<p>Hah sorry if this is an obvious question I’m asking; I’m not from the area…
Why is the discrepancy so huge between these two schools (in rank)? I’m referring to the USNews Report list of the top national universities.</p>
<p>When I first saw this list, I assumed BU was much worse than BC but their stats are actually around the same, if not better. The only thing is, BU has a really high acceptance rate compared to BC (BU=55%, BC=38%). Is that the reason BU is so much lower?</p>
<p>I’m very curious about this as I’m seriously considering a school in the Boston area. Thanks to all that can help!</p>
<p>BC's acceptance rate is 26%, so I'm not sure where you saw the 38%. I really don't think that the rankings do much to affect the acceptance rates. BU's acceptance rate is 59%.</p>
<p>According to USNWR's on-line edition, the most recent data for each school are:</p>
<p>BC: "Most Selective" (27% acceptance rate)
80% in top 10% of HS class, 95% in top 25%
CR 610 - 700, M 640 - 720, Combined 1250 - 1420</p>
<p>BU: "More Selective" (58% acceptance rate)
53% in top 10% of HS class, 87% in top 25%
CR 580 - 680, M 600 - 690, Combined 1180-1370</p>
<p>I don't put a lot of stock in the rankings, but I do think the data show that BC students, on average, have higher grades and test scores and that it is much harder to get accepted there than at BU.</p>
<p>While BC does rank higher, beware of not applying to BU just based on rankings. My daughter attends BC and loves, loves, loves the school but my son, who wants to be an engineering major and live in the city, finds BU the better choice.</p>
<p>I read earlier in this forum that CCAP ranked BC even higher, at #11. They used the type of student body and faculty factors as USR and then added in the success of the Alumni, how satisfied the alumni and current students were with their college experience, and the quality of the faculty and faculty review ratings from one of those ratings sites.</p>
<p>Ratings are based on stats, and good stats overall does not mean its the best fit for a more specific goal. </p>
<p>BU was 46 in this Forbes CCAP ranking, but has some outstanding programs.</p>
<p>It depends on what scores you compare. If you compare BC's SAT scores to BU's CAS scores, they are very similar. The reason BU's overall scores are lower is because BU has a College of General Studies, which admits students with lower stats into the "junior college" where they attend for 2 years before transferring to one of the full colleges of BU.</p>
<p>Boston</a> University Information Center those are the means, but you can see that the mean for CAS lies within the middle 50% of BC's scores, so they are very similar (BC's mean's score seem to also lie within the median 50% so it's a good estimate). BU's College of Engineering has even higher stats than BU CAS since it's much more competitive to get into ENG, but it's not widely posted since CAS is a much larger school than ENG.</p>
<p>When it comes down to which school to attend, don't base judgment solely on USNews Rankings. They aren't ranked based off of quality of education, but rather endowments play a huge role in their rankings. Take for example BU's medical school. They got quite a large sum of funding from NIH to build the bioterrorism facility, and their rankings rocketed up. Now that completion is getting closer, NIH funding is dwindling down and BU's rankings is once again leveling out.</p>
<p>Base your school choice on your intended area of study. If you want to major in something that plays to BC's strengths, by all means go there. But if you wanted to major in something like engineering, which BC does not have, then don't let rankings of an entire university hold you back; heck if you're so stuck on rankings, you'll see individual colleges within a university are also ranked. Go to a large research school if research intrigues you...go to a small liberal arts school if you enjoy personal attention and small classes...etc.</p>