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SpindriftRascal t1_j9n6w9o wrote

They’re not in the same category, really. SU is a good private college, held back by a commuter reputation and the lack of a central campus experience, but has an excellent cadre of professors and instructors drawn from the highly-educated and successful population around it. It’s very connected.

UMB is a functional, basic state college, offering higher education to a broader swath of society. It’s solid. If you choose to go there, you’ll do fine, though it may be a harder functional grind based on location and bureaucratic reputation. (SU also has a bureaucracy that can frustrate, in my experience.)

To a large extent, college gives you what you put in. You can succeed and thrive at either place if you put in the work. UMB is much less expensive. If that’s a factor, it’s a very real difference and not to be ignored.

At the end of the day, it’s nice to have a choice. Congratulations on your acceptances!

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Doortofreeside t1_j9oe1pw wrote

>SU is a good private college,

Is it? Not to be rude (and im the first to diss my own school), but I thought of it as a below average private school especially for the Boston area. But with typical private school prices it's basically the archetype of a school I'd avoid (pricey and mediocre)

Not to say it's not better than UMass Boston, but for the money I'd much rather go to UMB

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PuritanSettler1620 t1_j9oh9cg wrote

I would not say it is bad, but that with Harvard, Mit, Boston University , and Northeastern in town we are spoiled for excellent colleges.

But I agree for 43,000 it does not have a lot of reputational clout.

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SpindriftRascal t1_j9pr3mz wrote

Yes, I think it is. I mean, it’s not BU or NEU, and obviously it’s not Harvard or MIT, but it’s perfectly good and benefits from being in a city with such an educated population. I didn’t say excellent; I said good. I stand by that.

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Doortofreeside t1_j9pszj1 wrote

Fwiw Suffolk and umass boston are tied at 234 in the US news and world report rankings for national universities. Obviously those rankings are to be taken with a large grain of salt, but still if it were me or my kid I'd need the expensive private school to be way better than the state school to justify that cost

Personally I already think BU and NEU, at full price, are terrible values relative to their public school peers

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SpindriftRascal t1_j9q4edh wrote

Those rankings are silly.

I understand your point about cost. For some people, that’s a big factor; for others, it’s not relevant.

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