@thumper1 - That makes sense. I get the feeling that NYU is a lot like that too, where the city is the campus. Actually the edges of NEU are like that too. Only the core is campus-y, and even that has Ruggles station at the corner.
We also visited Tufts. To me that seemed a nice compromise of classic campus but good access to Boston. It did not appeal to DS. (That was ok by me - we were chasing merit scholarships, and we learned that Tufts aid like many schools is mostly need-based).
While the OP is long gone (see the dates), I do think there’s an important note to make about Tufts/BC: While not completely inaccessible to Boston, the maps I posted show that of the colleges most are familiar with, they stand out as significantly farther from downtown. From my knowledge, this usually translates to most students staying on campus and rarely utilizing the city. Most college students, even Harvard ones, tend to be lazy / like to stay within a decent distance of campus. For Tufts and BC, trips around the city can reach an hour or more by public transportation, and few have cars.
I think the result of this is that a student must either be incredibly motivated to use the resources of Boston, or they don’t have as high of a value on the city when they choose to attend. It’s neither good or bad, but a trend I’ve noticed. To any students looking for a school in Boston, I don’t think Tufts/BC are decent choices. I know I personally eliminated them during my search for that reason and have only found it to be truer once living here. In the Boston downtown area, I regularly encounter BU, MIT, Harvard (less so of all of these but often enough), Berklee, and Emerson students: I don’t think I’ve seen or interacted with anyone in BC/Tufts.
During a year and a half, I have traveled to each BC and Tufts once from Northeastern - BC took an hour on public transit thanks to the arrangement of the Green line. I actually went there to visit a cat shelter, but the area as many know is incredibly suburban, a feeling you get very clearly taking the T in. It’s a very different world than Boston. For Tufts, I took an Uber over T, and it took about 30 minutes: closer, but still a pain as public transit takes longer. It had a Cambridge character for sure, but it had a similar feeling of suburbia.
As a person with a strong city preference, I certainly didn’t like the areas. If you are looking for a suburban classic school with occasional city access, both are amazing options. The point being, though, the more you need the city, the quicker I would advise against them.
BC’s campus straddles Brighton (urban) and Newton/Chestnut Hill (suburban). Any kid at BC who finds it too much trouble to get on a trolley car for a job, internship, museum/concert, etc. in downtown Boston is clearly coming from another planet.
Love this thread because it has me laughing.
Boston University; quirky-shaped campus in an eclectic neighborhood.
Tufts University; a country mile from the interesting parts of metro Boston.
Cambridge; gets my vote for the ugliest town in America. And the parking is horrible in the residential areas.
Harvard Square; crowded and overrated, but at least you can find parking there.
MIT; meh, but again, I always found a weekend parking spot whenever I was near MIT.
Boston College; glitzy area. Be sure to visit the Museum of Cars in nearby Brookline to see Mao’s Mercedes limousine.
U Mass-Boston; What a God-forsaken location!
The John F. Kennedy Bridge; Connects BU campus to Cambridge, but not to Harvard!!! I don’t think the JFK Bridge is even in JFK’s original congressional district. LOL.
You should have seen it in 1975!
@blossom College students tend to like to stay on campus. For a job/internship, they certainly do have access. But they won’t go in frequently just for fun, and no, it’s not another planet. It takes 40 minutes to get to downtown via T, let alone transfer to other lines. That’s double the time of the other more well-known schools, Tufts included even. If you’re looking for the city to be “part of your campus”, BC isn’t going to be the option for you. Most college students I know find this phrase hilarious: “BC is in Boston”
I know kids at Clark who manage to get into Boston once a week. I know kids at Brandeis and Wellesley who have jobs in downtown Boston. I know kids at Babson who have significant others at Emerson and Simmons- I’m presuming they manage to haul their butts onto public transportation more than once a semester. BC is too far from Boston? That is indeed hilarious.
It is a mindset that some students want a 24/7 campus experience.
Clark is in Worcester…not much to do there.
Along the lines of this is what I’m saying. Access is not the same thing. My comments are aimed at those that would want to be in both Boston/Cambridge consistently multiple times a week and for most of their activities.
Don’t get me started on “Woo-stah.” At least there is a great FM classic rock & roll radio station there.
What @PengsPhils says echoes my experience exactly. I never met a single Tufts kid out and about in Boston, and met BC kids only a few times–the kids who are really IN Boston, utilizing Boston, go to BU, NEU, Suffolk, Emerson, etc… some of the Harvard & MIT kids leave the Cambridge bubble occasionally, but a lot don’t go further than where the Red Line takes them (understandable: the Green line is a pain). Even BU kids have a bubble–I probably only went over to Cambridge 5, maybe 6 times during my UG years (much more once I’d graduated and simply lived in Boston as an adult). It’s a far trek and there’s enough to do in Back Bay/Boston without having to cross the river. I don’t blame any BC kid who rarely ventures on the Green line into the city proper: I think 40 minutes is generous. If it’s raining, snowing or simply if every BU kid on the planet is trying to use the B line to go one stop between classes, the B line can be a nightmare–slow, crowded, etc. And then transferring lines if a pain (getting to the MFA by train, from BU took like an hour w/ transfers–when the weather was nice, it was faster to walk… I can’t imagine a BC kid making that trek regularly). It’s definitely most common for BC kids to stay on/near campus–there’s plenty to do out in Chestnut Hill/Allston/Brighton anyway. If you want a campus experience, BC and Tufts are great, and the access to Boston is auxiliary (a nice bonus!). But those students aren’t hitting up the town every night, or even most weekends–it’s kind of inconvenient.
I always tell kids considering BU: if you want/need/crave a central campus, it is not for you. But if you want to go to college IN the city, and live like a city kid… it’s great. BU has campusy pockets (West Campus comes to mind), it’s just not a “traditional” college in the way that most kids imagine college (based on what they see in movies, etc.). Sometimes I look at picturesque traditional campus schools and wonder if i would have liked it, but I was city-bred and it’s what I really wanted at 18, so I have no regrets 
When we toured BC with DD, it seemed great that it was on the T-line, albeit at the end. I have since heard though that the Green line can be quite slow.
At Tufts, our tourguide said he often walked to get the train (or maybe bus?) to Boston, but when going to the airport on a long break with luggage he split a cab.