Colby vs Holy Cross vs Boston College

I don’t know what school would be best to go to, does anyone have any advice on which school is the best? I want a liberal arts school, and I don’t mind a rural location. I would lean towards Colby, but I’m a little hesitant just because it’s only 1800 students. I want to major in biology, (not premed) so a school that will help me on that path is also important. Thanks!

Dear student515 : From a ranking perspective, one would have to consider Boston College over Holy Cross (Newton versus Worchester) although Holy Cross is similar from many perspectives including curriculum. Although the cohort listing does not include Holy Cross, it is certainly an excellent choice for those deferred from Boston College.

The real challenging question is contrasting the NESCAC (Colby) versus ACC (Boston College) in terms of size and location since they are addressing radically different academic callings.

Boston College’s biology department has gained substantially in the last six years augmented by the strong performances in chemistry and biochemistry. You will not be disappointed with a Boston College biology program.

Unfortunately, I have not been on Colby’s campus although I have been on the campuses of Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore - all of which are that 2,000 undergraduate range without a graduate student base. These liberal arts schools do have a very small town feel in many aspects which might not appeal to one looking for a large circle of varied social setttings.

For my older (decided between BC and Williams) and younger (decided between BC and Swarthmore), the larger environment with a broader set of academic and cultural options tilted the scales in favor of Boston College.

Hopefully, these ideas provoke some interesting thought on your part.

Dear student515 : Stay tuned - perhaps some opinions from bluebayou will follow that will include additional insights on the biology and science programs.

Colby is a very picturesque New England campus. It is rather remote when compared to BC and HC and to call Waterville, Maine a “city” might be stretching it a bit for someone from and accustomed to a larger metropolitan area. Waterville, however is on the doorstep of some amazing outdoor wilderness, so if you are attracted to activities in the woods, mountains, lakes, and ocean, then you might really love being in Maine.

OP:

BC redid its Frosh Bio curriculum a few years ago and the lab is rather unique in that you can participate in the types of things that grads students are typically involved in. (As an aside, my D used her BC bio skills to earn a federal research ship at a top med center where she was running titrations for grad students who didn’t know how.)

Boston, the area, also has plenty of bio tech companies which are always seeking interns, if that is a consideration.

That being said, BC is a medium sized University, so it has a much different look and feel from a LAC. Sure, BC’s Arts & Science program has a Core curriculum focused on the liberal arts, but still, the Uni includes grads students and professional schools.

So, advice is hard to offer since LAC vs. Uni is a personal thing. In my way of thinking, when you walk on a campus, one quickly can assess if it is place that you can call ‘home’ for four years.

But before you sign on the dotted line, look up the curriculum of the schools to see if they offer courses of interest in your major. Moreover, ask if the course is offered every year, or every other year, or every third year. (A LAC may have a large list of courses, but not all are offered all the time.) The other thing to consider is what happens if you decide Bio is not for you? Does the LAC have the breadth of offerings so you can easily find something else to your liking?

Personally, I have not been on Colby’s campus, but have visited HC. But since you posted on the BC thread, I’ll admit my bias is for mid-sized Unis over LAC’s. But again, that is a personal thing.

Good luck.

Holy Cross has very strong science program and beautiful campus. HC also has one of the best alumni networks for job placement.

I disagree with the comment that BC trumps HC on “rankings”. They’re both in the same range in their respective national university and national liberal arts college groupings on US News, BC having arrived in that range over the past 20 years or so, HC having been well established in that range for a much longer time. You can find some rankings that put one up over the other and vice versa. The point is they are very, very similar schools. One is a university, one a liberal arts college. One big difference between HC vs Colby is that HC offers Division I athletics within a liberal arts college setting, if that is a point of consideration for the poster (either as a pro or con).

HC’s science/medical alumni network include one of the leading experts at the NIH, the current President of the American Medical Society, and a Nobel Prize winner(medicine). At 2900 students , Holy Cross is one of the larger LAC’s, while Colby is smaller at 1800 students and believe Boston College has over 9200 undergrads and total student population of 12,000-14,000(?).

Dear xhaavic : Thank you for your contribution and debate.

I agree that saying that 31=34 when comparing two separate ranking lists provides no insight to the comparison of programs between Boston College and Holy Cross. Comparing such empirical data using a 20 year timeseries provides even less clarity. If we wanted to discuss the relative rankings of LACs, we would be forced to consider Colby’s 15th place ranking as superior in-list to Holy Cross, but again, this does not afford a real comparison on which to make a four year decision.

My assertion supporting Boston College over Holy Cross does emerge from BC’s size advantage which affords it additional flexibility in scheduling and courses offered, particularly in the sciences which was indeed the genesis of this thread.