<p>I'll be a freshman in the fall and have the max number of AP/college credits to transfer in. This is 8 classes/32 credit hours. If I'm not mistaken, that's two semesters at NEU.</p>
<p>I'm pretty excited at the idea of all this freedom, and I'm sure I'm not the only student to have this happening and I was just wondering what students typically did with this extra year.</p>
<p>The options I have in mind are
a.) graduate in 4 years, with 3 co-ops; I know it's typically 4/2 or 5/3 but if already have a year of classes it would be pretty feasible, no?</p>
<p>b.) do a normal, 4 or 5 year track BUT be exempt from summer sessions at NEU? I'm not sure about it because I'm definitely interested in the summer dialogues.</p>
<p>c.) do a normal, 4 or 5 year track but be able to add additional concentrations, minors, potential double major, etc.? I am currently a business major, but I have been thinking about becoming a CS minor and/or dual major. I am not sure how much this would add to my resume or if it would cost me more money.</p>
<p>I would like to save the most money possible, but I'm in no rush to graduate either. I'm already the youngest in my grade (I skipped a grade years ago) and I'm not sure if being so young in the job market would benefit me.</p>
<p>Any input or personal stories would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!</p>
<p>Wow, that’d be incredible. I don’t expect you know the answers to these off-hand, but do you know how long he planned to be in school? (Will it take longer than the 4/5 years?) Does he receive any financial aid while pursuing a masters, as graduate students receive different aid than UGs?</p>
<p>Can’t graduate in 4 years with 3 coops - it is logistically not possible. The earliest the first coop can be is spring of sophomore year and you can’t be on coop your last semester of senior year and can’t do coops two semesters in a row.</p>
<p>The idea of skipping summers might work, however keep in mind that many classes need to be taken in a specific order (have required prerequisites), so you will need to work out your classes very carefully.</p>
<p>My daughter came in with 28 credits and has been able to have a joint major with a minor (and is taking fun classes also). Her current plan is to graduate in 4 years with 2 coops and two full summers (first summer she took off).</p>
<p>Keep in mind that having a lot of credits might not mean that you have all of the NU Core requirements met depends on what the actual courses are and what classes/categories they map to.</p>
<p>I also came in with a lot of credits (45, but I think they now max it out at 32). I started out with very definite plans about how I was going to use that: I planned to graduate in 4 years with a co-op and no summer classes and a minor in international affairs. Once I got started, though, my plans changed. I was really excited by the co-op opportunities and discovered new areas that interested me. I ended up switching my plans to 5 years and 3 co-ops, added a minor in computer science (an additional 5 courses), had room to take math electives once I decided the route I wanted to go for a PhD, and still didn’t have to take a full 8 semesters of course work. I actually have 162 credits of the 128 needed to graduate and I still have a full semester left to take interesting things. I will be really well prepared for the field I plan to go into. For summer 1, I don’t actually have to take classes for my graduation requirements, but it’s covered by my scholarship and lets me take more math (everyone’s favorite!) and finish up my honors thesis.</p>
<p>Basically, having a lot of credits gives you a lot of flexibility. @kiddie is correct that you can’t do 3 co-ops in 4 years, but both of your other possibilities are feasible, or some combination of them. It’s good that you’re thinking about the possibilities, but you don’t have to stress out about it too much at this point. Once you start, your plans will change as you discover new things. Keep an open mind and try new things.</p>
<p>I agree that there are a lot of possibilities. My daughter came in with a lot of AP credits as well - many of which satisfied some of her engineering core classes. She used the extra time to go on a dialogue unrelated to her major and study abroad for a semester. While she’ll still get engineering credits abroad, she doesn’t have to worry about filling specific requirements to stay on schedule. The AP credits give you flexibility - to try new things and things you haven’t even considered yet. Her plans have changed multiple times over the last year and 1/2. </p>