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'BU is not an urban circle of hell where sorority girls drink too much and frat boys are tied up in Allston dungeons'

A BU student has had enough with the headlines (such as this one) about her school:

If every undergraduate student posts his or her favorite memory of BU to their Facebook, Twitter or blog, there would be more than 18,000 positive examples of BU online to counteract the few negative ones. I can't name all of the best things about BU in this letter, so I'm going to need your help.

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Comments

... where students arrive unable to even cross the street properly, with a firm understanding that they are super special and more important than anybody else.

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Its also the level of hell where students do not have to clean up trash or take care of the neighborhood.

Also, where students do not know how to board a T properly (move into the train; dont block the door!)

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they are hardly alone among T riders in this respect.

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Sounds like one BU student can't cope with the sad fact their school has become a debauched diploma mill somewhat thanks to the current administration's business model and largely due to the current caliber & character of their peers.

The decline of large swaths of Alston & Brighton into slums in the past decades has largely been in part to the decline in the caliber of character of the students at BU. If these students don't like what the school's reputation is becoming, or the neighborhoods they are living in, they only need to look into the mirror for whom to largely blame. Shitting all over the neighborhoods you live in, acting like party animals, and believing you're more special than every other resident and student in the city of Boston isn't going to endear oneself to the sympathies of the permanent metropolitan residents.

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When I first moved to Boston I moved to Allston. Heading out to Allston / Brighton now, it seems to me, it's transforming into something much nicer.

Yes there are still slum lords, and yes there are still party houses and trouble spots; but overall the culture seems to be moving in the right direction, and the neighborhoods are becoming more vibrant. Lots of new businesses have been opening up and replacing the business version of slum lord stores.

I think, like lots of other areas of the city, the complaints are just getting much louder because of who's moving in, not who was there. People are paying big money to be in the city, and they want their peace and quiet!

Rents in this city also don't help. There's a lot of college kid and hispter communes in those two neighboorhoods, 10-20 to a house. Lots of other "legit" rentals are slums and not up to city code. Go after the slumlords, and it will change things.

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Do you actually know what you're talking about, or do you just enjoy making things up? What exactly do you know about BU's business model?

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before they can learn to cross a street.

I guess when you grow up in cars, neither skill seems useful.

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Well said.

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According to the following Boston Phoenix article, it would appear some students arrive at BU so utterly unprepared for life that they need "safe spaces" with "comfy couches" to make themselves feel better.

http://thephoenix.com/boston/life/127331-campus-sa...

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Did you actually read that article? It implies nothing about being unprepared for life... It's about areas where students should feel free to be themselves (especially LGBT students) and it mentions ::gasp!:: that Tufts has the same concept on campus.

You fail.

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I dunno what you're talking about - a roomful of naked fratboys tied together with duct tape definitely sounds like a positive to me!

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My best advice would be to never post any of your college memories to your Facebook, Twitter or blog - unless your memories consist exclusively of you helping elderly faculty cross Commonwealth Avenue.

Remember what that famous ficticious BU student said: "the internet is written in ink, Mark."

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There's unfortunately little I can say much for my school. The commentary above doesn't provide me pride. Silber hate is the one thing we have as a campus-wide culture. However, Silber's iron fist approach including stamping out fraternities and keeping a hard-line dormitory policy had its reasons and benefits.

Perhaps a more harder line approach from the top needed now.

Right now I have a friend who is considering between UMass Amherst and BU (Money is even). With the recent press, it is hard to push for my school and that is with knowledge from my brother (who goes there) alerting me of a viral video celebrating their party culture, that little riot, and budget cutbacks.

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Meh. Don't beat yourselves up too much over this BU students. The media have ahold of this like a dog with a bone because they figure that if they get a little tingle over the idea of naked frat boys covered in "condiments" then their audience must also. Breaking news this ain't. Rather, it is very much typical of the brand of journalism currently practiced by all of the disgusting local news shows. Real news that enlightens us to some question around a broader issue? Snooze. Reveling in some random but 'sexy' murder or frat boy high jinks? Candy.

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Because it could be worse (for the administration - not so much for the alleged victims).

IMHO, the treatment BU is getting over these (multiple independent) incidents is not as harsh as what BC got over the football player gambling scandal (multiple people, but kind of a single scandal) that happened at BC in the late 90s.

You can draw your own conclusions as to what that says about the msm in general, and the Boston msm in particular.

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What they have been saying to students where my son goes to high school is that, basically, you can do better.

BU is a very expensive school unless you are getting a big scholarship. It has solid academics, but also has fairly large class sizes for all the undergraduate requirements and a distracting atmosphere in general. Living in the city is expensive, but you can get around that by commuting. In short, you are better off applying to Tufts (which many students can get to quite easily while living at home) or taking a shot at Harvard if you have the talent and scores, or getting a full ride at UMass.

My professor friends tell me that BU has a fair number of talented people there, but there are also a lot of students who had decent grades and scores because their parents had the money to prop up their resumes, but who don't know who they are or why they are there. (note that this isn't much different than in the mid-80s, when BU friends told me much the same thing: very talented people on scholarships and special programs working hard, and a bunch of rich kids partying and paying full freight).

BU is probably doing what works for BU ... but I can see why it isn't considered to be the best choice for a lot of local students.

I also don't think "cracking down harder" is the answer - it doesn't work. These kids need to grow up, and authoritarian nonsense isn't very targeted - e.g. honors students in the six-year med program forced to leave the dorms over spring break and having to find places to stay.

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I would agree with this. I just graduated from Northeastern this past September after transferring in from my first two years at a community college in Lowell. I paid my way through college, and I'm supporting myself with a job I got through my NU connections before I even graduated. Picking the best bang for my buck when it came to choosing a school was huge for me. I applied and was accepted to BU when I was transferring, but ultimately, BU is really just a very expensive private school without anything to really set it apart from any other expensive private schools. They have a lot of money and strong academics, but I totally agree - there are much better options to shoot for. Tufts has a better reputation for sure, and after going through the co-op program at NU, you can't put a price tag on that. I just don't see what's so remarkable about any of BU's undergrad programs to warrant the price, or the alleged "exclusivity" of attending.

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would not get into Tufts.

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That's very true, but I think the point is that in this kind of middle ground of private colleges, there are numerous other choices that offer more for your dollar. While Tufts is definitely at the high end of the spectrum, if you're questing for a private school education, BU really doesn't seem to offer a whole lot to set it apart from the rest of the private school pack.

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Not necessarily true, and Tufts in fact almost closed in the mid-70s due to poor performance. BU has some incredible academic programs. It also has 18,000 students. Not all of them are going to be mature enough to handle the experience.

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Forty years later, Tufts is very highly rated and competitive.

While it is also very expensive, most kids in my community (Medford) can get there quite easily and save the $15K living costs while still having access to campus life. That's why the guidance counselors keep it in play.

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Well that's obvious that if you happen to live next to the school. Just like those who live in Brookline or Fenway can make that same argument for BU. For most Tufts students or most students in general, that point doesn't matter that much. Also I would imagine guidance counselors keep it in play just because of the quality and name of the school. Tufts can be in other side of the country and it still deserve some mind-space in the counselors.

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I think the idea of Tufts as a commuter school is much more relevant than BU. I grew up around the 495/Rt 2 cross point, and Tufts is a much more practical commute than BU (I have two high school friends who did it). Tufts, with a legitimate campus has parking options that BU does not. Parking at an urban school is unbelievably expensive and stressful. Sure, the commute to BU for a student who lives in Brookline or Fenway is a different issue, but let's be real. How many families with grade school aged kids actually live in those neighborhoods?

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Pretty easy to get to BU from the Green Line.

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15 minute walk from Davis Square station, or skip the walk and take the free Tufts shuttle bus.

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Brookline? There's a good number. Fenway probably correct.

I can see your point as Tufts is probably car-friendlier. Though the later points by following commentators about the T, I think ~5 stops along the Green Line probably outguns the 1 stop of Davis. Quality of the ride notwithstanding. I can see the car-friendliness means that towns outside of Medford and Somerville is more included where BU can only really count on Brookline and the few residence of Fenway and Allston (to the Allstonian chargin as I can tell). Though I do think the Green Line does help even it out.

However, my larger reason to pointing out that Swirlly's point about commuting pertains to her mostly is that a large part of the student body of Tufts are out of state and/or international. Most student are not Medford/Somerville residents. Even adding car commuting, most are still outside the highway belts. Plus the Green Line does help even that out.

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Those dissatisfied with BU and who are able to deal with ghosts and the occasional stash of high explosives are invited to transfer to Allston University:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/36568510/A-Novel-and-Eff...

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Thanks. I've got about 20 hours on planes in the next two weeks and this looks like just the thing to take my mind off of academic science ;-)

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Maybe you were a good kid, but BU students are ruining everything for everyone they cross paths with. Honestly, completely, destroying the integrity of our entire neighborhood. They may not be the number one party school, but they are the number one ruining fun for the rest of us school. Allston may not be all empty PBR's and lost underwear in piles of puke, just as BU is not all causing those things to occur in Allston. Doesn't mean that we shouldn't focus on how shitty everything is and pretend it's okay. That's like saying that brick manufacturing was up in Auschwitz.

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