Tulane vs Boston University for city access: which campus gives students better access to the surrounding city?

Boston University gives students more direct, everyday access to the surrounding city. Its campus runs right through Boston along Commonwealth Avenue, and students can walk to neighborhoods, restaurants, museums, and internships without really feeling like they are leaving school grounds.

One big difference is campus structure. BU is woven into the city in a very literal way, with academic buildings, residence halls, shops, apartment buildings, and public transit all mixed together. Day to day, that means grabbing food off campus, going to a concert, or getting to an internship in Back Bay, Fenway, or downtown can feel routine rather than like a separate outing.

Tulane has strong city access too, but it feels more like a defined campus sitting within New Orleans rather than a campus that is fully blended into the city grid. The Uptown location is attractive and students can get to cafes, restaurants, and parts of Magazine Street or the French Quarter, but many of the city experiences students associate with New Orleans require a longer trip by car, rideshare, or streetcar. That makes the city very available, but not quite as frictionless in daily life.

For internships specifically, BU has an advantage because Boston’s concentration of hospitals, startups, finance, media, nonprofits, and research institutions is very close by and often reachable by T or on foot. Tulane students absolutely use New Orleans beyond campus, especially for culture, food, and service work, but BU tends to feel more plugged into the city every single day.