I’d like to major in economics and international relations.
I was accepted into the Boston University Kirchland Honors College. For Colgate, I was accepted into the Alumni Scholars Program.
They are going to be almost exactly the same price (around 24k).
I would appreciate feedback from anyone who went to one of these schools or knows someone who did.
Also, if you happen to know which school is better for these majors or which honors program is better, that would be appreciated as well.
I’m planning on getting master’s degree right after my bachelor’s. So I’m also concerned about which place will get me into the best grad school (unless they are pretty much the same in that respect).
You already have or you can gain enough insight yourself to answer those questions. I mean, you supplied essays to gain entry and presumably have also visited these schools. And you saw and/or have accessed enough media about them to have some clues already.
So… What is YOUR sense of your future at both? What did you glean about yourself in terms of your ability to achieve your goals and to do so with distinction on their campuses? NO ONE but you can even start answering these
questions nor will anyone but YOU be responsibe for delivering on these ideas and plans.
It should be apparent that there is no magic formula. Here’s why if I were to extend your hierarchical and popular rankings-driven logic to a possible conclusion. If that were reasonable then everyone at Stanford, the USN&WR top university in the US, would be “all set” simply by graduating “because” they attended Stanford. So where does this line of reasoning belying you questions take you? It’s a false, misleading and meaningless approach to assessing and judging colleges for your personal, future aspirations.
Moving alomg, BU and Colgate are obviously very different in what they are, what they do, who they serve, where they are and, for all I know where they are going. What do you know about about their curricular and extracurricular offerings? I hope you have asked the admissions offices and through them the schools’ various departments for specific answers to your particular interests. When you have done the legwork ask yourself the question: Who are you and where is YOUR fit. No one else, and certainly no one on this forum, would have a clue.
Good luck with your efforts!
@markham I know that where you go doesn’t predetermine if you will be successful. There are plenty of successful people who graduated from both schools!
But what I’m asking with regards to the majors and graduate school admittance is if I perform the same academically and am a very involved student on campus, which degree would be more likely to put me in a more competitive grad school. I also added in “Unless they are pretty much the same” at the end because I realize that the difference might be remote.
And I was really looking for personal experiences with the schools. I’ve visited both and gotten a feel for both, but what they tell you on the tour usually isn’t the whole story.
I can’t help you but hope others will try. Logically you might want feedback from identical twins, each of whom took similar courses simultaneously towards the same degree, achieved similar results with their grades, theses and standardized grad school admissions tests e.g. GRE to consider which school gave some type edge favor graduate school entry. That’s not gonna happen since no has attended both simultaneously, much less do you have twins reporting in under controlled circumstances. And there are too many unaccountable factors that would wreak havoc with the input e.g. on your individual, personal level.
Maybe you should pose such questions to the ultimate arbiter(s) - some graduate schools. I wouldn’t even try if I were you just as I don’t offer any way to consider your questions. Too many variables to make an outcome of any sort meaningful or varifiable relative to your hopes and possible expectations.
If all you are really asking for is feedback from individual students about their experiences (in isolation from whatever happens at the other school) I am sure you can glean information via this site and the admissions offices’ student liaison programs. That’s something else entirely - as in simple and straightforwrd enough to be interesting.
Over to you. Good luck!
@violanation – I say this to you as I have told my own kids. There are a lot of great colleges out there - Colgate and BU - are two of them. At the end of the day - its the connections you make at college and the college alumni network that will help you in your career. Based on your international relations interest - I would say Colgate probably offers you more promise post college than BU. And I don’t offer you that advice simply because my D was accepted at Colgate and plans to attend. Good luck and hope to see you at Colgate in the fall.
For students on the fence with fit (that is, if you could see yourself happy at either school @violanation ), rankings may be worth considering. “The 50 Smartest Colleges,” (which includes some discussion of each college) and “The 610 Smartest Colleges,” both from Business Insider, are two of the few that include liberal arts colleges and universities together (though their bases are simple, student standardized scoring). The U.S. has A LOT of colleges, so top-50 by any meaningful standard is not bad – meaning it’s very, very good.
Lastly, in fairness, consider that Colgate reputationally has some party school attributes. This could be desirable, negative, or inconsequential to you.
@merc81, You wrote above “Lastly, in fairness, consider that Colgate reputationally has some party school attributes. This could be desirable, negative, or inconsequential to you.”
I was wondering what you meant by “reputationally has some party school attributes”? Is this a personal reference? Is it an anecdotal reference from friends or other “sources”? Is this from a ranking of some sort? I was just curious who is assigning this “reputation”.
I know you put the caveat at the end, “This could be desirable, negative, or inconsequential to you.”, but it does seem to be a bit of a slam against Colgate.
I’m glad you asked for clarification, @farandsure, instead of assuming outright that slamming was embedded in my post. I’ll add the following:
– The Princeton Review could be a possible basis for my statement, in which Colgate is currently a “Top Ten Party School” (#10). Though I regard this as a “weak” source, it is from a national publication that students often consult.
– The first part of my post (#5), without being blatant about it, emphasized Colgate’s high academic standing with respect to the alternative school. The second part included a possible Colgate negative. If I’d only included positive information about Colgate, I wouldn’t have been assisting the OP with what is a very big decision.
– In another of the OP’s threads, I posted some positive information on Colgate’s economics program. That’s another Colgate strength that I’ve commented on recently, but which was unnecessary to discuss here.
I appreciate the princetonreview website’s content as it mirrors my own take on the colleges I am familiar with.
Further, I am not afraid of a ranking that reflects the availability of parties, beer and hard liquor. I mean, college students of the caliber of Colgate’s should be able to manage their lifestyles, and it seems to me that they do so quite well! That includes rigorous study disciplines and what they do with their time otherwise. Let’s not be arbitrary or prudish; college students have various ways to blow off steam and always have done so through structured activities eg club and intramural sports, common interest clubs (190 at Colgate), and various sources of entertainment.
Anyway, here are princetonreview’s other takes on Colgate. You might want to compare and contrast with other top
LACs and universities you are considering:
Top library no 10
Top alumni network no 25
Best financial aid no 10
Great fnancial aid no 17
Top Green colleges no 17
Colleges that pay you back without aid no 17
Top 50 colleges that pay you back no 15
Most beautiful campus no 9
Little race/class interaction no 7
Lots of hard liquor no 5
Lots of beer no 8
Party schools no 10
Go 'gate!
As an international parent, BU is known in our country as a last chance U for those unable to enter better schools. I don’t know if knowing that impression from an Asian country will help you decide.
@violanation - Let us know what you decided