Meant to ake @creepycoug for his take on BU academis? 36,000 students and only $2.1 billion endowment. Not very impressive at all. Surprised they can even field a row boat team.
BU is a solid school. Not easy to get into, and the fact that it's right smack in the middle of Boston makes it attractive to the kids, because Boston + College = Hip thing to do with that crowd.
That said, my soccer player was recruited to play there, and we turned it down for D3 soccer. And BU is legit ... they're not North Carolina or Stanford, but they play at that level. We turned it down for D3, so you can guess why.
Endowment is a component. There are some damn good schools with endowments that are relatively low compared to their peers. Cal's endowment is shit for the operation they run, and a fraction of Michigan's or Texas', but nobody would put Cal below those schools in academis. UW's endowment isn't that great, and below several other public universities who have built endowments for one reason or another (Texas A&M comes to mind) but who aren't on UW's academis level.
In small college land, Bates College and Kenyon College have low endowments, but are classic "smart kid" schools.
If I were going to college in Boston and I couldn't swing getting into Harvard or MIT, but had my choice of what's left, I'd go with BC. Ever been? That is a very, very nice school. Campus, neighborhood, the whole bit. And, the co-eds aren't hard to look at either. Solid academis too ... probably a click above BU, but close enuff that they argue about it.
Why do you insist on getting me going on this shit? You know I can't control myself.
