My daughter also got the guarantee transfer at BU. She also wants big city, cold, east coast, different from Houston. Decided to attend UT Austin for freshman, then reassess how much pull Boston has over Austin. BU is roughly 3 times the price since guaranteed transfer has no merit aid. Tough choice, daughter really wanted to do Verto, but she’s not a good traveler I don’t think.
You have a couple of other options—
• find a school that is still offering admissions for Fall. This would have to be a school with a high acceptance rate. Off the top of my head, Oklahoma State comes to mind.
• apply for spring 2026 start. I think this would be less than ideal.
• your son takes a gap year, works, does a gap program, and reapplies for Fall 2026.
I would still choose the study abroad >>>> BU option, just throwing some ideas out there. And I just reread where he gets two options! London or Prague for fall and then Seville or Florence for spring would be awesome.
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Yeah but I think the point is not the campus; it’s all the stuff around it that he could go see. And in any case, it’s only for what, 15 weeks at a time?
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just FYI not all aircraft have those anymore 
I might be strategic if these are $$ or very sentimental guitars and look at what aircraft it will be - some have a lot more overhead room than others and also make sure to get an early boarding group so their is room left in the bins. If you are in boarding in group F (or whatever) you will be lucky to get a coat up high. I wouldn’t count on attendants letting you bring 2 guitars and regular carry on for 1 person, though. They may, for sure, but I don’t believe obligated to do so.
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I think Hofstra is taking applications until tomorrow - nearish NYC very different than NC.
A number of schools switch to rolling, now too. What major do they want? Wentworth (in Boston) is good for engineering or probably CS..I think they are rolling now.
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I’m not sure we’re up for another round of apps, decisions and visits before May 1 with all other senior things happening. Will bring it to discussion though.
He’s interested in political science and philosophy but for first year, not sure it matters. Thank you.
I believe both are just “common app” and done…
Though not visiting is hard, I totally get that!
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Those do seem like some pretty fun options, and he’d have some great experiences and stories, I’m sure. I might try to gently sway my kid, in that case. 
It just depends on your kid’s personality – I know mine would have been very anxious to study abroad freshman year (just flying alone two hours to another state was a big deal over here, lol). She would have picked the safe option even if there were nothing exciting about the school. So I’d hesitate to paint it in a bad light, and just let him think it out and do what he prefers, if both are affordable.
Is there a chance to connect with students who are doing the study abroad program ahead of time? Maybe there’s a Discord or something he can join.
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@tonya77 Weighing in for a minute on the UNCC discussion – I guess I wonder what the point of the first year of college would be, and what sorts of gen ed requirements can be dispatched. It’s probably worth mapping out four year course plans for each option and thinking about those trade-offs.
I’m also wondering about BU and housing and how easy it is to parachute in as a sophomore with no pre-existing connections. One plus for the Verto option would probably be meeting other students who are also on the transfer plan and being able to sort out rooming situations together.
Finally – tough to go to a conventional school where one assumes the majority of students are planning on a four-year path – and know the whole time that he’s only going to be there for a year. It sounds like a recipe for disengagement.
Bottom line: would he be more excited about a year in the Charlotte suburbs, grinding through pre-reqs? or a year in some other country, possibly also grinding through pre-reqs? If you can truly afford both, I think I know what I’d pick.
(I probably wouldn’t go for a different school somewhere else, because again – it’s basically going to be a transfer station. Why spend more on sending him to Hofstra for a year when he could be in Prague or Seville or Buenos Aires?!)
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Yep, they have meetups virtually throughout summer and social media groups set up already for students to talk. Both school specific and location specific.
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Thank you for all of these thoughts. I very much appreciate it. Trying to wrap my head around all possibilities and pros/cons to consider, to try and help him.
My in-laws are thinking that a traditional campus would be better to acclimate him to a college environment and that he’d need this (maybe) to help with transitioning into a harder school like BU so his study routines and such can get figured out. And that this would be better at UNC Charlotte than abroad. Abroad seems more structured academically and schedule wise kind of similarly to his private high school. Although I’m not sure that is definitely the case given BU will be different from both options and he’ll have to figure out it out either way after transferring. Just not sure tbh. His free time would be much different for sure.
Transfer students get last choice for bu housing but they house them all together from what I’ve read. The classes are also already accepted and transferable to BU since it’s an official pathway. So that’s not an issue and a plus for abroad in my opinion.
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One admitted students day done; two more to go. First one was a great time, despite some not-great weather, and I think the remaining two have their work cut out for them. Highlight from the first visit was connecting with a couple of really sweet current students and them offering the whole family a bit of a behind-the-scenes tour.
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We have done a lot of research into the Verto option and here’s a tip! If you go to the Verto website and on the top right menu, go to Enrolled Students and Families, and then For Enrolled Students. I found a lot more details there, especially on the Location Resources page. Lots of info including tours of the residences for each location. Once my C25 saw the brand new, air conditioned single rooms in Seville, plus the POOL, she was sold. I think returning to the States is going to be a bit of a downgrade. 
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Oh wow! Thank you for that tip!!
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Congrats to your son!
I work at a smaller, less competitive school very close to BU and wanted to add that many of us surrounding institutions have first years who are guaranteed transfers to BU or NEU. They come learn the city, take gen eds, and then transfer out to their preferred school if their grades meet the mark. Many of us are still taking applicants and you can use the transferology web site to ensure classes will move over.
My kid is a Spring '26 BU admit, so we will see you around- good luck!
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Fwiw my kid has traveled a ton and has little to no interest in study abroad at this point (I’m hoping they change their mind though!) it is possible this kid is same? Not so excited by it as it’s not so novel as it is for most college students
I’d do it in a second myself (study in 2 countries)
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@Mammagoose brought up the point I was thinking of…I suspect that Suffolk, UMass-Boston, and Emmanuel might still accept students, and at least two of the three are heart of Boston, Boston.
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Well, now I want to go to Seville, lol. Off to research Verto for my D26 – I’m not familiar at all – because she claims she wants to study abroad. And a single air-conditioned room would sell her, too. 
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I can’t resist. Maybe don’t fly United?
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I just joined this whole forum but thought I’d add my 2 cents here. My D24 goes to BU- loves it!- and is hoping to go abroad next year 2nd semester as are many of her friends. Their overseas programs seem to fit many of the gen Ed (hub) requirements and possible major/minor requirements and every student we talked to last year when we visited had taken advantage of studying abroad at at least one point in their time at BU. Not only could it give your son some amazing experiences, those same experiences might help ease the transition to BU.
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