Boston!

[shagnscoob]

im a senior in HS figuring out what college to go to. right now 2 of my top choices are boston u. and tufts u. right outside boston.

whats boston like? im from the valley of los angeles, if that helps. anything you guys can say about the city would be great.

[poly800rock]

boston's a cool town that for some reasons gets a lot of flack. i haven't lived in boston so take my advice for what it is, but i did spend a lot of time there as my sister lived there and i went to school in providence. bus and the T train are the ways to get around, somerville is where tufts is which has its own booming thing nowadays, actual boston is just a city, some cool shops, but outlying towns like cambridge and allston is where i used to go to hang out. did you apply for arts and sciences at BU or just the general college?

[shagnscoob]

neither yet, but will be arts and sciences, ive heard the general coll. is lame

[ishboo]

i grew up in boston my entire life until i left last year to come to NYC for college.

boston is a great place for kids under the age of 15. then it gets real old real fast. there's hardly anything to do after 10PM except maybe Irish Pubs and some lame clubs that are incredibly strict with IDs (and you have to be 19, not 18). some places in cambridge, cafes and stuff, are open later, and there are a few music venues like Middle East that teenagers can get in to but mostly there's not much nightlife at all. i spent most of my high school years hanging out in cambridge with friends and even though there's stuff to do it gets really repetitive, and usually we just ended up at somebody's house. i mean it's fun, and college is obviously a different experience, but boston is just very, very quiet. also the public transportation system is really shitty, don't listen to what anyone says, mostly since a lot of it isn't running 24 hours a day (although since most of Boston closes up around 9, it's not so necessary I guess).

in terms of colleges, i'd say tufts is in a cooler location, cambridge, there's more things to do at night and it's a much hipper place (sometimes in a bad way).

but do what you want

[poly800rock]

its also harder to get into arts and sciences. they usually shuffle you off to general college, then when you get in, you change your major. tufts is a great school, but it's probably the only school i know that just rejected all my friends that applied there (good stats) and i imagine it's harder to get in now then in 99 when we all applied. good luck. if you're looking at tufts, i'm assuming your stats are good, try brown u. i used to work there. knock out a REALLY good college essay, thats what a lot of the schools weigh heavily on. good luck

[Icarus]

It really depends what you're looking for in a city. Boston isn't New York. If you want to rub elbows with some minor celebrity at a club with a ridiculous cover, you're going to hate the night life. You're not going to live fast here in Boston, at least from what I've seen. There are, however, tens of thousands of college kids creating a demand for shows (you'd be hard, hard pressed not to find a show happening somewhere every night, let alone 1000 parties). Boston's strengths lie in its surrounding cities. Almost everything is happening in Cambridge, Alston, Brighton, Brookline, Somerville, and the Mission Hill area. Life is quiet if you want it to be, and it's really easy to escape if you absolutely need to.

Plus, our independent arts and music scene is fantastic. PM me if you have any questions.

[isdenn]

i went to brown and i used to go to shows in boston every so often...boston is a nice city to visit but in my opinion kind of a wack place to live. theres tons of college kids about though so like someone else said theres parties and whatnot all the time. and pretty much all big shows go through boston. boston kinda sucks for shopping...the public transit is not that great...etc etc. boston has a certain vibe to it that i think some people love and some people dont love so much...and i think im in the latter camp.

incidentally, if you have any questions about brown or providence let me know.

also i totally agree with poly800rock, the essay is HUGE especially for smaller/more competitive schools. i know it has a huge impact at brown, and i think tufts is the same.

[shagnscoob]

it looks like tufts u is my top choice then. everyone is saying the suburbs outside of boston are the business, plus i can take classes at NEC if i go to tufts. id be really happy at both schools though, cant wait to visit

[azad]

people say boston would be like hartford if it werent for its colleges/universities.

[herpsky]

im visiting boston for the first time in october

kinda stoked

[brook]

Skip Boston. Ever since I moved here, I've been kicking myself for not applying to schools in NY. It doesn't have the sort of wild, fuck-everything attitude found in smaller US cities, but it also doesn't feel like a big city like NY or LA. So, basically, it's filled with people who act like assholes, but there isn't enough awesome shopping and cultural activity to balance it out.

[herpsky]

i guess the only cities in the US i might be interested in are

just sf and ny.

[shagnscoob]

i guess the only cities in the US i might be interested in are

just sf and ny.

been to LA? I think boston is a pretty polar place, I've met SO many people who love it there. and ive met a grip of people that dont like it