From an academic viewpoint, BC's admissions rate (undergrad) is lower and its incoming freshman scores are higher than BU. BC's law, nursing and education program are better than BU's. BC also gets a bump in the numbers because it becomes 'the' school to go to for many of the old-school catholic families and catholic HS's in the region (BC High, Catholic Memorial, St. John's, Xavier, Madlen Catholic, etc.). BU has a medical, engineering, and bunch of other STEM oriented programs that BC does not have. BU's communications school is also very well respected. BU's business school, which I went to for my MBA part-time, is better than BC. BU also draws kids who want an urban school (like NYC) while BC has more of a campus like setting. They are both as expensive as heck. Thus, from an academic standpoint, its a wash as they are two somewhat different animals. BU is more like Northeastern, another big urban STEM school, while BC is closer to Holy Cross as both lean liberal arts.
