You are going to school, not your parents.
Your parents shouldn’t assume and it’s the only logical reason - we’ve heard of BC because they are in the ACC whereas Rochester is division 3.
hmmm - BC is not more prestigious than Rochester. One could argue equally - but not more.
Have you looked at outcomes? Do you know BC has better job placement? Or is it another assumption.
Clearly Rochester is where YOU should be because it’s YOUR life. And it’s a fine choice btw.
As others have said, BC is not more prestigious unless you’re counting sports.
For job placement, have you contacted both departments to see where recent grads have gone? Contact the department, not admissions. Admissions isn’t likely to know.
There’s a lot going for the (mostly) open curriculum part. It allows you to take classes that interest you rather than just checking boxes - other than for your major, of course. And if it is still the way it was, there’s one required writing class.
Having some familiarity with both and knowing students who attend both, I think UR definitely sounds more like the place for you, with its very heavy research and STEM focus. If you share this view, you have to do seem serious financial assessments and see if it’s worth the extra money.
What’s the main concern here? Do you want the flexibility to switch to an engineering major, or is it more around undergraduate research opportunities.
As for outcomes, take a look at each colleges websites. They both have detailed information by class year, major etc. You can search for where they are employed, went to graduate school, etc.
As of the update in Post 17, UR is less expensive than BC, not more.
Yes, if I decide I want to switch to something like CS or EE/Optics I know that Rochester is very strong in those areas. Whereas BC’s strengths (business, liberal arts, communications), don’t matter much to me. Superficially, I think I’d be more motivated in a STEM focused atmosphere than a douchy finance bro culture.
BC is a good school, and while there might be more “bro culture” there than at UR, I doubt it would be overwhelming. HOWEVER, BC is not a better school than Rochester. As others have said, the reasons it has name recognition for your parents are not really relevant to its academic strength in your areas of interest. Rochester has at least as strong a reputation as BC, in every way that will matter to you. You sound pretty clear that you like the culture and curriculum better at Rochester… AND it’s cheaper! It sounds to me as if the decision is made, and the real issue is how to improve your parents’ perception of Rochester. Maybe Admissions could help you out by putting you in touch with some UR parents that your folks could talk to - maybe even someone from their culture and/or country of origin, who could speak to the reputational aspects within their community.
You’ve already answered. You just need to explain to your parents - perhaps through this thread or US News or other rankings - that Rochester is as prestigious. They’re just not as familiar - likely due to BC being in the ACC (big sports league).
Turn it around and look at Rochester’s sports and the company they keep - ie their sports league (the UAA) which includes:
Brandeis, Carnegie Mellon, Case Western, Emory, NYU, Chicago and WUSTL.
Don’t forget, while they pay, it is your life.
I think your decision comes down to this. If you truly are looking at possibly switching to a major like EE/optics then Rochester would seem to be the better choice. If you are looking more at Grad School for Math or Economics than BC would be the better choice.
Also think about the curriculum (BC core vs Rochester open), the location Boston vs Rochester. Let us know what you decide. My S23 is looking at Math programs combined with either Philosophy or Econ and we have both Schools on the list. Good Luck
Regarding these schools’ math departments, note that only Rochester receives recognition in this site, which may be of interest to the OP:
@Novacat9191: Your son may also want to consider colleges that appear in this site:
Why do you think this? I always figured Rochester had a better grad school pipeline vs BC’s pre-professionalness.
I second this post. Not being Catholic at BC doesn’t matter at all. And it is in a very, very nice location and the campus is beautiful. If it were close financially, I would choose it myself, though Rochester is a great school.
[quote=“tsbna44, post:12, topic:3607193”]
it’s the religious bent of much of the student body.[/quote]
I don’t know that to be true. I know several kids from Seattle who attend/attended who are not religious at all.
BC is a national draw. Kids want to go there because of the school just like they want to go to Georgetown and Notre Dame. Nobody I know cares one way or the other about the religious tradition of the university.
Well there are Jewish kids that go, etc. but that defeats the point - the university is jesuit and catholic and that is its mission. 20% of its kids come from Jesuit schools and another 28% private schools. The student body is national but primarily NE and Mid Atlantic.
Everyone may not be religious - but the school is religiously leaning - in study, in student , in religious image on campus, and that’s just what it is. Not everyone - I said the bent (or direction).
I was just pointing out a difference in the schools themselves as Rochester is without affiliation although like many top private schools, it started out of a church affiliation.
@merc81 - Thanks for the information, I had actually looked at both of those previously. I find the College Transition lists are a good starting point to find schools to explore but the methodology has a lot of holes. Some of their criteria like “peer assessment” is based on an average of a bunch of other rankings (US News + Niche + etc). What you end up with is kind of a consensus pick that may over index on certain criteria depending on the weight of how it’s factored into the sub rankings.
I do like that they try and look at specific criteria through the lens of specific majors. I’ve pulled some of the data they use for my own list
As an aspect to consider regarding Rochester, it attracts international students at a higher percentage than nearly any other college or university in the U.S. This represents a statistic that distinguishes UR, and which seems to suggest a far-reaching reputation.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/most-international
Update: Just committed to the University of Rochester, thank you all for the input!
Congrats - how did you get that past your family? Glad they understood.
Congratulations! Good choice.