<p>In terms of academic reputation I’ve heard BU touted to be as reputable as U.Mich to as low as Syracuse and Fordham. The school seems to conjure up a wide array of answers around it’s academic reputation. The school is ranked consistently in the top 100 schools on all rankings, higher in the international ones too. </p>
<p>I always saw it as being equivalent to a top flagship like UT-Austin or UW. Or a top private like GWU, NYU, Tulane or USC. </p>
<p>When I tried to throw in Vandy, I was chewed out by a Duke grad. Apparently BU has a lot of hatera that loathe the idea of their school being compared to it. </p>
<p>What do people have against the school? Why is it so massively underrated?</p>
<p>The problem with BU is dissent within itself and a lack of school spirit. Despite the efforts of the schools administration and dean elmore’s office, the students that go to BU go there due to the lack of a large greek life and city lifestyle. No one came to BU because of its school pride and spirit, the only time this concept even exists is during hockey games. The reason could be due to the fast paced lifestyle of Boston but i believe it is due to the physical design of the campus; it’s one long streched out rectangle on commonwealth ave rather than the typical square campus that most schools have. On this long rectangle its not just BU that resides there, its the boston metro as well as commonwealth ave which isn’t exactly lacking in cars.</p>
<p>To comment on your ranking perception i totally agree with you. When i visited BU and decided to come here as a senior in highschool i consistently compared it with NYU and i still do. NYU is a good school and i believe BU is their direct counterpart in Boston. However NYU is usually ranked a bit higher than BU. Why? Their academics may be a bit better but im pretty sure that BUs science programs are way more advanced. The answer may lie in the fact that BU has traditionally been shadowed by the most famous schools in the world, MIT and Harvard. Its not very easy to be considered as a great school when people constantly talk about Harvard and MIT when they think of Boston/Cambridge. What do you think of when you think NYU? Columbia? Maybe but even Columbia doesn’t have 1/4th the ego that MIT students and Harvard students have.</p>
<p>BU has been consistently rising in rankings since i got here. When i came to BU it was ranked #63 in USworld news. 1 year later its #52 and im sure its going to be going up from there. </p>
<p>My last thought is that BU has alot of dead weight dragging it behind in academic rankings. Schools like CGS are consistently filled with sub-par students with low SAT scores and the average intelligence of a community college student; they still get admitted because their parents pay full tuition and help fund the school.</p>
<p>You’re right. I’ve always seen NYU as BU’s intellectual peer but some want to almost fight over this comparison when I mention it. They say it’s more like GWU in DC but I think there is no major difference when all three GWU, NYU, and BU are top schools that tend to be overshadowed by Georgetown, Columbia and Harvard.</p>
<p>When I visited the campus it reminded me of Columbia and NYU. Columbia because of the Ivy covered French architecture buildings and NYU because of sprawled out urban campus on Com Ave. </p>
<p>It’s just amazing how all the rankings put BU in the NYU, UT-Austin, and U.Washington range, yet people adamantly protest that BU is not even close to their level of academic prestige. </p>
<p>The people that say this though, tend to downplay or outright hate the international rankings; ARWU, THES, and QS. Probably because their schools like Dartmouth, Brown, etc. are ranked much lower than the national rankings.</p>
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<p>CGS is not going to be eliminated if that is what you are hoping for. If for no other reason than the fact that several BU alumni who started out in CGS are very wealthy and very generous to BU: several gifts in the $5 to $10 million dollar range in the past few years. Come to think of it, if you start out in CGS and can make such gifts, maybe CGS isn’t the academic pit you make it out to be. </p>
<p>Texassoccer84: You have started several threads regarding BU’s prestige and ranking. You seem obsessed with it. Why not just enjoy BU for what it is and stop worrying about what other people think about it.</p>
<p>Well what is it, so I can enjoy it?</p>
<p>was going to post the same thing, TomSr.</p>
<p>BU is what you make it, Texassoccer. Who cares if other people look down on it? People look down on state schools sometimes, but a lot of students who attend those schools love the atmosphere, the football, the school spirit, the research opportunities…whatever.</p>
<p>The same goes for BU. if you read this board you’ll see a ton of people who are incredibly proud to go to BU, think it’s an incredible place, and had the best 4 years or more of their life there. </p>
<p>BU is not a number. I’ll defend the school til my dying day…I’m so grateful for every opportunity I had there. Who cares what some Duke kid thinks about BU? If I say his/her school is full of racist, fratty jerks who think they’re so great, will it change his/her opinion of the school he/she loves? (really don’t have a problem with Duke, I’m just saying if you’re really that concerned about what other people think of your school, you should get a reality check).</p>
<p>BU is whatever you make it. If you’re just relying on its rank to sell the school, you’re missing out on a lot of what it has to offer.</p>
<p>Also, the stuff about CGS is bs, as TomSr pointed out.</p>
<p>Actually I was more concerned about it’s academic rep because of potential employees. I was just using the average persons perception of it to build some sort of general understanding if where it stands.</p>
<p>In regards to CGS (the College of General Studies) being labeled as BU’s “dead weight:”</p>
<p>CGS is the 2nd largest college at BU and an integral part of the University. There are plenty of misconstrued notions claiming CGS is for kids that do not get into CAS (the College of Arts and Sciences).</p>
<p>Yes, it’s true that sometimes, students apply to CAS and are referred to CGS but it usually, and I stress “usually,” is not because they are “dead weight.” Most students who are referred to CGS from CAS are referred because they are unsure of their major. CGS is full of open-minded students are who simply unsure of what they plan to study. CGS is a two-year program. Students continue on into other colleges with ease after taking a thorough liberal arts education curriculum in CGS (courses include: Rhetoric, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Science).</p>
<p>And, as TomSr mentioned, there are a number of very distinguished alumni from CGS. I had many friends in the college and all of them are quite successful. I know many more who went on to prestigious grad schools.</p>
<p>Be very careful, texassoccer. As Senor Tom is obviously monitoring your posts, you might want to know that he is a Northeastern ■■■■■, in past posts desperate to contribute to raising his “peer” school’s profile relative to BU’s, practically drooling over things like the release of US News’ perennial toilet paper.</p>
<p>And BTW, CGS might be a very good program that has life changing impacts on certain individuals, especially those who need greater direction in a college environment, and those who have not previously lived up to their academic potential. But put the admissions department’s Kool-aid down, and read through its spin: there is one reason why individuals are admitted to cgs rather than cas, eng, com, etc. Their SAT scores are simply too low for admission to the other referenced programs. It has nothing to do with the applicant’s choice. CGS should be a 2 year, terminal, associate’s program, whereby, as now, admission is virtually guaranteed into the last two years (or remaining required credits) of an existing four year program. The sat scores of entering cgs students in such a two year program should not be factored into the “average” profile of all incoming students (a la NYU’s GSP program). This proposal would seemingly preserve the valuable CGS program, and at the same time address criticism that the “numbers” of the entering cgs students detract from the aggregate profile of the entering freshman class.</p>
<p>Except that CGS students take classes in other colleges beginning the second semester of freshman year. So if they’re competing with, studying with, and living with other BU students, why take them out of the equation? That seems offensive to me. Just because their scores are lower doesn’t mean they shouldn’t count. BU’s ranking issues go far beyond CGS.</p>
<p>Regardless of CGS, I think BU is massively underrated. In the international rankings it dominates with a solid top 50-70 spot. I do not understand how the US News undergrad score is so low by comparion, when even US News international rankings ranks BU higher by comparison. </p>
<p>Point is, regardless of the rankings game, BU maintains an excellent reputation among the international crowd; students, employers and professors. </p>
<p>dr.caligari, I am well aware of the anti-BU trolling among people in here and elsewhere. It’s strange stuff, no?</p>
<p>@DrCaligari: How was my comment in any way denigratory to BU? Your comments re: CGS seem to reflect poorlly on at least some members of the BU community and their attitudes towards a major component of the university.</p>
<p>Sr. Tom de Boston: I’m not familiar with the term “denigratory.”</p>
<p>drcalifgari:</p>
<p>criticize unfairly; disparage</p>
<p>[denigratory</a> - WordReference.com Dictionary of English](<a href=“http://www.wordreference.com/definition/denigratory]denigratory”>http://www.wordreference.com/definition/denigratory)</p>
<p>Something you are unfortunately doing on this thread right now in response to Tomsr sticking up for CGS…</p>
<p>texassoccer: as other people have mentioned on this thread can you please stop posting the same subject over and over again.</p>
<p>I tend to ask a lot because I never get a conclusive answer. The schools seems to be all over the map according to different people.</p>
<p>that’s the case with every school out there. you’re never going to get a conclusive answer. we’re all confused as to why this seems to be such a big issue for you. if you really think you’ll be hired based on your school’s ranking or name brand, you should read some other threads on here.</p>
<p>BU does better in international rankings because a) it has a huge international population of students and b) international rankings don’t tend to count things that lots of people care about in the states (e.g. college football)</p>
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<p>So you would say they’re more accurate?</p>
<p>who cares what I would say? I’m not applying for jobs internationally so I don’t really care what someone thinks about my school in Japan. And someone hiring people here might be really excited to talk about college football in an interview.</p>