<p>What would be considered BU’s peer schools?</p>
<p>What other universities share BU academic reputation and recognition?</p>
<p>The one that comes to mind immediately is University of Washington. Large universities, very strong programs in certain fields, research powerhouses, both command a fair measure of recognition.</p>
<p>That’s a good one!</p>
<p>I hope others see it like that too. I was going to say UT-Austin.</p>
<p>We are talking about UW-Seattle, right? Not WashU in St. Louis?</p>
<p>Pitt is another one. Average freshman SAT is basically the same, both heavy in research (esp. life sciences), and have urban locations. They also have top-rated tech neighbors next door (CMU) or across the river (MIT).</p>
<p>Yup, meant Seattle. This is the one that jumped in my mind since this is the main choice I’m currently facing.</p>
<p>WashU I don’t think is in the same ballpark if your thinking is science/engineering oriented. By this I mean it’s very good in the life sciences ect., but that’s not necessarily what I’d go there for for. Ie I have many classmates who applied to engineering majors elsewhere applied as political science or economics etc. for WashU.</p>
<p>Perhaps also University of Michigan? Or Rochester? </p>
<p>It’s really hard to make this sort of judgment because you need to compare a few departments within each university to a good depth that you need to do very precise research for. </p>
<p>Boston University is a very confident university in that its very open with this crucial data such as:</p>
<p>-median starting salaries of alumni with bachelor’s degrees</p>
<p>-Distribution across the country (within Massachusetts, the Northeast, Southeast, West) of where the alumni go for employment. </p>
<p>Which graduate schools they go to. </p>
<p>Which specific companies hire alumni with bachelor’s degrees. </p>
<p>Even where each individual premed student went to medical school. </p>
<p>So by looking at these criteria, you’re taking your comparison and analysis to the next level. You move beyond the superficial, vague, and really useless stuff like “Big research universities, lots of students, has a more prestigious neighbor nearby” and getting to useful things you can base your decision on (along with the personal factor like visiting the campus, etc).</p>
<p>-
Finally, I’m noting that BU has a pretty large body of distinguished alumni. MLK Jr., Howard Zinn, Isaac Asimov, the works. That gets acknowledgment alone.</p>
<p>Despite the close proximity to Harvard and M.I.T., it still has a respectable name, and that’s surprising. There are other universities and colleges in Boston that fall completely under their shadow, and I’ve been thinking lately that it is to BU’s credit that it doesn’t fall into ignominy.</p>
<p>Pitt, UWash, Rochester, UMich…that is some good company! </p>
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<p>Is BU strong in each area?</p>
<p>I’ve only looked at the College of Engineering stats, so first I’ll explicate on that.</p>
<p>Salary for entry jobs differs drastically for different majors, but as I said engineering is looking pretty good. All at $60,000 except for Biomed-eng, so those students go to graduate school for their master’s. </p>
<p>One thing that genuinely astonished me was how BU eng has its own specific Career Development Office. Lesser-known stuff, but they do make a good case for BU. They’re responsible for getting literally 50% of the alumni their first jobs, and they appear to be quite decent generally. </p>
<p>Check out this page for the specifics: [Boston</a> University College of Engineering Graduate Outcomes](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/eng/careers/students/outcomes/]Boston”>http://www.bu.edu/eng/careers/students/outcomes/) so you’re not just taking my word for it. That’s what I’m citing.</p>
<p>Whatever else, I think this college takes care of its kids. </p>
<p>I wish I was more familiar with the other colleges. Just now I skimmed Arts and Sciences, and couldn’t find a super-obvious Career Development link. I saw Pre-Professional Advising, which doesn’t look as awesome as the CD office for engineering.</p>
<p>I checked this link too: <a href=“http://www.bu.edu/careers/about-ccd/services/[/url]”>http://www.bu.edu/careers/about-ccd/services/</a> which looks like Career Development for the larger university, but I couldn’t find the stats at a glance. </p>
<p>It doesn’t look like it’s specialized like the eng CD office, which actively leverages its connections, but looks to be more of an advising kind of thing, which if true can’t be as helpful.</p>
<p>Which specific college are you considering enrolling in?</p>
<p>I’m a graduate going into City Planning. Not too worried though because I’ve already spoke to all the top people involved in the program and they provided me with the stats. It seems like a top program in Boston that offers a lot. </p>
<p>I am not so worried about employment. I know the program is strong and has good connections with employers in Boston. </p>
<p>I was just wondering about the overall level of academic recognition if I were to able to leave the country to look for employment (or the NE for that matter).</p>
<p>What are it’s overall peer schools? </p>
<p>I keep getting NYU, GWU, and Syracuse from non-BU grads.</p>
<p>GW, NYU and Syracuse are good examples. American is also similar, IMO.</p>
<p>Texassoccer a friend of mine is also doing city planning. He graduated from BU last year and just got into Columbia for grad school.</p>
<p>Sweet! I knew I chose a good program!</p>
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<p>Good schools, but I was really excited about the Pitt, Mich, UWash, and Rochester comparisons listed above.</p>
<p>You’re going to have a rough time finding data from other schools to compare with what the Dow listed is available for BU at the department level. Unfortunately, in most cases, the “vague, superficial, and really useless stuff” is all you’re going to get, but that’s at least where you start to narrow down to get your set of comparison schools. If you can get that extra data at the department level for that set of schools, then you’ve got something. Like any other school outside the very top group, BU has a strong rep in some areas and is not thought of in other areas.</p>
<p>To any of the BU Engineering students. </p>
<p>I am really interested in the LEAP program. I have a social science liberal arts bachelors and am going to BU for City Planning - Transportation. </p>
<p>Is there a Civil Engineering major at BU? I would like to pursue graduate studies in CE and the LEAP program looks like a great option to break into the field.</p>
<p>I can’t seem to find the Civil Engineering dept. on the BU website. Does BU even have a BU website?</p>
<p>No Civil engineering program at BU.
Here’s the link and btw, according to US Newsweek, their
engineering program is top notch.</p>
<p>[Boston</a> University College of Engineering](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/eng/]Boston”>Engineered for Impact | College of Engineering)</p>
<p>I am unfamilar with engineering sciences but would materials science be the closest to civ. that BU has?</p>
<p>Can we get some more opinions on what BU students think are their peer schools? </p>
<p>Are NYU and GWU really the closest?</p>
<p>NYU and GWU are probably two of the closest peer schools- all things considered. Urban campuses in big cities with diverse student populations. Strong in various fields/departments. Lots of research going on and very good graduate programs as well. GWU and BU are also very similar when it comes to athletics- both D1 programs in mid-major conferences (with the exception of BU Hockey).</p>
<p>I chose BU over GWU and UMich.</p>
<p>NYU or USC I can understand as being much more peer schools than GWU. </p>
<p>IDK, I guess I just assumed all of the stuff that is said about BU (expensive school for above average rich kids) seems to be more reflective of GWU. But that’s shallow, I am sure GWU is just as academically reputable as any top school.</p>
<p>How about Tulane and U Miami?</p>
<p>I’d prefer GWU to U.Miami any day.</p>
<p>anyone else?</p>