Humanities: Boston College vs. University of Virginia

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hello all! I'm probably what you'd expect for a humanities-lover: social, artistic, easygoing, etc. I'd love a school with a strong sports scene (which I think both schools have covered), a strong extracurricular arts scene, opportunities for internships and the like, and a thriving, engaging atmosphere. But most importantly, I would like a great undergraduate humanities program, particularly in English, international relations, history, and political science, in that order of preference. I also love languages and want to study multiple ones and study abroad in college, if that matters.</p>

<p>I can't visit either college, but I liked Boston (I know BC is separate, but still) the two times I've been there, and I believe I would like Charlottesville because I really like Virginia/Maryland/D.C. weather. I am out-of-state for both (i.e. UVA OOS tuition) and financial aid is a huge factor.</p>

<p>Which would be better for me: UVA or BC?</p>

<p>I'm asking this question because my college list is too long and I only want to apply to one or the other, not both, for my own sanity. :)</p>

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<p>Being out of state changes the cost for a public university (UVa), but not for a private college (BC). Hare you tried the net price calculator on either school’s financial aid website?</p>

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<p>Boston is the best college city in the country!</p>

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<p>I think in most of the subject areas that you listed UVA is much stronger than BC. I would also definitely never call BC an artistic community.</p>

<p>Current rankings by subject area:</p>

<p>Political Science: UVA - 10 BC 62
English: UVA - 10 BC 58
History: UVA - 20 BC 56</p>

<p>I would actually say there are better schools in Boston that are easier to get into if these are the subject areas you are looking for.</p>

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<p>Thanks! Swimchris, which schools are you talking about? I’m trying to find a school better than my safety, which is my state flagship, but less selective than all the other colleges I’m applying to.</p>

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<p>Culture & Internships: Boston > Charlottesville</p>

<p>NRC Rankings</p>

<p>English
BC: 20-61
UVA: 33-69</p>

<p>History
UVA: 59-91
BC: 64-96</p>

<p>PoliSci
BC: 58-82
UVA: 66-83</p>

<p>Foreign Policy rankings:</p>

<p>[Inside</a> the Ivory Tower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Ivory_Tower]Inside”>Inside the Ivory Tower - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>BC: Unranked
UVA: Unranked</p>

<p>With respect to Humanities departments and sport culture, BC and UVA and peers. However, Boston is a cultural capital that will offer you all the opportunities you seek.</p>

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<p>Thanks kwu! Anyone else have input?</p>

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<p>Most people would consider UVA a clear notch above BC academically and in terms of prestige. While the city of Boston may have more to offer, C’ville has lots to offer as well and is a perfect college town IMO. UVA also seemed much more dynamic and diverse, with lots of things happening on campus. Also factor in weather (C’ville>>>>>Boston)</p>

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<p>“Most people would consider UVA a clear notch above BC academically and in terms of prestige.”</p>

<p>I don’t see where UVA is a clear notch above BC academically, even though the general public may think so. I am not quite sure why UVA would have a reputation for being an academically superior school for the OP with those NRC ranking scores in English, History, and PoliSci. I realize that they are graduate school rankings, but do they clearly indicate that is a UVA is “notch” above BC in reality?</p>

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<p>I also don’t see how UVA is a clear “notch” above BC . If anything they would be considered in the same tier. Selectivity wise it would be hard to compare since Virginia is public, but the enrolled students SAT numbers and acceptance rate alone would suggest that they are on the same level. I would guess that on the graduate level UVA would have an edge in most departments, as most publics tend to have more resources/research citations/stronger faculty, but even then it doesn’t even come remotely close to it’s public peers (Michigan, Cal).</p>

<p>Also “most people’s” perception of “prestige” seems to be largely dictated by US News undergrad rankings, in which case there is like a pretty meager six spot differential. Not that I think USNWR is the best indicator of prestige, but I’m just speaking in behalf of what I assume to be “most people”.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Overall, that would be true since BC doesn’t offer as many doctoral programs*. But where they do offer grad programs, the “edge” is probably not large as kwu’s examples show.</p>

<p>BC offers 33 undergrad majors in its Arts and Sciences colleges, but only 12 doctoral programs. UVa offers approximately the same number of undergrad majors in A&S, but ~twice the number of doctoral programs.</p>

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<p>You might get more opinions by posting in the B.C. and UVA forums ;-)</p>

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<p>

The humanities are (aside from business and law) the strongest programs at UVA. English is the standout program, but others like religion, classics, etc. are reasonably good as well. I am suspicious of those NRC rankings, and they serve to reinforce my growing belief that the new NRC rankings are decidedly off-kilter for all fields, as they certainly are for the two I know best.</p>

<p>For example, US News ranks UVA as follows:</p>

<h1>10 English (#4 American Lit before 1865, #6 British Lit, #11 American Lit after 1865, #11 Medieval Lit, #12 African-American Lit, #17 Gender & Lit)</h1>

<h1>20 History</h1>

<h1>33 Political Science</h1>

<p>The old NRC report ranked UVA as follows:</p>

<h1>4 English</h1>

<h1>19 History</h1>

<h1>26 Political Science</h1>

<p>They track each other pretty closely. I am extremely skeptical that UVA has had such a precipitous decline in quality.</p>

<p>For comparison purposes, here is how US News and the old NRC reports, respectively, rank Boston College.</p>

<h1>58 English</h1>

<h1>56 History</h1>

<h1>62 Political Science</h1>

<h1>65 English</h1>

<h1>66 Boston College</h1>

<h1>75 Political Science</h1>

<p>Again, the two track each other closely.</p>

<p>For languages, LCTL reports the following. Unique languages are marked in color.</p>

<p>BC: Arabic, Armenian, Avestan, Bosnian, Breton, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, English (Old), Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Persian, Polish, Russian, Sanskrit, Slavonic (Old Church), Welsh</p>

<p>UVA: ASL, Arabic, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, English (Old), Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Pali, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Sanskrit, Slavonic (Old Church), Swahili, Turkish, Urdu, Tibetan</p>

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<p>Boston is a wonderful town in general and for college students in particular. Although BC is not on anyone’s list of arts powerhouses, the arts resources in Boston/Cambridge are great, and certainly outstrip Charlottesville.</p>

<p>To me, big differences between the two are that a) U VA is the big dog in its town, while BC definitely is not, and b) BC is a Catholic university, which in recent years chose to reassert its Catholicism by installing crucifixes in every classroom. (Yes, there are many non-Catholic students at BC, but still, it is a religious institution and that is a factor to consider.)</p>

<p>Could you tell us what the other schools on your list are?</p>

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<p>Forget media rankings. Go look at the (does anyone think I keep repeating myself??) course catalogs, backgrounds of profs and their research interests- and, for IR/PS, any particular policy insitutes or programs you could get involved with. You don’t get empowered by a school or find your niche there because some outsider “says” it’s offerings are better.</p>

<p>I think the perfect U town is Washington, DC.</p>

<p>When you tell us the rest of your list, please tell us where you are from.</p>

<p>Btw, weather? That can only mean you want minimal snow because weather is barely one of UVA’s many, many plusses.</p>

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<p>UVA is one of the best state Universities with mild weather, as others have mentioned BC is a Catholic school where the best sport on campus is hockey. If inte rested in other Catholic schools might look at Notre Dame and Holy Cross. HC has very strong academics and its sports programs compete against the Ivies. HC also offers good financial aid and has nice campus 1 hour from Boston.</p>

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<p>Hail Flutie!</p>

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<p>@Consolation: Hmm, okay. I’m a non-Catholic Christian, so I don’t mind mild religious influences like those at BC. (I would not attend an extremely Catholic university, though.)</p>

<p>I don’t want to get too specific, but the majority of my list is in the USNWR Top 20 National University Rankings. One school is in the #10-#20 National Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings, and I might add another similar one. The last college on my list is my state flagship. I am from the Mid-Atlantic. (I didn’t choose my colleges using the rankings, but as I don’t have any esoteric interests, these turned out to be what I want.)</p>

<p>@lookingforward: I’m not concerned about the exact course offerings so much as the subjective factors when choosing between these two schools. And I guess it’s not really the weather, per se, but rather the overall ambience of that area (MD/VA/DC). I always wanted to live there. Yes, there are many things about UVA I like that I didn’t mention.</p>

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<p>You might also want to check out Georgetown</p>

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<p>I wasn’t going to apply to Georgetown because I have no idea whether I would apply to the College of Arts and Sciences or the School of Foreign Service, since they don’t let you double-major across schools. I also feel like Georgetown isn’t considered that good except for the SFS.</p>