<p>i keep hearing mixed things. which is better academically?</p>
<p>Well they both are great in academics. I also would note that BC freshmen class is about half of BU.</p>
<p>but if you had to choose one above the other, which one would it be?</p>
<p>Boston College has smarter kids than Boston University. Just look at average GPA / SAT scores and there is a somewhat significant difference.</p>
<p>^^
Well I actually like Boston College but seeing the schools acceptance rate I haven’t really did as much research into as Boston University which I find to be a really great school. I would choose Boston University overall.</p>
<p>define smart? if you mean better grades in HS, then probably for the most part so (BC has slightly higher requirements in selection)</p>
<p>however that doesn’t define smart in any real sense</p>
<p>BU and BC are different schools, academically they are basically the same, each is better in theor own way, such as BU has an engineering school whereas BC does not
BU also has a good health sciences school, which i dont’ believe BC does
I hear good things about the BC Law/Business/Journalism schools, but the BU ones are also good</p>
<p>they’re really the same, it comes down to what you wan</p>
<p>BC is mostly white, upper middle class, preppy.
BU is not.</p>
<p>ok cool, thanks.</p>
<p>The differences between the two schools are clear. </p>
<p>BC is smaller and is Catholic. BC is technically on the edge of Boston but it’s really in the suburbs and one of its campuses is truly in the suburb. BC plays major league football & basketball. BC has a more traditional campus - with the old part being pretty and the built up newer part much less so. </p>
<p>BU is in the city, right in the heart. Outside BC is a small strip of stores where the B line of the T ends. You can walk a quarter to a half mile to some more stores and restaurants.</p>
<p>I agree that grades and scores don’t define smart, jajfling. </p>
<p>Academically, it’s hard to say what college is better than any college. What do you want to major in?</p>
<p>Boston College is probably the best Jesuit University in the country, and has better stats than BU. However, for me, it’s more of a which school would fit me better. I don’t see “my type” fitting in at Boston College. BU attracts me because it is a private school with good financial aid and I’ve heard much better about the student body @ BU than at BC.</p>
<p>yes, BU is much more diverse. it’s also much much bigger. so while the stats of BC may be better overall, this may just be because it’s smaller. BU has it’s fair share of “smart” kids, and I find most people here to be incredibly smart about “big” things…they’re passionate about the community, the world, current events. I’d much rather be at BU than BC, though I’ll admit a bias…</p>
<p>Since I go to BC, I guess I’ll chime in here:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Academically, I daresay that they are relatively similar, with the exception that BU offers a far wider variety of degree programs that BC will never match.</p></li>
<li><p>I had the option to attending either BU’s SMG or BC’s CSOM. I evaluated both programs closely and decided that while the programs were academically similar, I chose BC for the allegedly “better” recruitment on campus. Also, I noted that BU’s curriculum stresses teamwork far more than BC’s did. On the flipside, BC stresses business ethics from the start, while BU’s program puts far greater stress on teaching people the principles of management first.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, BC is primarily a school full of upper middle-class white folk. But that doesn’t necessarily connotate that diversity isn’t stressed here either. We have plenty of culture clubs that advertise themselves prominently on campus. BC even has an established Office of Institutional Diversity and they administer the AHANA program. In fact, I think that due to how racially skewed BC is, the minority clubs might actually be far more vocal here at BC than at BU.</p></li>
<li><p>In terms of SAT scores and GPAs, the numbers do look much better here at BC than at BU, but I have no doubt that highly intelligent people attend both schools. (Though, I will admit, that based on the context, there may be more intellectuals present at BU than at BC.)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Just my two cents.</p>
<p>I had the option of attending both BU’s SMG and BC’s CSOM too. What you’re saying about BU not emphasizing business ethics enough is not true; we basically started the semester with lectures about business ethics… And yes team work is a BIG thing in SMG.</p>
<p>BC is hands down the more selective school, and has more “prestige”. Whether you are looking for this or not, that it ultimately the biggest discrepancy between these two schools.</p>
<p>We had such a nice discussion going and then you get this … selectivity is, in this case, mostly a function of size. If you look at really big schools, the one that stands out as selective is NYU and that’s because it’s in NYC - where there are few schools & the most people. If you get into demographics - such as NYU being 28% Jewish - then you see why selectivity is a function of specific reasons. Some other very large schools that rank higher on the relative prestige scale are not more selective than BU.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that all these points are relative. No one gives a fig in the real world about any relative ranking differences between BC and BU.</p>
<p>It still amazes me how much BC was able to transform itself from a no-name local university into such a recognized institution in a matter of less than thirty years. Selectivity typically comes about due to a large applicant pool, and BC, thanks to good marketing, has managed to expand its applicant pool by nearly three-fold since the 1980’s.</p>
<p>So, selectivity is not necessarily a function of size; it is also the result of how well a university has marketed itself over the decades.</p>
<p>It’s a function of a bunch of things, including sports; it’s been demonstrated that a school which adds football gets more application from boys. But selectivity is not a very good measure of quality.</p>
<p>I guess the two schools are good in their own ways. But note that the atmosphere is completely different and when selecting, you should note what exactly it is that you want in a school.</p>