<p>Worcester is 47 miles from Boston and there is commuter rail from Worcester to Boston with 13 daily runs: </p>
<p>[MBTA</a> Commuter Rail > Framingham / Worcester Lines Schedules and Maps](<a href=“Schedules & Maps | MBTA”>Framingham/Worcester Line | Commuter Rail | MBTA)</p>
<p>well the commuter rail goes to Providence too. But I think we need to call Worcester and Providence their own cities.</p>
<p>They are indeed their own cities but the term “Greater Boston” encompasses those areas. See [Greater</a> boston definition by Babylon’s free dictionary](<a href=“http://dictionary.babylon.com/greater%20boston/]Greater”>http://dictionary.babylon.com/greater%20boston/)</p>
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<p>47 miles is a lot…the cities of Philadelphia and New York are 46 miles from each other.</p>
<p>You need a new map. It is 94 miles from Philadelphia, PA to NY, NY. This is twice as far.</p>
<p>[Bing</a> Maps](<a href=“Bing Maps - Directions, trip planning, traffic cameras & more”>Bing Maps - Directions, trip planning, traffic cameras & more)</p>
<p>Without entering into the argument over Worcester and Greater Boston, I’d like to point out to the OP that Tufts itself is in a Boston suburb, nowhere near the downtown or most of the other colleges and college activities. I’m not saying this to be down on Tufts, but because I’ve noticed a tendency to lump in “Boston” colleges like Harvard, MIT and Tufts together, when in fact Tufts is considerably further from the city.</p>
<p>Boston College is also not in Boston and is actually a University. I remember getting a brochure from the school to that effect back in high school. It is in a wealthy suburb called Chestnut Hill 7 miles west of Boston.</p>
<p>There needs to be a distinction here:</p>
<p>Yes, BC, Tufts, Harvard and MIT are not technically in Boston. However, Tufts, Harvard and MIT are on the redline which goes through the heart of Boston. BC, while in Newton, is much father as it’s on the edge of the green line (which has many stops). I argue that the “brainpower triangle” of Tufts, Harvard and MIT (i.e., the redline) have a much greater and more accessible proximity to Boston.</p>
<p>As for Princeton Review’s rankings. Here are the most recent numbers:</p>
<p>Harvard: 99
MIT: 97
College of Holy Cross (I honestly don’t consider this within the Boston area, but to each their own): 95
Tufts: 94
Brandeis: 90
Boston College: 89
Boston University: 85</p>
<p>Mind you, Princeton Review’s methodology, like all methodologies, has its flaws. Additionally, there is a distinction between a liberal arts school (Holy Cross) and National Universities (Harvard, MIT, Tufts, etc.).</p>
<p>To give some perspective on this, here are some other schools that Princeton Review ranks academically:</p>
<p>Northwestern: 92
Cornell University: 92
UPenn: 91
Georgetown: 90
Notre Dame: 90
Berkeley: 89</p>
<p>Tufts is great for international relations; in fact it specializes in this at the graduate level. It is an excellent and up and coming school.</p>
<p>If you are female, consider Wellesley (which has a Princeton Review academic rating of 99) and is in the suburbs of Boston. </p>
<p>It has an International Relations Major as well:
[International</a> Relations](<a href=“http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/IR/]International”>http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/IR/)
described as:
“A program that focuses on the systematic study of international politics and institutions, and the conduct of diplomacy and foreign policy. Includes instruction in international relations theory, foreign policy analysis, national security and strategic studies, international law and organization, the comparative study of specific countries and regions, and the theory and practice of diplomacy.”</p>
<p>Tufts is comparable to Holy Cross and Brandeis.</p>
<p>Tufts is an excellent school, especially for International Relations.</p>
<p>“where it’s cool to be smart”</p>
<p>i visited and the students were very intelligent AND had a social life (not saying smart people are hermits).</p>
<p>safe area too.</p>
<p>Once again…BC’s campus overlaps the Boston/Newton line…part of it is IN Boston and part is in Newton. Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood, not a municipality. Tufts is not very far from the action in Cambridge and Boston. Having gone to high school and college in the Boston area, I know that locals would laugh at you if you said Worcester is part of Boston–Greater, Metro, or any other way you want to brand it. Also, be aware that in some states the locals’ sense of distance is such that they’d think nothing of driving 47 miles to catch a movie, whereas in some parts of New England, the locals think 47 miles is a long way to drive for just about any reason.</p>
<p>Chestnut Hill is indeed a neighborhood, part of which is in Newton, part in Brookline, and part in Boston. BC borders directly to Boston (and some field or corner may technically be in Boston), but the campus and the law school campus are almost entirely in the Newton part of Chestnut Hill. The school refers to the undergraduate campus as the [“Newton</a> Campus.”](<a href=“http://www.bc.edu/about/maps/s-newton.html]"Newton”>http://www.bc.edu/about/maps/s-newton.html)</p>
<p>All that being said, the Green Line ride from the Cleveland Circle (in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston and a < 5 minute walk from the campus) is a very pleasant and brief ride that brings you to Fenway Park and Government Center. Downtown Boston and Cambridge are as accessible as they could be, but are too far to walk.</p>
<p>Correcting my own post - looking some more at the official BC maps ([Maps</a> & Directions - Boston College](<a href=“http://www.bc.edu/about/maps.html]Maps”>http://www.bc.edu/about/maps.html)) , I see that Schmaltz is quite correct. A good chunk of BC is in Brighton (ie, Boston). The main portion of the undergraduate campus is in Newton (Chestnut Hill), but enough is in Boston proper to say that BC is indeed in both. The map of the Newton Campus in my previous post is the Law School.</p>
<p>Sorry for any confusion.</p>
<p>And, yes, most people in Boston wouldn’t consider Worcester to be a part of the Boston area, any more than Allentown would be part of the Philadelphia area, or Bridgeport, CT would be part of the NYC area.</p>
<p>I think there are only a handful of overated schools, but I believe Tufts is one of the most overrated. Most people haven’t heard of it, but it is a good school in the Boston area (although it is actually pretty far from Boston). It is often overshadowed by Harvard, MIT, BC, Northeastern, etc. However, for some reason nationally, it gets a pretty high ranking from US News. </p>
<p>It has a good pre-med program and a good med school, but other than that, the academics don’t seem to be on par with similarly ranked programs.</p>
<p>Also, Boston College straddles the Boston/Newton line, but they recently purchased almost the entire Archdiocese (sic?) which will put a significant portion of the campus in Boston (this will be called the Brighton Campus). Their campus is about to undergo a very large transformation. You can see more if you google Boston College Master Plan. It was in the Globe recently.</p>
<p>Informative:
Yes, this Brighton portion is what I was referring to. If this is new, than the “old” BC was almost entirely in Newton.</p>
<p>That is correct. A few years ago, only a small portion of BC’s campus was in Boston proper. That obviously changed when they bought a significant piece of land just across the Boston border in Brighton (which is Boston). I read somewhere that they will begin construction this year on the Brighton campus. Note, the Brighton campus isn’t really another campus, as it is right across the street. Once finished, it will be one fluid campus.</p>
<p>I don’t think Tufts is that far from Boston. It’s two subway stops away from Harvard which is one stop away from MIT (this is on the redline). Map wise, perhaps it looks far. However, with the subway system it’s pretty easy to get into Boston. I think BC is harder to get into Boston because of the green-line. However, I consider BC as part of Boston and it would be silly not to include it. The distance from Holy Cross to Boston is akin to crossing Rhode Island (literally). Worcester is so lol.</p>