<p>A favor for anyone who has paid access to the US News website...</p>
<p>I have come across the claim that Northeastern University in Boston is ranked #1 in the country for "Best Internships/Co-ops." No such ranking appears in the printed edition and I'm wondering if the US News website includes such a ranking or if this is simply misinformation.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>This list seems to be alphabetical.
<a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/acadprogs/acadprogs07_brief.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/acadprogs/acadprogs07_brief.php</a></p>
<p>However, Northeastern's on the (rather short) list.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If they'd been ranked 1st, surely they would have said so on their website? </p>
<p>singledad - This is what I found in the premium online edition
[quote]
This is the fourth year that U.S. News is publishing a list of schools with outstanding examples of academic programs that are believed to lead to student success. With the help of education experts, including staff members of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, we identified eight such types of programs. We then invited college presidents, chief academic officers, deans of students, and deans of admissions to nominate up to 10 institutions with stellar examples of each program type. Colleges and universities that were mentioned most often are listed here, in alphabetical order.
[/quote]
Northeastern is on the list under the category of "Internships/Coops". I am not able to cut and paste the full list, but if you have a geographic area or other criterion, I can see which other schools fit your needs. So, I guess you would say Northeastern is in the "top 10." Also on the list, in a nearby area, is Worcester Polytechnic. Let me know if I can help further. Happy to do it.</p>
<p>I am really stingy when it comes to paying for on-line services, but it's worth it to buy the on-line edition of US News' information. In addition to great in-depth info on colleges, one also can do spreadsheets, something that S has found particularly useful as he compares colleges.</p>
<p>While we are at it, is there no way to auto login, I find it pretty annoying to login every time I visit the site.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for the useful information. Any thoughts on how Northeastern's co-op program compares to similar programs, perhaps by others who are further along in this process? My daughter is unsure about a major but wants to be in New York. Frankly, I'm keen to keep her closer to home.</p>
<p>singledad - where is closer to home? what field(s) interest her? </p>
<p>We were impressed with the coop program of Lehigh U in Pa. This was in the Engineering School - not sure it applies in other fields.</p>
<p>Also, does she have other criteria? Large vs. small. If she want NY, is that city or state? Lehigh, eg, would not fit an urbanite's profile, but Northeastern would.</p>
<p>Her only criteria so far are that she wants to be in New York City. We live in a town outside of Boston, and I sense she is just itching for big city life. She is not the most academic type and wants a balance of school with "real world experience" which is why we have started looking at co-ops. Having gone to a liberal arts college myself, I have my doubts about the value of such a curriculum, but I'm also trying not to railroad the decision and find what's best for her. In that vein, I'm not sure sending her off to New York is the best idea.</p>
<p>Not sure of Hofstra's formal "coop" programs, but it's a school which might work for both of you. On Long Island, hop-skip-and-jump from Manhattan, including subway/train access. Lots of ties between school and business/industry in Manhattan, for those who want "real world" access. Campus itself is lovely and studded with gardens/beautiful landscape. It's a small university with strength in several fields. Has a range of students on the academic achievement spectrum. We visited it as a safety school for S and were impressed.</p>
<p>Singledad, I do not have any first hand knowledge of Northeastern's coop program, but I would expect that it would be among the best in the nation simply for the following reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li>Northeastern has been doing this for a long time</li>
<li>The co-op is an integral part of their school structure, carried through to all academic programs</li>
<li>Northeastern is a very large university, with many resources</li>
<li>The university is located in a major urban area that is also geographically close to many other major urban areas</li>
<li>Although it is not a top-tier university, Northeastern has a strong reputation and is fairly well known</li>
</ol>
<p>All this translates into a school where priority is placed on assuring that the coop program works well, and where there would tend to be a very well developed network of contacts and opportunities for students. Northeastern's program would not work unless they had a good track record for placing students into co-op positions - and unless those positions had strong educational value for the students. </p>
<p>If you compare those criteria with other colleges on the US News list, you would see that Northeastern would almost by definition have one of the strongest programs. For example, if you compare it to Antioch -- Antioch probably has an equally strong commitment to its co-op program, and may be equally well-known and well established -- but Antioch's midwest location would make it more difficult for students to search for and interview for positions, and Antioch's very small size is going to limit the size of the current network and set of contacts that will help students find positions. </p>
<p>If you look at many other colleges on the list - for example, Cal Poly or Evergreen -- you know that while they may have good co-op programs, that is not the main underpinning of their educational philosophy. That is, at Northeastern, the vast majority of students are there for the co-op experience and do the co-ops, while that is not true for most of the colleges on the list. So, you reasonably could not expect the level of support to be the same at a university that is merely offering a co-op option, as opposed to building their entire curriculum around it. </p>
<p>That does not mean that a student couldn't have a good experience at another university -- depending on the student's personal qualities and interests, many of the other universities might be a better fit. Nor does it mean that Northeastern would be better educationally -- to the contrary, the high prioritizing of the co-op could lead to an educational environment that was less supportive of pure academic pursuits, both in and out of the classroom. </p>
<p>So I guess the first question really is what is your daughter's area of interest? What type of work does she envision herself doing on co-op? For example - my daughter is also interested in Northeastern, but her area of interest is politics and international relations -- so for her D.C. is a stronger draw than Boston, and American is looking like a place that is more likely to open the door for the kind of work experience she would like, even though it doesn't have a "co-op" program. </p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that many colleges will accomodate semester or year-long internships as an alternative to study abroad, and many colleges also do have ways that students earn credit for work experience and internships. Northeastern's program does also generally entail a longer time frame for graduation -- 5 years for a 4 year degree -- whereas at a university without an official co-op program, it may be very possible to get significant internship experience during the college years, and in the 5th year be embarking on a career while peers are Northeastern still have yet to complete their degree.</p>
<p>Thank you both for very thoughtful responses. They have been extremely helpful and will provide the basis for at least one important conversation over the weekend. Northeastern certainly seems to fit the bill on quite a few fronts, so long as I can convince her that Boston is "big city" enough for the time being. I will do some more research on Hofstra, though I have my doubts. She was very much turned off by the "country club" atmosphere when we visited my alma mater (Holy Cross, I can't really argue with her there) and has said she wants a more urban campus. Unfortunately she doesn't have a specific academic area of interest so far. That's one of the reasons I'm a bit cautions of co-ops in general and think she may benefit from a liberal arts experience.</p>
<p>I don't think the co-op would be such a good idea if your daughter is unsure of her specific interests. Schools like Northeastern do not have particularly strong graduation rates, in part because with all the coming and going, students don't develop strong ties or loyalty to the campus -- its easy in that context to be tempted to take a job offer in another city and transfer to a college nearer to the place of work. </p>
<p>If your daughter isn't quite ready to pursue academics full time, consider a gap year. That might help her get the real world experience she is looking for, as well as to get a better sense of where she would like to go with co-ops or internships. </p>
<p>Alternatively, look at larger universities -- large universities offer a larger array of options, including plenty of real world experience. One problem with LAC's is that most (not all, of course) tend to be located in suburban or rural areas and life tends to revolve around the campus, and it sounds like that might be too confining for your daughter. Way back when I was in school, I got plenty of off-campus work experience, including much that I got academic credit for, at UC campuses for both undergrad & law school. I think maybe you are taking too great of a leap to be looking at a school with a co-op program now, rather than looking at regular colleges & universities and simply asking or inquiring what sort of work & internship opportunities they offer students.</p>
<p>Northeastern is interesting in that it has strong engineering programs that lend themselves especially well to a coop approach, but also has a broad range of social sciences, liberal arts, medical areas (such as PT, Speech etc.) and even decent professional schools. </p>
<p>It's location couldn't be much better w/r/t convenience to the best of Boston. Years ago it was close to rough neighborhoods, but gentrification has done its work in the area. In recent years, the school has even built a reasonably attractive campus, certainly better than its cross town rival Boston U. </p>
<p>I would encourage folks to take a look. It's not an academic powerhouse like Harvard, but does a good job for its students.</p>
<p>Full disclosure: Spouse was on the faculty there until we moved.</p>
<p>Thanks again, calmom. We actually talked about whether going to college immediately is the best idea. She is interested in volunteerism and the Peace Corpseven came up, but I tried to explain that a college degree is important even for that. I'm concerned that an ill-conceived "gap year," may just end up being an excuse never to go to college at all. A large urban university may provide a good balance of freedom and structure.</p>