How is Boston University's reputation in 2018?

Hi Everyone,

I’m an international applicant from East Asia. I recently was admitted into BU’s statistics program. I would like to ask for your opinions on BU’s overall reputation. The school’s reputation means a lot to me because I want to join consulting firms, e.g., BCG & McKinsey after I finish my school. Honestly, BU is my only choice so far… But I wouldn’t mind to take a gap year and apply for school again in 2019.

I have seen polarized comments on Quora and CC… Most comments on Quora are pretty positive and make me consider BU could be one of the greatest private school in the U.S. However, a lot of negative and neutral comments on CC make me feel BU is just an average school for MIT and Harvard rejects… And BU is one to two tiers down compares to NYU and USC… However, those posts and comments are pretty old, so I would like to see how BU’s current reputation is. BU’s ranking goes up in the past a few years from 60th to 37th, does the reputation goes up as well?

My opinions:

Since I’m an international applicant, I did most of my school search based on ranking reports and forum discussions. I chose to apply to BU because it has a very good reputation in my home country and it excels in international rankings. BU is ranked internationally 39th by US News, 80th by QS, 70th by THE, and 80th by Academic Ranking of World Universities. I was surprised by BU’s international rankings. But BU’s national rankings may be not as impressed as their international rankings. I think 37th in the nation is a fair place for BU, but I don’t know if BU’s local reputation matches its ranking…

Therefore, I decided to come here and ask for opinions from local people. Thank you for reading my post, and any ideas are welcomed!!

Great school. Solid reputation. I would say it’s a peer of NYU.

BU is not on the same level as Harvard and MIT. It is comparable to NYU and USC.

A lot of great people are rejected by Harvard and MIT.

Definitely a peer of NYU. Where it seriously lags is financial aid, which is possibly even worse than at NYU. This causes it to have a reputation of being a place where wealthier students go.