While I understand that every school is different, I really like the idea of going to school in the Boston area. I am definitely applying to Harvard, but that’s a shot in the dark obviously. For reference, I’m an Asian-American girl from Northern California/Bay Area.
-Schools: Tufts, Boston University, Boston College, and Northeastern (visited first 3’s campuses unofficially & liked them all in different ways)
-Desired programs of study: Economics/Business Admin. and Political/Computer Science (depends on the school- ex: BC has CSOM; NU has various combined degrees)
-Desired career paths/fields: management, consulting, government
-Important college factors for me (in order): financial aid opportunities, smaller class size, student diversity, work/internship opportunities/reputation w employers, challenging academics, big school spirit/good party-social scene
Can anyone give me a brief rundown of academic/student life for these 4 schools so I can see how I would fit into them and what I would get from them? If anyone is attending/has attended these schools, please let me know how it is / what you think of other Boston college students nearby! Thanks!
They’re all good. I would consider Tufts and BC less social. BU has no campus. NEU is very pre professional and you have to go for 5 years. Tufts and Northeastern are polar opposites academically, where for Tufts your education is extremely interdisciplinary, and for Northeastern your education is decided before you apply with little room to change
If you haven’t done so yet, get your hands on some of the good college guide books (Fiske, Insiders Guide, Princeton Review) and read up on the schools. The books can often be found in the HS guidance dept. or local libraries. And run the net price calculator or each school to get a sense of which ones may be affordable.
Maybe look at Brandeis, too-- it has the small classes, research opportunities, internships, merit and need-based aid, and diversity you seek-- but it is not famous as a big party school and sports are not a dominant part of the culture. It is in a suburb close to Boston.
I know little about political or computer science. For economics and business, BC has the strongest set of faculty among the four. I also believe that BC is the only doctoral granting institution in finance (a major functional area of business) among the four (not quite sure about this), also it is a well respected one (I am very sure about this).
BC is not known for generous financial aid as it awards a very small number of full ride scholarships and then uses CSS to define need in a rather unfavorable way.
Northeastern doesn’t have to be five years, and there’s a lot of flexibility in changing paths, though I think what your point was is that people tend to be more directed at Northeastern. But as far as the ability to change, it is made explicitly easy to change majors across colleges and all. Not to mention that you can even change your major before getting to campus after being admitted.
Overall though, I agree that Northeastern and Tufts are very much opposite in terms of academic philosophy.
All these schools are very expensive, so think about sending apps to schools outside of boston that may give you merit aid. BC in partucular tends to be stingy with merit aid and would not be the best choice for Computer Science or STEM in general.