<p>"Alexandre wrote:</p>
<p>Quote:
Boston is not exactly a bastion of culture. It does not have an extraordinary art, entertainment or music scene, nor is it known for having major outdoors offerings. </p>
<p>That is one of the single funniest thing I’ve ever read on CC; certainly it’s in the top 5." </p>
<p>In defense of Alexandre, he’s talking about world cities.</p>
<p>^^ Well, warblers, maybe you’ll eventually become an academic and fill out those surveys correctly. :)</p>
<p>“I know this might come a shock to you IvyPBear, but public schools outside of the northeast can sometimes be very good.”</p>
<p>You are right. I confused BU with BC this time. If you are comparing BC and UMich, undergrad at either places would be about the same, with neither being superior to the other. However, UMich overall is a few steps above BU.</p>
<p>I lived in Boston for two years. I’m inclined to agree with Alexandre. I liked it OK, but IMO it’s widely overrated as a city. The art museums are OK but a bit stuffy and not exactly world-class (though Bostonians almost universally think they are). Theater, not much; it’s no New York or London, of course, but it’s not even close to Chicago, and to be honest Minneapolis-St. Paul has it beat hands-down. No real indigenous jazz or blues scene; other local music, well, places like Seattle, Minneapolis (again) and Detroit blow it out of the water. Good seafood, though, and it has a certain liveliness, it’s compact so you can get places (though traffic can be a nightmare), many neighborhoods are relatively safe. Better than Detroit? Sure, but on the other hand when I was in Ann Arbor I more often went to Chicago, about a 3 1/2-4 hour trip.</p>
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<p>Are you aware that the Kelsey just recently added a brand new exhibition wing that allows it to display 4 times as much of its collection, consisting of approximately 100,000 objects mostly from ancient Greece and Rome, Egypt, and the Near East? Not my field so I can’t speak to the quality of the stuff.</p>
<p>“That is one of the single funniest thing I’ve ever read on CC; certainly it’s in the top 5.”</p>
<p>Vinceh, Boston would not make my top 5 cities in the US for culture, art, music, cuisine etc… Cities like Chicago, NYC, San Francisco, Los Angeles (which I don’t like), DC would certainly trump Boston. Hell, for music and art, I would probably pick Detroit over Boston, although downtown Detroit is not nearly as pleasant as downtown Boston. My point is, Boston is a very nice large city, but it is by no means special.</p>
<p>I have lived in half the cities you’ve named. Detroit does not belong in the same paragraph as any of them. The music scene in Detroit is decades dead save for Eminem, an accomplishment of questionable distinction. Detroit is incapable of keeping the doors open to it’s Symphony and Ann Arbor has a better theater scene. Detroit barely functions as a city, to compare it to any of the cities listed, including Boston, is farcical.</p>
<p>^ LOL. I’ve lived in 6 of the 7 cities Alexandre named, all except LA. I, too, would put Detroit last. I’d put Boston 6th of the 7. But I actually kind of like Detroit, which is gamely making a bit of a comeback. Latest census figures show its white population is actually growing for the first time in four or five decades as empty-nesters and young professionals are moving downtown to be closer to a thriving entertainment, restaurant, and sports scene. Watch out, Boston!</p>
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Why would young professionals want to move to downtown Detroit? So they can witness the Detroit Lions go 0-16, see the Detroit Symphony Orchestra musicians go on strike and themselves get mugged/carjacked? Sounds like a wonderful city to live in.</p>
<p>Boston is an iconic masterpiece of a city. Its a living, breathing mosaic of the United States with its winding Charles River, historic Freedom Trail, elegant Old North Church, sumptuous seafood cuisine and distinct ethnic neighborhoods.</p>
<p>Interesting enough, Boston has been through many of the trials and tribulations that Detroit has but has come out on top while the Motor City has faded into oblivion. Read some articles by Harvard Economist Glaeser if you don’t believe me.</p>
<p>BU is in Boston and U-M is in Ann Arbor. How Detroit gets into this conversation of which school is better to attend is beyond me.</p>
<p>"You are right. I confused BU with BC this time. If you are comparing BC and UMich, undergrad at either places would be about the same, with neither being superior to the other. However, UMich overall is a few steps above BU. "</p>
<p>Even if you included BC, implying their undergrad academics are equal or even one step below would still prompt much ROTFLOL back when I was in high school in the early '90s. </p>
<p>Only similarity here is that that both were about as difficult to get into…though a large part of that was the fact there were many BC Eagles fans applying for their football team in the NE and it was a respectable school after Harvard, Tufts, Brandeis, etc. There are also certain departments which may be stronger (i.e. Religious studies focused on Catholicism)…but not across the board. </p>
<p>Moreover, when corporations who recruit exclusively from the Ivy/Ivy-level schools…UMich is always included whereas BC would never be included. Moreover, with the exception of certain fields, the UMich name also tends to carry more weight in academic and some professional grad school admissions. Frankly, with the exception of a few departments…they’re not in the same league.</p>
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This is simply not true. They’re considered peer schools and cross-enroll a similar quality student. The world clearly has changed a lot since “your days”.</p>
<p>"This is simply not true. They’re considered peer schools and cross-enroll a similar quality student. The world clearly has changed a lot since “your days”. "</p>
<p>Not denying that they enrolled a similar quality student even if we’re talking out-of-state for UMich as they were both equally difficult to get into “back in my time”. </p>
<p>Only difference is the perception of the quality of the school’s education among employers who prefer hiring from the Ivy/Ivy-type schools. For instance, I know of several topflight consulting firms which only recruit Ivy/Ivy-type graduates who always did on-campus recruiting at UMich…but not BU, BC, or even NYU. </p>
<p>As for grad school admissions, both schools have strong records though from chatting with faculty at various Ivy/Ivy-type grad/professional schools, the UMich name still seems to carry a bit more weight than BC. That, however, is not to deny the fact that BC undergrad education is well-respected. Just a matter of degree.</p>
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<p>This is so completely inaccurate that it is beyond funny.</p>
<p>Art: Boston has the MFA and the Gardner, and you should throw in the museums at Harvard, since Boston/Cambridge are essentially the same city as far as students are concerned.</p>
<p>Music: Boston has the Boston Symphony, which is world-class. It also has one of the leading scenes in early music. It has two of the nation’s major music conservatories, as well as the Berklee School of Music, which is jazz oriented. And of course there is the rock/club scene. All of these groups and institutions throw off an enormous amount of musical activity in numerous genres. </p>
<p>Theater, I would agree, is not Boston’s strength.</p>
<p>In addition, Boston has a rich history, excellent restaurants, and a high concentration of highly educated individuals that leads to a vibrant intellectual atmosphere. There are several hundred thousand college students in the greater Boston area. I would say that Boston/Cambridge is perhaps the #1 college town in the US. The idea that it doesn’t stack up to much compared to Ann Arbor or Detroit is laughable.</p>
<p>I agree that U Mich is significantly superior to BU.</p>
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<p>LOL! Damn straight! We do almost universally think we are world class. And we’re almost universally right too! It’s actually my favorite city to live in. That’s why I do. </p>
<p>But compared to Ann Arbor? … Hello… Last time I was in Ann Arbor, I had trouble finding a restaurant open at 8:30pm mid week.</p>
<p>And Philadelphia? - check it out, the price of real estate goes up the further you get from Philadelphia. The price of real estate goes down the further you get from Boston. What does that tell you?</p>
<p>“The idea that it doesn’t stack up to much compared to Ann Arbor or Detroit is laughable.”</p>
<p>Who said Boston and Ann Arbor/Detroit were similar? Some people here on CC make stuff up as they write.</p>
<p>There is no place more parochial than Boston (i.e., the “Hub of the Universe”). New Yorkers find that laughable. </p>
<p>Real estate prices are irrelevant. Boston is surrounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and on the other 3 sides by densely built 300 old towns (including beauties like Revere, Lynn, Brockton, etc.). Land is at a premium. Other than the Main Line, the suburbs of Philadelphia aren’t as dense, there is no natural limitation and real estate is more available.</p>
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<p>No, actually, there is ONE place more parochial than Boston, and it’s New York. But New Yorkers can be forgiven because their city truly IS the center of the known universe!</p>
<p>“But New Yorkers can be forgiven because their city truly IS the center of the known universe!”</p>
<p>NYC is one of three such cities (the other two being Paris and London)…but yeah, New Yorkers are justified. In North America, Chicago, Montreal, San Francisco and Toronto are pretty sweet too, and DC and LA are no slouches either.</p>
<p>“Last time I was in Ann Arbor, I had trouble finding a restaurant open at 8:30pm mid week.”</p>
<p>I take it the last time you made it out there was sometime before they opened the university? Regardless of anything else, this comment is completely insipid.</p>
<p>“Only difference is the perception of the quality of the school’s education among employers who prefer hiring from the Ivy/Ivy-type schools. For instance, I know of several topflight consulting firms which only recruit Ivy/Ivy-type graduates who always did on-campus recruiting at UMich…but not BU, BC, or even NYU.”</p>
<p>Recruiting presence doesn’t indicate quality. For instance, I know of several topflight consulting firms which only recruit Ivy/Ivy-type graduates who always did on-campus recruiting at some Ivies (+Stanford, Northwestern, UVa)…but not UMich, Stern, or even other Ivies. Doesn’t mean the Ivies that receive recruiters from those companies are perceived to be of higher quality than UMich, Stern, or other Ivies.</p>