to know the familes that removed their students there right after I had stated an earnest opionion about BU .</p>
<p>When I say overrated, I do not mean by rank but by the general perception of the school as people usually right away put BU in the likes of NYU and other top private schools when they hear the name. I was just stating an opinion and I did not feel the need to tell people I go to Fordham, so I was not lying about anything as you had previously mentioned. I have nothing against BU, in fact I was very close to going to the school until I was wait-listed but I really think that their selection is very random and there is a certain hype about them (I won't lie but I also bought into the whole hype). Fordham is providing me with a very good education grounded in Jesuit philosophy and tradition and have very good relations with the top Accounting/ investment banking firms in NYC. I think they do not get as much recognition as they deserve (although they are couple of spots behind BU in national rankings, most people have never even heard of Fordham when compared with BU). And as for you talking about costs, ever heard of scholarship?</p>
<p>momnipotent, thanks for the offer -- I sent you a PM.</p>
<p>The reason you never heard about that story at Fordham is because the administration was completely intransigent and awful about it. The only coincidence is that incident directly involved the children of some good friends. One was moved by the school to another campus. Both are going elsewhere next year. They found the school to be remarkably intolerant of gays and lesbians and the families were extremely upset that the school did absolutely nothing about a student who physically attacked other students because they associated with gay people. </p>
<p>As for scholarships, get real: every school has scholarships. The street price of Fordham is about the same as BU's. Most people don't pay the street price because they get financial aid and merit scholarships. BU is a leader in granting aid, though of course you hear lots of stories pro and con because each family's experience is their own.</p>
<p>The bottom line remains that you go into this forum and I don't know how many others and denigrate this forum's school but never say that you have no connection to it at all. No one here knocks Fordham - or frankly many other schools. You can find reasonable discussion about BC, though the schools are bitter rivals in hockey.</p>
<p>No the bottom line is that I am stating an opinion and I am entitled to that opinion, that is the purpose of threads being open to everyone. I don't just go into random threads bringing schools down, this thread happened to be on the top at that time and the most recent and seemed interesting, so I stated an opinion. As for you thinking that my 150 posts relate just to Fordham and ridiculing other schools, look again. I have had 150 posts since being a junior in high school and a lot of the posts relate to inquiring about my chances to get into different schools and talking about SAT, SAT II, and AP exams. Which forums have I gone to and randomly started denigrating them as you suggest? I perhaps stated an opinion about a school being overrated or underrated and replied to a few threads asking to rank a list of several schools in order with Fordham being part of the list. Other than that, maybe I have gone to one or two other threads and just stated an opinion. You can knock down Fordham as many times as you want, I really don't care because unlike you, I am not insecure about my school being tarnished, because I am very proud of where I go. I will no longer reply to any of your posts here because now we are just getting into a war of words by going back and forth, which will obviously never end, and are taking away the purpose from the original question, which asked GW or BU, and I just stated how I felt about BU (if these threads were created just for the purpose of a certain school's students replying and giving biased opinions, then there would be no point of asking questions, so I did not do anything wrong in stating how I felt about another school although I do not go there)...end of story.</p>
<p>Fordham, eh? I visited that place and (first of all) the whole anti-gay thing is true. I saw 20 signs looking something like:
<a href="http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=4uoqav9%5B/url%5D">http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=4uoqav9</a>
Sorry for the shoddy artwork. I suck at Paint. But I'm sure you get the idea. </p>
<p>Also, I really didn't like Fordham. At all. The college had that "high school" feel. My tour guide seemed lost and made us wander around. Fordham's also in a bad neighborhood: the part of New York you don't want to be in after dark. Actually, fine, I'll stop "knocking Fordham". But I actually have reasons (as you can see). You, starburyknicks2004-2005, simply come and complain about BU being overrated with (literally) nothing to back up your claims. </p>
<p>I don't see how BU is over hyped or charges more than Fordham. I might be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure the price is almost the same. And maybe there's a reason people haven't heard of Fordham... </p>
<p>PS Lergnom is mad because you (obviously) know next to nothing about BU (save that it's "over hyped") but still have think you can help someone choose between BU and GW</p>
<p>-The Over Hyped Coot66</p>
<p>what the hell are you talking about Coot? what signs? it is easy to say that you are lying and have never visited the school.</p>
<p>You are also obviously very racist..bad neighborhood just because people from a certain demographic live there? I have gone back and forth to my internship in Manhattan riding the D train and I have never once experienced a problem. Perhaps, roaming in the middle of the street at 2 AM is not a great idea, but that can be said about many places.</p>
<p>No, child, the point is that you should DISCLOSE your position. If you post in any forum, then people read what you write and assume you have some relationship with that subject. All you had to do is say, "I go to Fordham. I love it. I think BU is overrated." Then there is no problem. </p>
<p>If you read back, you'll see I said you posted about how great Fordham is, not that you criticise other schools. I've said before that I'm glad you like Fordham. Everyone should like their school. </p>
<p>I have no problems with criticism of BU (or anywhere) as long as the reasons are disclosed. You can't discuss the truth or falsity of any praise or criticism if you don't know where it comes from. Someone, for example, might say: I think Boston is a 2nd rate city that shuts down early at night. That's an interesting comment but it's only meaningful in a context, like "I'm from NYC and I think . . . " Then a reader can evaluate what the comment might mean in his or her own life. When you don't say who you are, a person reading thinks, "This person had a bad experience at BU" or "This person had a good experience at GW" when neither of those are true. If you don't provide context, you are misleading people.</p>
<p>I'll keep that in mind the next time I say something and sorry if I sounded rude, I had no intention to.</p>
<p>I find it hard to hear that someone thinks that BU is overrated. I have had only ONE course taught by a TA in my two years here at BU. EVERY professor knows my name, asks me what I plan on doing after graduation, and since I'm undecided about heading to math graduate school, one of my professors gave me a pamplet on a "women in math" program at Smith that he knew I'd really enjoy. </p>
<p>Not only are our professors INCREDIBLY well-respected in academia (as I unfortunately have to say - thanks to Silber) but they are also so involved in their students' lives. My Analysis professor holds office hours nearly every day of the week and if I'm struggling with a difficult problem in class and office hours aren't held, he OFFERS himself to make a time to meet with me. I was struggling in his class and, once again, because he offered, twice a week he reads through my homework and teaches me the problems for an hour. He teaches Analysis (which is known to be dry material) and I am surprised I am never bored in his class. </p>
<p>My set theory class just got my professor a mug with all of the axioms of set theory on it as a thank you gift. We all joke that his exams are like, "Write a dissertation in an hour. Do it!" and yet we still love him. </p>
<p>I have weekly homework assignments in all of my classes that are FAR from busy work. I often complain of my brain hurting throughout the day. Another professor gives us a weekly homework assignment where, as a study group, it takes us on average about 16 hours a week to complete (yes, we counted for kicks). None of us really complain because the work is rewarding. </p>
<p>I attended UW-Madison - a school ranked 30 in US News and World Report (BU is ranked 60th), and let me tell you, I rarely did any work during the week and still managed to get mostly A's. BU is grade deflated, but at the same time that pushes us as students way more than if we were to attend a school with regular grades. In my Analytic Philosophy course we were expected to have hundreds of pages read every 2 or so days, be prepared for a seminar discussion (there were only 12 of us), and submit journals responding to philosophers like Wittgenstein, Russell, and Austin. </p>
<p>Anyway, I don't know. It upsets me that BU is so underrated, so to hear that it's overrated ... well, I'd like to hear that from someone who has actually attended a full year of non-100-level courses at BU (I'm saying this because, as a transfer, I never took 100-level courses). Anyway, thank you.</p>
<p>
[quote]
You can knock down Fordham as many times as you want, I really don't care because unlike you, I am not insecure about my school being tarnished, because I am very proud of where I go.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>No chief, the whole point is, we ARE very proud of where we/our kids go. When someone like you simply comes into a BU board and posts essentially 'BU sux', we are going to defend it because we love it. No reason someone should trash it with some unsubstantiated response like that...</p>
<p>-Terrier 4 life-</p>
<p>starburyknicks2004-2005: Er... I think I was rather specific with sign descriptions. I assumed they were made by some student organization and reflected campus opinion. Perhaps someone took them down, but me and several friends can attest to their existence. And where did I imply anything racist, particularly based on demographics? The Bronx section of New York is well known for criminal activity, thus placing part of Fordham in a bad neighborhood. </p>
<p>And same thing loslobos71 said, except, since you allow it, I will criticize Fordham to the fullest extent. Another flaw a friend of mine found with Fordham, was the lack of help resolving scheduling conflicts. Said friend was trying to take business courses and acting courses and had some sort of a scheduling conflict. She told me she received no help from the administration and ended up transferring to another college. My mother's co-worker, who graduated from Fordham as some kind of business major, claims it's impossible for her to find a job (she works in a department store as a sales clerk now). She said the job placement office was poorly organized and the internships were reserved for only the top students. </p>
<p>-The Criticizing Coot66</p>
<p>Really no one can find jobs? That is why we have the sixth highest median starting salary in the country ($53,000). Your mom's friend did not graduate now but rather many years back and Fordham has really improved since then so I don't understand your generalization that people can't find jobs upon graduation. <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/07/undergrad/profiles/fordham3.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/07/undergrad/profiles/fordham3.htm</a></p>
<p>As for internships, everyone I know has an internship, either with a large firm in NYC or small to medium sized firm. Our career services center is among the best in the country.
Top 10 Recruiting Firms for Internships No. interns
PricewaterhouseCoopers 21
KPMG LLP 17
Ernst & Young 14
Merrill Lynch 13
UBS Financial Services 12
JPMorganChase 10
Smith Barney 8
ABC 5
Sony 4
CitiGroup; Atlantic Records; NBC; AXA Financial; HSBC 3</p>
<p>That is 118 internships with the top firms out of a graduating class of about 450 students (that is over 25% of the students), not to mention all the other internships that the students get.</p>
<p>Here is a link to BU's job placement rate according to the same source (Business Week) so that you can compare whether Fordham students are getting jobs or not.</p>
<p>Ever hear of putting everything in one post? I could make a sentence per post too but it seems a little obnoxious. My mom's friend actually graduated a year ago. I'm talking about her personal experience rather than giving a bunch of numbers. And I'm not directly comparing BU with Fordham. And I didn't make a generalization. If I did, feel free to point it out. </p>
<p>-The Obnoxious Coot66</p>
<p>starbury, you're just continuing to be a douchebag. Do everyone here a favor and leave.</p>
<p>Seriously, take the not so subtle hints . . .</p>
<p>Sometimes when a school comes up, I either know about it or do some research on it. According to the NYT, Wisconsin has some of the worst grade inflation in the US. As to GW, a common complaint there is . . . grade deflation. Seems to be an issue generally at larger schools - GW is 9,000+ with kids of wide ability ranges. In other words, some schools have a wide range of student types - and BU (or NYU) with many schools is much more likely to have different kinds of students with different motivations and abilities. It seems that then translates into more of a perception of harder grading. Grades are indeed harder to get at these schools compared to some, but that also looks like it might partly be related to natural variability. It's actually an interesting topic, one that I don't think has been researched academically. It also raises an issue: do you get as good an education if you go to a school that has a wide variability but which has inflated grades? I suppose if you do the work anyway, but if you have no reason to do it and no reason to improve your papers then how many people actually will work that hard? My kid has very good grades but does all the work. Not many kids do.</p>
<p>There's some evidence to back the assertion that grade inflation is not a general problem - which also means so-called grade deflation is overstated. (It is really a slower rate of increase, despite the name.) According to the DOE, more than a third of all undergrads received grades of C or below, with data going up to 2000. (I assume that means one or more such grades not a total gpa.) A bunch of studies, including BU's own, show steady grade inflation over the 1990's into the early 2000's. One source looked at 30 or so schools and found averages had crept up from about 2.9 in the early 1990's to about 3.1 in the early 2000's, data that mirrored BU's. </p>
<p>Some analysis of individual schools suggests that some grade inflation is due to changes in the school's population, meaning the school has grown (even lowering average gpa if the growth is large) or raised its academic profile. Other studies at individual schools suggest that some departments are much more prone to higher grades than others. I discount the "higher test scores" idea because test scores rose substantially over the period but no one can tell me that translates into better work habits or actually greater aptitude. It used to be rare to get a 1400 on the SAT but now that score is common, so it's the scoring and the test which have changed.</p>
<p>It's an interesting subject. I can only gather as pratical advice this: if you are person with good study skills and motivation, then you should not worry substantially about grades in making your decisions. If you are not such a person, you should choose a smaller, private school since those appear to have somewhat higher gpa's, meaning you can probably slack more. Of course, none of this really matters in life, but what the heck.</p>