It’s totally understandable if when considering Boston College, you totally forgot about Boston University. Happens to the best of us. It’s well known that the rivalry between these two Massachusetts schools didn’t start on the football field. But honestly, it really isn’t a competition. BC stacks the deck with a college football team, a gorgeous campus and Jesus’s love, putting all the checks in the BC column for Boston’s best university.
1. BC Actually Has a Campus…
BU students argue the city of Boston trumps BC’s Chestnut Hill location on Commonwealth Ave. And just like when they try to argue politics or poetry, they make fools of themselves. BC has the best of both worlds when it comes to higher education: a spacious suburban campus and access to the fantastic city of Boston. Within just five minutes from the Boston College campus, there are three T stops that will get you into the city in less than 20 minutes. How’s that for convenient?
2. …And it’s beautiful
BC is rife with student quads and beautiful grass. Our graduation Instagrams say #nofilter and mean it. I wonder if BU kids even remember what grass looks like… BU students tend to get lost on BC’s 5,880,600 square foot campus. Plus, this spacious campus means that student life is much more integrated into the college experience.
3. BC Has a Football Team
What’s a college without tailgating and touchdowns called? Not boring, silly. BU. BU students will never know the joy of watching Andre Williams stiff-arm a defender or of seeing Doug Flutie nail a Hail Mary pass. They probably don’t even know what three quarters of that sentence means.
4. But Football Isn’t the Only Sport Where BC Rocks
BC competes in nearly 30 NCAA Division I varsity sports in the ACC, and the BC Eagles have one of the highest graduation rates for student athletes in the country. BC’s men’s and women’s ice hockey teams are also a force to contend with. We compete in Hockey East AND BC’s men’s ice hockey team has won five national championships.
BC also has more sports programs overall (15 vs. BU’s 11) with options ranging from basketball to lacrosse and those that BU doesn’t even offer (aside from football) including baseball, fencing and volleyball.
5. BC’s Mascot is ‘Merica
To put it in terms even a BU student would understand, would you rather be a yapping dog or the symbol of America’s freedom? You know who our founding New England fathers would favor. Oh did I mention you can follow all things Boston College athletics on bcinterruption.com?
6. BC Has the Fellas
Less than half of the students at BU are dudes (the official stat is somewhere around 60:40 in favor of ladies). Goodbye, hook-ups. In comparison, BC boys were ranked #10 on CM’s ranking of hottest guys. BU didn’t make the list. Go ask the Boston College Chicks social media page about it.
7. BC’s Size
BC has 9,000 undergraduate students. BU has 15,000 and their total student enrollment, including graduate programs, is higher than BC (34,657 vs. 14,720 students). Want to be just another face in the crowd? Go to BU. If you want to walk through the dining hall and have tons of people waving and six options of places to sit, go to BC.
8. BC students avoid the B Line
Have you ever sat through a trip from one end of the B Line to the other? It’s horrid. And that’s the only T that can get you to BU. Boston College students have access to both the C and D Line to get us into the city in 15 minutes flat.
9. BC’s Academic Rigor
According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, BC’s Carroll School of Management is the number four business school in the country. The Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences equips their liberal arts students with all of the critical thinking and soft skills needed to become #qualified. Statistically, it’s harder to get into BC than it is to get into BU (shout out to the 13 percent competitive difference in BC’s acceptance rate). We graduate more students: 91 percent of BC students graduate in six years compared to BU’s 854 percent.
Not only that, BC really cares about meeting 100% of the financial need of its undergraduates, awarding 68% of students with need-based financial aid as opposed to BU’s 41%. I could keep going but I think all BU student readers are crying too hard to read any more. Well, those of them that can read anyway. At least their children can learn better from the teachers at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education.
10. BC’s Values
“Jesus loves us” isn’t just something we chant at athletic events before we crush opposing teams. As a Jesuit, Catholic university, BC instills values of service, selflessness, reflection and education in all its students. I don’t want to come right out and say we’re better people, but……
11. BC’s Communication Ops
A quick examination of Boston College’s plethora of student publications and media, including its student newspaper The Heights which has been around since 1919, against BU’s one literary magazine (not counting The Daily Free Press, since it’s actually independent from the university), makes it painfully obvious that opportunities for communications students at BU are severely lacking. Good luck landing a full time journalism job with no student experience after you graduate from BU. Did I mention BC also makes the list of the 10 Best Schools for Communications majors?
12. #WeAreBC
The BC community continues to grow. No matter where you go, there’s someone with a BC connection. When I was climbing Mount Vesuvius during my semester abroad, I wore a BC T-shirt and bumped into an alum. For those who want something more reliable than serendipity, BC puts its network to work with EagleLink, a website that tailors job opportunities posted by Boston College alumni and other companies post jobs to each individual student. BU’s Career Advisory Network gives advice, which is great in theory, but I can look up advice on the Internet. Google must be a senior course at BU.
