I have been admitted to both schools and both majors seem really nice. Unfortunately, I’m an international student so I don’t have a chance to visit either campus to find out more. Help?
Both are good schools in interesting areas, so you can’t go wrong with either choice. UCSD does have a much more traditional American campus, whereas BU doesn’t, it looks more like a European school, located along a major avenue, with housing and classrooms scattered throughout that area of Boston. UCSD also has their “college” system (http://provost.ucsd.edu/colleges/) which isn’t common in public universities and which doesn’t exist at BU. The architecture of BU’s buildings is more interesting (older, more unique) the setting of UCSD arguably more spectacular. Economics and communications will be offered at most universities (although not all will have a separate communications major.) For an international student, I would think an economics major would be more practical, but in the event you will change your mind, base your decision on what other majors are offered.
The above response is excellent. If it makes a difference, UCSD has one of the strongest departments of economics in the world for research. I believe there’s even a Nobel laureate on the faculty right now (edit: just looked it up, Harry Markowitz)
Is there a difference in price and what do your parents sayin terms of budget?
I’d go with Economics at UCSD all things being equal.
Thanks so much for all your advice! The difference in price is not a major concerning factor (since both are pretty expensive for an international student) Boston is a gorgeous city and I heard UCSD’s campus is also really nice; (however some say UCSD is more of a commuter school and many students go home for the weekends?) I’m currently leaning towards UCSD economics but since I’m in Eleanor Roosevelt College, which is known for its heavy GE workload, yikes, I am slightly concerned about not being able to maintain a decent GPA. Thanks again for your input!