I know this is a question asked very often, but Notre Dame or Boston College?
S was accepted to both and it looks like finances will be about the same. We are from the Midwest and S is looking to study Business. His major attractions to these schools, aside from the academics are the balance and Catholic traditions that both offer. He goes to a large high school and has a couple of friends going to both schools. He has no legacy at either school.
Acknowledging that this is a BC thread, what about BC makes people choose it over ND and vice versa?
BC’s CSOM is plenty strong such that the above comparison about regional vs national is not something I would add to the consideration. Your son will be in good shape for work opportunities at either school.
It’s more important for your son to attend where he feels most comfortable.
Both are awesome schools and both excel at developing the person as a whole. He really can’t go wrong at either. My wife and I couldn’t believe how much our son enjoyed and grew from BC. And ND should offer a similar experience.
For what it is worth I have heard from college counselors that have a lot of first hand experience with Catholic colleges that ND is more conservative than BC. As it relates to specific advice we have been given, our counselor with this first hand knowledge, who is conservative herself, says that she thinks ND is TOO conservative. ND is also not Jesuit so there my be a slight difference in the schools because of that. With that said, I do think that you are right that they are still overall probably similar in many ways. Both have great football, but BC also has a ton of school spirit around other sports, especially hockey and basketball. The Beanpot rivalry with Harvard, BU, and NE is a lot of fun.
And another obvious difference is that BC has Boston. While there is a lot of school spirit at both schools, in Boston the students have the option of going to the city to change things up a bit. I went to BC myself and we used to take the T into Boston on weekends often (as you know the T green/B line ends right at BC and is called the “Boston College” line), especially as freshman, and it was a lot of fun exploring and learning about the new city together. And I don’t mean bar-hopping. Students go in during the day and walk around the common, explore the different neighborhoods, Faneuil Hall, the waterfront, Copley/Newbury St., Back Bay, etc.
I think maybe ND has some Greek life? Can’t recall. BC doesn’t and that might be something to consider.
My daughter ended up not applying to ND in the end because she decided she didn’t want to be “in the middle of nowhere”…with that said, I don’t think ND students have a hard time finding something to do!
You really can’t go wrong with either. I’m leaning towards BC for him, if for no other reason, because he is from the midwest and it might be a nice new experience. Both are great schools (ND is slightly more selective but BC’s stats are insane this year so not sure about this year’s comparison) and he will have many career options coming out of either program! Good luck!
Congrats to your son. Mine is aiming to have the same choices next year. Agree with the above poster that ND is more conservative than BC. Jesuits are probably the most liberal Catholics. I didn’t go to BC, but to another Jesuit U. Spouse went to ND. Though ND more conservative, nothing is shoved down your throat, and I doubt that it plays a big part in the day to day life of a college student. Boston definitely seems way more interesting than South Bend. Your son has two great choices and for business, probably can’t make a bad choice with either one. Good luck.
My son graduated from Mendoza at Notre Dame in 2011 and I have a daughter who was accepted EA to Boston College CSOM this year. (She was deferred by Notre Dame.) I have been part of the ND family for 8 years, but only acquainted with BC since the fall, but here are my two cents.
My feeling is that Notre Dame is the “most Catholic” Catholic University out there. The dorms are all single sex. Every dorm has its own chapel. The school enforces parietals. There are religious statues around campus and a crucifix in every classroom.
They have have zero tolerance for drug use and they’re more strict about drinking (certainly drinking games) than most other universities. A lot of the social life on campus centers around Dorm-Sponsored events and sports. Career services and the alumni network are great. On campus recruiting opportunities were amazing. (S secured his position as financial analyst at Walt Disney World in December of his senior year.)
The strictness at ND may be seen as a plus or minus depending on what you’re looking for. I expect, though, that things are more relaxed at BC. I have a D who went to a different Jesuit university and they were more socially liberal than Notre Dame. I would not consider ND to be politically Conservative, but socially conservative, yes.
I expect that opportunities will be great at either school, especially for those graduating from their business programs.
Most undergrad B-schools are local, and I would put both BC and ND into that category. (There are only a handful of ‘national’ undergrad b-schools, whose name will carry anywhere.) In other words, BC places extremely well into the NE with ND placing well into Chicago. Historically, I’d give an edge to ND on the west coast, but BC is booming very competitive for western students, so its alumni base is growing.
One Catholic difference is the Jesuits – they just do things differently (and wonderfully, imo).
Of course, Boston is a quintessential town for college students; internships galore. In contrast, South Bend is a college town.
If you buy into rankings, Mendoza undergrad is generally extremely well regarded (ranked as #1 by BusinessWeek, if I recall correctly).
Notre Dame’s relationship with South Bend is different from most schools’ relationships with their college towns----ND students don’t really go into South Bend very much, so it just doesn’t factor into the student experience in the same way. There really isn’t a comparison–Boston is better than South Bend----but keep in mind that part of the familial feel and tight-knit community of ND derives from the insular nature of campus and that most students rarely leave it. Not that there’s a shortage of things to do, as I often felt that there was a shortage of time to do all the things I wanted each weekend.
Chicago is also reasonably close by, and many students take a Saturday to go and visit if they feel like they want to visit a big city for the day. However, South Bend, as the fourth largest city in the state, certainly isn’t lacking in offerings, even if it doesn’t really feel like a college town.
ND is arguably the most national school in the country (I’m not sure about the academies). 95% of students are from out of state, with the majority coming from outside the Midwest. In contrast, 1 in 5 students at BC are from Massachusetts, with nearly 2/3 of the class of 2017 from New England, NY, PA, and NJ, so that’s something to consider if that might bother you (only 2 students from that class are from Indiana, incidentally).
For all of ND students’ talk about “Backup College,” there is a lot of respect for BC and it’s definitely a great school, though I can’t say I’ve met a graduate outside the northeast.
Friend has son at one and daughter at other. Both accepted to both schools. One chose BC mainly because of Boston and the other for the lustre of ND . He loved it when he visited and it became his first choice school.
While ND is more “Catholic” than BC, it’s certainly not the “most Catholic” out there. BC is very liberal, being a Jesuit institution, and many conservative Catholics think it shouldn’t even be able to call itself Catholic. ND is more conservative, but they’ve still had a few spats with conservative Catholics.
ND is wildly liberal compared to some of the schools on the Newman list, such as the Franciscan University of Steubenville.