Boston vacay/college search

[ett]

T


For the UMASS - as someone mentioned Amherst (about 2 hrs outside of Boston) is the flagship. All the others tend to have specialities Ie UMASS Lowell is engineering. The only two in a city are UMASS Boston which is mainly a commuter school and UMASS Lowell which is an old mill City. I don't think any of these would likely appeal to your daughter based on her criteria.
Mt Holyoke - is close to UMASS Amherst so also @2 hours outside of Boston. Lots of other smaller colleges in that area like Amherst, Smith, Williams.

Mt. Holyoke is in the same area as UMass Amherst, Smith, and Amherst College. Williams is not in the same area though. It's in Williamstown, about 90 minutes away. Williams and Amherst College are top schools - very difficult to get into.

[NCGrandma]

A couple of additions to jacksmomtobe's list, although I doubt that these would be relevant since the OP didn’t mention any specific interests:

In Boston, there is one more UMASS system school that most people forget: MassArt. If I remember right, it is fairly near Emerson, and is right in the midst of the "cultural district."

In Providence, RISD is also on College Hill, just a few blocks from Brown. That area is walkable and I’m guessing that most students develop good muscles given how very hilly it is!

Sent from my iPad using Baby Bargains

[ett]

In Boston, there is one more UMASS system school that most people forget: MassArt. If I remember right, it is fairly near Emerson, and is right in the midst of the "cultural district."


Sent from my iPad using Baby Bargains

MassArt is a public school but it's not part of the UMASS system.

OP - There are tons of colleges in MA and the surrounding area. You could fill up your entire vacation visiting colleges!

[Tenasparkl]

My daughter goes to BC and LOVES it! She came from a very small mountain town on the west coast and loves that the campus is removed from the city, but she can be there in 20 min on the T. She goes in almost weekly for concerts, museum hopping, visiting other colleges, thrifting, etc. Her best friend ended up at Emerson, and loves being in the heart of the city- she is also from the small town. They both go to very different schools, but love the same thing about the big town choices and options for fun. They go to sports events, have true Italian one night, and traditional Chinese in Chinatown the next time. They are both over the moon with Boston. I love where my daughter has landed and enjoy the city, as well, and I am very much a small town girl. Boston feels like a bunch of neighborhoods that are connected, somehow, so it's not overwhelming to me.

Aww, I love this! I went to Emerson and loved being in Boston so much. I have a good friend that went to BC and it's true that they're totally different - I'm glad they get to spend so much time together exploring Boston.

I read all of these posts quickly, but did anyone mention BU? It's right in Boston and is gigantic with lots of majors. When I worked at a movie theater during college (totally Emerson student job!) we had lots of other students from nearby schools like BU, Berklee College of Music (such an amazing school for those interested in music, songwriting etc.), MassArt and in general we had friends at schools all over the city - Tufts, BC, Harvard etc. It's a wonderful place to go to school. There are SO many college students.

[mom2binsd]

While not Boston, a cooler climate but very walkable city with a great vibe is Chicago, our friends daughter loves Loyola, there is UofChicago, U of Illinois at Chicago, then just outside of downtown but a great town is Northwestern.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[jacksmomtobe]

BU is very urban as the campus sprawls along Commonwealth Ave. it doesn’t have much of a typical campus feel. It feels more spread out and mixed in with the city than Emerson and I would say even Northeastern. Historically it has a high percentage of international students. It looks like the class of 2026 is 23% international. I would guess pre-COVID those numbers were even higher. I don’t know about today but in the past there were a lot of uber wealthy international students. They have invested a lot of money in some new dorms and amenities but to go along with that it is pricey though they do talk about the significant financial aid that they offer.

As another poster mentioned if your daughter is into art RISD in Providence is a phenomenal school. Johnson and Wales also in Providence has well known culinary and hospitality programs along with traditional majors such as business, engineering and health.

[Twoboos]

Just wanted to say Northeastern is difficult to get into now, DD2 knows many kids who were deferred or rejected, or accepted but at one of the off-site campuses. Also echoing that BU doesn't really have its own campus, it's very integrated into the city while Northeastern does have a campus. They are very big on the internships there, one of their big selling points is you graduate with a degree and a resume.

[georgiegirl]

My friend’s son is a sophomore at BU and he loves it. He wanted an urban campus though.

[zukeypur]

Thank you all so much for the info! That entire area of the country is completely unfamiliar to me.

DD is a junior, has not narrowed her search AT ALL (despite my constant "suggestions"), and is geared toward medical sciences. She has been talking about pathology for the past year or two, which makes my clinical lab scientist heart very happy.

She will definitely be relying on merit-based financial aid.

ETA: I was hoping that she would continue band in college, but it doesn't sound like she wants to. Her band director said that many school offer in-state tuition to marching band participants.

[zukeypur]

Now that we have SAT scores, I have something to work with! I found a list of colleges that offer automatic scholarships based on SAT scores, so now we have some actual options. I'll be checking out the other college threads and narrowing down the options in the Boston/Providence area as well as Chicago. She also mentioned today that she would consider something in CO, and was entertaining the idea of marching band.