<p>Hey Boston U,</p>
<p>In a little over a month, I am going to take a visit to Boston. I am planning to put a lot of effort into applying for merit scholarships at both Clark University and Boston University and am most interested in Biochemistry and Music.
Clark has a big appeal because of their LEEP program, 5 year masters program, and seemingly more open-minded, liberal environment yet Boston U is appealing because it is larger, has a better Biology department, and is located in Boston (as opposed to Worcester). </p>
<p>One of the main purposes of my trip is to compare Boston University and Clark University while getting a feel for both campuses.</p>
<p>Do you have any suggestions on what I should ask about or see while I am on or near those campuses? Any advice would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Cheers,
Julian</p>
<p>I would make sure to check out West Campus when you are at BU. The tour will cover East Campus but its worth the trek to West Campus in order to see the gym, stuvi, stuvii, and the freshman dorms at West. West has a different feel than East does and is a better fit for some people (West feels more campusy). While in West you can also check out the College of Fine Arts… I’ve never been in honestly so I can’t say much more than that about that. </p>
<p>I second checking out West Campus and Bay Street. DD and I went to Clark as our very first college tour. We thought that it was an interesting option, especially as there is the option to go to classes at other schools in W., but once we saw BU there was no going back. The Back Bay where BU is is spectacular, and of course Berklee is very close to BU as are several other schools with thriving music programs, but even if $$ and programmatic concerns cause you to choose Clark Boston is only a train or bus ride away! I would be pretty surprised if BU’s financial offers came close to Clark - BU’s “stock” is going in quite quickly, and the aid is not the best. Be sure you set up meetings with the music professors. I don’t think anyone would say that BU is excessively conservative - they have a huge diversity of students and some of the rules are strict because the campus is surrounded/bisected by public streets, but the students and professors themselves are not in my mind politicized at all. Clark, on the other hand, seemed liberally skewed fairly dramatically to my eyes. </p>