limitedvocab

Trying to help a friend out. (international student)

So, she's trying to decide between Indiana University Bloomington and Boston University. Business major (undergrad).

IU:
-Kelley's the better business school--at least, that's what the rankings say. I would love to tell her not to place so much emphasis on rankings, but I'm not sure how that works out for an undergrad business major.
-It's a lot cheaper, and she also got a $5000/year scholarship. Parents are paying full freight btw
-I think one of her relatives is staying in the area, so, being an international student, it'd be great to at least have someone to run to, just in case. And the occasional home-cooked meal would be awesome as well

BU:
-Better name recognition in this part of the globe.
-Better overall ranking? (I'm not sure, correct me if I'm wrong)
-Boston's a more happening place! (But more happening = more expensive? And would that matter a lot?)


Yeah so practically everyone she's talked to has told her to go to BU. I think I might be the only one she knows who's slightly more in favour of IUB haha. But honestly even I'm getting confused, and seeing as I'm pretty uninformed myself, I thought I'd get some help from CC.

And I haven't had the chance to ask her stuff like.. what kind of setting she'd prefer (urban vs suburban), size, vibe (midwestern vs east coast), that kind of thing. My friend's pretty laidback but she's the sort of person who gets along with practically everyone. So if you could just tell me the major differences between the 2 schools, and your own opinions, I'd be much obliged!


(x-posted to the BU forum)

Multitasker

Go to BU, you are obviously international student and you will be lost in the middle of Indiana, you need some familiarity to a city, Good luck at BU

GWEM27

Both are big schools and both departments are huge. I believe the qualities of the education are similar. It really comes down to where you want to live and how much you want to spend.

rg25264

Kelley Business has much more name recognition

mactonycw

Having lived in Boston for some part of my life and attending IU, I'll try and give you both perspectives.

BU is in an urban setting in the middle of the city, if I remember, there really isn't much of a campus-feel

On websites they say IU is urban, but it really isn't, IU is more open, has fields, more space, and has a variety of restaurants from your standard pizza, noodles, to a foreign foods such as Chinese, Thai, Tibet, Indian, French, Italian, etc.

Granted, Boston has much more to offer in entertainment, leisure, malls, water(ocean!). On the other hand, Bloomington is an average town with a mall, kirkwood, and campus...nonetheless, you can still find many things to do in town with 30,000 college kids.

I'd say Bloomington is safer than Boston in general.

In my opinion, IU has a much better campus community compared to BU where the schools are right by the streets and the dorms are spread out in high-rise buildings. Furthermore, if you're into sports, IU sports have much more to offer than BU. Nonetheless, the Boston Red Sox and Boston Celtics aren't far away as well as New England Patriots...

Kelley is ranked higher and has an outstanding career placement office, BU's business school is average...

Weather is comparable, but Bloomington gets slightly less snow...

Hope that helped a little...

steff89

I'm an international student and I'm stuck with the same problem too! I'm still undecided between IU or BU.

singaporemom

Have any of you international students visited the campus? My son is American but has lived overseas for 9 years, 4 countries, currently Singapore. He'll be showing up at IU with a more international frame of mind than the average US college kid. It was the visit to the campus that clinched it for him. He'll be studying Chinese, so the IU foreign language department is outstanding. In the long run, you have to put rankings aside and decide which place is best for YOU. If possible, visit the campus, international admissions officer, and department of your major. You'd be surprised the different feeling you get as you visit different campuses. We visited 7 universities and IU beat them all.

lydia_paramita

hei.. I have the same problem. I'm still deciding between IU-Bloomington vs Baruch College (New York, NY). I have visitied NYC and love every inch of it! However, I'm longing for the college life with dorms, huge campus, and great sport team, etc, etc. (I'm in community college right now and I hate to commute every single day to campus and there's lack of campus activites in here). Another issue is the money.. I have to pay $40,000/year in IU vs. $25,000/year in Baruch. Is it worth it the money? Any suggestions?

radronOmega

Boston UNIVERSITY

NOT Boston College

***clarification from person who posted in this thread***

anyways, i digress.


I'd choose Indiana. Being an international, being in a city environment may be too fast pace. There's a strong asian-international niche at IU, like a magnet hahaha. And again, the business school is better at Indiana.