As a MA resident, I think that by conservative Harvard, he must mean the business school. As far as I know the b school and the athletic fields are the only things on the Boston side of the river. The majority of the university is on the Cambridge side. I also have never heard of the conservative and liberal distinction before.
@Mastadon, Thanks for the detailed info. It would take me a white to digest all the info. But I think I have a better idea about it now.
@thumper1, I agree that the life style NOT in a big city could be more desirable. But sometimes a young person does not have a choice when s/he has not established the career (e.g., many of my young coworkers are in this situation. Most of them have no choice but live in this crowed, expensive area – at least at their age now.)
I also think that by conservative Harvard, Mastadon must mean Harvard Business School (Think: both Romney and the George W. Bush.)
This thread has the most MISinformation about Boston and these schools that I have ever read.
You need to look at Map of Boston and your questions will be answered accurately.
And if you look at each school’s website your questions about the school will be answered.
Choices, choices. No one is required to establish their career in a big metro area. That is a choice they make.
But back to the subject of the thread…Boston University is a fine, large. Private research university located right in Boston. It’s a great school. But it’s expensive, and does not meet full need for all,acceoted students.
Is it competitive? I think it is compared to many schools…but it is not as competitive as schools in the top 20.
As a newbie to anything about Boston, I think Mastadon’s post is informative to me at least. It helps me to get familiar with Boston and schools like BU, Tufts, MIT, NEU, etc. in general.
What is “wrong” about his/her post #37?
Granted, there may be no bridge named as Harvard Bridge. There seem to be only 3 main bridges connecting Cambridge and Boston: the first one near MGH, the second one leading directly to MIT (in the south-to-north direction), and the third one called Boston University Bridge.
What s/he said about the locations about medical centers are also (at least mostly) correct:
Tufts’ Medical Center is near Chinatown neighborhood, BU’s own Medical Center is in the South End neighborhood of Boston. The Tufts and BU medical centers are about a mile apart.
Granted, there are actually 3 major teaching hospitals (instead of just MGH) associated with Harvard: MGH, Bringham and Women, and Beth Israel Deacons. But MGH may be the largest among the three, so what Mastadon said is “about right.”
mcat2: In addition to the bridges that you mentioned, there are others. See this map:
http://bostonrunner.com/charles.htm
I’ve lived in the Boston area for 30-some years and I don’t know the names of all these bridges but I’ve been on all of them. If you want to get a feel for the city, why not come and visit? Doesn’t your son live on the east coast?
Bromfield2, Thanks. The map in the link you posted is very helpful.
I live on the west coast now. DS lives on the east coast (not in Boston though) but I have not visited him for the past half a decade.
He visited his friends who live in Boston recently, and when he mentioned a little bit about that city, I was very much lost. (He told me that many city/downtown/BU areas are relatively close to each other (very “walkable”), unlike NYC in NY, or LA and SF in California.) I am therefore somewhat interested in this city, e.g., where BU, BC, MIT, NEU, Harvard, and Tufts are located.
@mcat2 - The second bridge is named Harvard Bridge and it is 364.4 smoots long. At the time it was named, Harvard was the only university in Cambridge (MIT was still located in Boston) so the name made sense.
Many of the MIT frats are located across the river in Boston, because that’s where MIT was located until 1917.
http://www.mit.edu/~stevenj/mitmap/harvard-bridge.html
MGH is Harvard Med School’s original teaching hospital. It is has the largest research program in the US and is the top ranked hospital in the US. It is the largest hospital in all of New England and the largest non governmental employer in Boston. Harvard’s Med school was located adjacent to it, but it has moved several times before ending up at its current location in the Longwood Area of Boston (near Brigham and Womens and Beth Israel). So Harvard’s Med School and it’s other major teaching hospitals are closer to BU and Northeastern than Harvard’s Cambridge campus.
Here is a map of the Boston Neighborhoods.
https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/download/attachments/33417950/Boston_Neighborhoods.gif
Tufts Med School also has a “western campus” at the Baystate Medical Center out in Springfield.
The Tufts USDA Nutrition Lab and the Tufts School of Nutrition are next to the Medical Center downtown.
The Tufts Vet school is in Grafton (near Worcester- where land is much cheaper).
Harvard’s Business School and athletic fields are across the river in Boston (Alston neighborhood). Harvard actually owns almost twice as much land (359 acres) in Alston as Cambridge. They were going to build a large campus over there before the recession hit. Since the recession, they have built an innovation center in Alston and the last time I checked, they were trying to move their newly formed School of Engineering and Applied Science across the river in order to increase the level of collaboration.
The Longwood medical area is very close to BU. When I was an undergrad at BU, I did volunteer work at Beth Israel. Very short bus, T or bike ride (also true for Northeastern). The Longwood area has a huge concentration of hospitals, schools, and research centers all in a fairly small space. There is Brigham and Women’s Hospital , Beth Israel, Boston Children’s Hospital (also a Harvard teaching hospital), Dana Farber, Joslin Diabetes, Harvard Med School, Mass College of Pharmacy, Simmons College,…I bet I forgot some.
I have lived in the Boston area many years, have degrees from BU and Northeastern and a post doc at MIT and I have never heard of this conservative/liberal geographic thing. There isn’t really much around the Harvard Business School in terms of neighborhood, since its sandwiched between highways.
As for raising a family, it surely is not one of the cheapest places to live, but the city’s and state’s strong tradition and value placed on education makes for some great public schools in the greater Boston area, with students ranking top in the world.
"Since you are interested in the competitiveness aspect of a school, general speaking, if a school has an affiliated professional school, it is usually the case that its colloge becomes more competitive. "
That’s simply not true. Many (most?) state flagships have medical and/or law schools, and it doesn’t change their competitiveness.
“I live on the west coast now. DS lives on the east coast (not in Boston though) but I have not visited him for the past half a decade.”
What prevents you?
Wow, this thread contains a lot of good information about schools and neighborhoods in Boston. Thanks, Mastadon, LBowie, PG.
DS happens to know several friends in that area (some to the “north” of Charles River and some to the “south” of it.)
Deleted.
mcat2: Go visit your son. You miss him. Flights from East Coast to the West Coast can be really cheap. Is your son considering a move to Boston?
@Bromfield2, Not sure. (Or, more correctly speaking, it is not up to him to decide. Will see.)
“He visited his friends who live in Boston recently, and when he mentioned a little bit about that city, I was very much lost. (He told me that many city/downtown/BU areas are relatively close to each other (very “walkable”), unlike NYC in NY, or LA and SF in California.) I am therefore somewhat interested in this city, e.g., where BU, BC, MIT, NEU, Harvard, and Tufts are located.”
A trip to Boston is fun, but you’re too oriented into the colleges. Plan a trip to Boston the city - there’s plenty to do. If you’re not the parent of a prospective student, what does it really matter where suburban-campus Tufts and BC are - you aren’t going to go there anyway as a tourist unless you’re explicitly doing something at the college. Ditto for Northeastern.
Here’s a good map of the actual locations for schools, and a T map with transportation times:
Downtown would be around Emerson/Suffolk. Cambridge is everything north of the river.
http://erima.me/miscellany/EM/images/64305204.png
Detail: http://erima.me/miscellany/EM/images/64305204.png
Common School Stops:
Harvard: Harvard Square - Red Line
Tufts: Davis - Red Line
MIT: Kendall MIT - Red Line
Northeastern - Northeastern University - Green Line and Ruggles - Orange Line
Emerson: Green and Orange Line - Multiple Stops
BU: 3 stops - Green B Line
Boston College - B Line End
http://www.stonebrowndesign.com/uploads/9/7/6/9/9769402/t-time.jpg
Detail: http://www.stonebrowndesign.com/uploads/9/7/6/9/9769402/t-time.jpg
Those are some awesome maps, @PengsPhils ! (Brandeis just misses making the college map to the west.)
OP - What does she like about BU? A lot of students are drawn to it, but from what I’ve heard (and seen only via train) it lacks a traditional campus … more integrated into the city. DS did love the more campus-y NEU, which still has great access to the city. But it has it’s own twist with required co-op/experiential learning… not everybody’s cup of tea.
@colorado_mom my kid is a BU graduate. He often said that the city of Boston was his campus. He wanted to be at an urban college…and BU was perfect. There are small,areas of “green” along Bay State Rd. and the Charles Rover that feel very campusy at BU. But really…the city is its campus.