<p>Haha no, I do not mean to say that the trend will continue until BC is number 1. My point was that Tufts and BC have different pasts; you have to remember that it wasn’t too long ago that BC was on very thin ice. I think from where it was then and where it is today, it has made great strides. Perhaps rankings don’t tell the whole story, but certainly they show how BC is perceived among national universities, and BC’s jump from 40 the 31 in a matter of 4-5 years reflects this improvement and gain of prestige: </p>
<p>By the time J. Donald Monan, S.J. assumed the presidency on September 5, 1972, BC was approximately $30 million in debt, its endowment totaled just under $6 million, and faculty and staff salaries had been frozen during the previous year. Rumors about the university’s future were rampant, including speculation that BC would be acquired by Harvard University. Monan’s first order of business was to reconfigure the Boston College Board of Trustees. By separating it from the Society of Jesus, Monan was able to bring in the talents of lay alumni and business leaders who helped turn around the university’s fortunes. This same restructuring had been accomplished first at the University of Notre Dame in 1967 by Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC with many other Catholic colleges following suit in the ensuing years. In 1974, Boston College acquired Newton College of the Sacred Heart, a 40-acre (160,000 m2) campus 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away that enabled it to expand the law school and provide more housing for a student population that was increasingly residential and geographically diverse. No less than the university’s rescue is credited to Monan who set into motion the university’s upward trajectory in finances, reputation, and global scope. In 1996, Monan’s 24 year presidency, the longest in the university’s history, came to an end when he was named University Chancellor and succeeded by President William P. Leahy, S.J.</p>
<p>Basically, BC is just beginning to reap the fruits of its labor. Anyway, I think we’ve exhausted this conversation, so I’m ready to put it to rest.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for such an informative reply. We knew we had clear preferences for BC and chose not to apply to Tufts, only to keep reading on this forum how superior Tufts is by what? a notch? This speaks volumes to me, and it seems as if Tufts is consistently on the defensive. Apologies but what’s being implied is that in choosing BC over Tufts a better education is being compromised. I don’t think BC parents and students at the end of the day feel the need to defend themselves, but I’m grateful for this informative discussion.</p>
<p>"Something else I didn’t like about BC was the religious aspect; it was much more dominant than I thought it would be. I saw a nun working there! Two of the five students who were talking to my group had converted! I wasn’t about to deal with that. "</p>
<p>If you are referring to the “nun” that sits at the desk in the admissions office…well, she’s actually not a nun. She’s Muslim (but people mistakenly call her “Sister” all the time). I know, it’s a shocker that BC, the most conservative Catholic religious school out there, has a Muslim woman working at the front desk in admissions.</p>
<p>I hate coming in at the tail end like this and didn’t mean to disrupt the flow. I was truly annoyed, and I did post on one thread how confused I was about the comments, but the fog was lifted. I’m not sure your question was directed to me but yes those comments bothered me immensely.</p>
<p>Well, I’m attending BC this year and I love it. Though I don’t like Tufts at all, I have to say it’s really a good school. It’s no sense arguing which is better since everyone has his own preference.</p>
<p>^ It is not just about personal opinion. What is better, IS better. In addition to the above points, Tufts is more internationally recognized and reputed.</p>
<p>I am an international student. In my country, people (who are aware of US university rankings and all) value more to students from Tufts than BC. Also, even for internationals, BC is relatively EASY to get into, but Tufts comes into the category of most difficult. </p>
<p>Tufts has always been considered at par with Ivy Leagues. I personally know many students who chose Tufts (class of 2015) over Ivy leagues and UChicago (and vice-versa too), but heard no one of dumping any Ivy, UChicago for BC.</p>
<p>Sounding like broken record, here, but my son picked Tufts over acceptances at Brown, Penn, Pomona, Wesleyan and a few other very fine LACs. Two girls from his high school will accompany him to Tufts (both girls got into Stanford), this Fall.</p>
<p>The choice should be about fit and nothing else, I believe. And it my impression, from 20 years ago and now, that BC and Tufts are not interchangeable schools–radically different undergraduate sensibilities, very different students, even the politics, I daresay, are different. This is based on my knowledge of students who currently go to both schools, and to be fair, I only know of 2 current BC kids, one of whom transferred to Tufts. I have known a handful BC students over the years, and they were from fairly Conservative, Catholic, New England families.</p>
<p>Both excellent schools, in my opinion, and unless there is some academic offering at one, not at the other, it comes down to which environment you like better. I like BC better. Much better and so did my kids. My oldest took one look at Tufts and it was all we could do to get through the visit. BC was one of the schools he liked best. But, you know, there are kids for which the opposite situation occurs.</p>
<p>Sorry, it was my son’s problem, not the school’s, I assure you. DH loved Tufts and still gets annoyed when he thinks back to that day. Though I liked (and like) BC more, I would rank Tufts way up there and would be proud to have a kid go there.</p>
<p>I live in the Boston area and can tell you without a doubt BC and Tufts are polar opposites in both look/feel and in academics. Academics are far and away better at Tufts. Tufts attracts a diverse/eclectic student body, BC is pretty white and conservative.</p>
<p><<^LOL. My son’s biggest complaint about Tufts is that it is not nearly diverse enough! (He loves it otherwise though.)>></p>
<p>I took “diverse” to include any iconoclastic or out-of-the-box thinkers, of which my son is one, even though, racially/economically, he doesn’t look all that different, and, certainly, the two girls who accompany him to Tufts from his high school are free-thinkers (diverse in their thinking), as well.</p>
<p>Mea Culpa - Tufts has diverse people, that does not always mean race, but style of dress, way of thinking etc. I live down the street from BC and can spot a BC kid miles away, there is just a certain sameness about them.</p>
<p>I am a current freshman at Tufts. I’m originally from the UAE, so I didn’t really know what to expect when I came here. At Tufts, there are a lot of “hipsters”. I didn’t even know what those were before I came here (lol)! I would certainly agree that there is a lot of diversity among the student body, both geographic and ethnic. I have a lot of black and latino friends here. I would however, caution that there is not a lot of intellectual diversity. Because Tufts attracts a number of “outside-of-the-box” thinkers, it is a very liberal school. If you’re a Republican, go to BC. You’ll like it better there.</p>
<p>To be clear, my son went to a high school that was 40% African American, and about 25% Latino, economically there were kids from projects and kids from mansions. His impression is that the vast majority of Tufts kids are white and middle class. They may be somewhat more diverse than the average college racially and economically, and they may look quite diverse to someone from the average American suburban high school, but compared to my son’s high school they aren’t diverse at all. (And his school also had out of the box thinkers, artsy, nerdy types and jocks all in good numbers. Like Tufts pretty much dominated by Democrats though there Republicans who held their own.)</p>
<p>^^mathmom-
But a high school that is 40% African American and 25% Latino does not reflect the diversity of the population in general (I am not necessarily saying that Tufts does, because I don’t have the statistics). And isn’t the majority of the general population “white and middle class”?
I would have considered Tufts to be pretty “diverse” in comparison to schools of comparable geography, size and quality.</p>
<p>It’s kind of sad how hard Tufts students (and parents apparently) try to make their school seem like this amazingly diverse and open place. Tufts is known for this, and other schools make fun of it for it. There is nothing wrong with an open, diverse environment, but when you try so hard to get others to know this, it just looks pathetic. Tufts thinks it is the greatest thing to ever exist on this earth. </p>
<p>ANTIDRAMAQUEEN: You’ve been out of college for too long. You may think you know all about it through your son, but honestly, you don’t. Your perceptions of BC, like your perceptions of Tufts, are misconstrued. For someone who takes pride in being such an open person, you are very closeminded when it comes to seeing the realities of these two schools.</p>
<p>^^^I think that many BCers and Tuftsters would agree, then and now, that BC and Tufts are very different schools. I’m not aware that there is much cross-applying the way there is, say, between Tufts and Wash U. or Tufts and Brown.</p>
<p>I don’t know that anyone tried so hard to make Tufts look a certain way. I just thought that Anti and others expressed their opinion as to what the differences are between the two schools. </p>
<p>Sounds like you might have gotten your knickers in a knot, NRG21B.</p>
<p>LoL not at all SWHarborfan. I just think ANTIDRAMAQUEEN could not be more wrong in implying that BC students are not “out-of-the-box” and “free” thinkers.</p>