Ask a current Northeastern student!

<p>How would you describe the employment opportunities of students whenever they graduate, mainly business students. And not just how many people have jobs when they get out, but also the quality of these jobs. If you could answer this question, it’d be helpful.</p>

<p>Alright thanks very much for answering my questions nano. Now I have a few questions about the general scene here.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>How is the school spirit? Do you often hear people scream “GO NORTHEASTERN!” and during orientation are people really energetic like “Yay, Welcome to NU!” or are people just really neutral in tone? Would you say people are generally very enthusiastic or more quiet about their school?</p></li>
<li><p>Now I know you get many advisers, but how helpful and personal are they with your needs? Can you just walk in their office anytime and they will be open and welcoming, or will they ask for an appointment? Do advisers seem to just do their job, or are they really personal in getting to know you as a person and help you when you need it? Is it true that some students feel like a number?</p></li>
<li><p>How is the alcohol and smoking scene?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>There is a lot of school spirit at hockey games and welcome week and orientation activities (they teach you the school cheer/song at orientation) but on a day to day basis there is not a lot of that going on. </p>

<p>You need to make an appointment to see an advisor (it is done through an on-line system) however like professors they do have some “walk-in” hours when you can drop by. My daughter was impressed that during her second semester advising session her honors advisor seemed to know her pretty well. (considering she had really only seen her during orientation, once during welcome week, and for an official first semester advising session).
I think your coop advisor will also know you well since they will be your teacher for a one credit pre-coop course which will most likely have fewer than 20 kids in it.</p>

<p>If you are talking about cigarettes - there is an effort to make the campus smoke-free (most likely beginning in the fall) - but public owned outdoor places would be excluded (since they are not university owned.)</p>

<p>Can you apply to be in honors after a certain amount of time if you weren’t offered admission initially?</p>

<p>If you don’t start out in Honors, you can apply to join after your 1st or 2nd semester. I don’t remember what the exact requirements are, but there is a minimum GPA and I think an essay. If you join after 1st semester, you only have to take 5 honors courses instead of 6, and if you join after 2nd semester, it’s only 4 classes.</p>

<p>I have a couple questions about the co-op program. How many co-ops do you have to do? Can you do just one and get your own internships over the other summers? DS has an internship in software development during HS, and they idea of doing 3 or even 2 co-ops during college seems excessive when he could graduate sooner and start working or start grad school. Also, could he co-op at the company where he is currently an intern if it is a large tech company or is his co-op selected for him?</p>

<p>It depends on the program you are in as to how many co-ops you have to do and how strict the schedule is. For pharmacy, all of the co-ops are summer co-ops. For engineering (one of the strictest, I believe), you are assigned a co-op rotation and will do 3 co-ops. In a lot of majors, there is flexibility. As a behavioral neuroscience major, I am not required to do a co-op, though I do have to have some sort of experiential education (co-op, independent study, honors project, study abroad). I originally planned to do 1 co-op and graduate in 4 years with 7 semesters of classes (courtesy of IB/AP credit).</p>

<p>I originally had that mindset: why stick around for an extra year instead of moving on to the “real world” (or more school - I was planning to go to medical school). But as I discovered all of the opportunities, I realized there was more that I wanted to do. College in general is a great time to explore your interests and figure out what you really want to do. Co-op is awesome for getting experience that makes you employable, but it’s also a way to figure out what you want to do and give it a try in an actual job setting. After a co-op in research, I found myself leaning more toward going to grad school instead of medical school. I now plan to do a full 5 year program with 3 co-ops, and am currently considering graduate school for neuroscience instead of med school. But I’m not ready to make that decision yet. With 2 more co-ops and 2 more years of school ahead of me, I’m glad I will have the time to make the right decision and be excited about what I want to do. This isn’t how it works out for everyone, but that’s what my experience with multiple co-ops has been.</p>

<p>As for selecting the co-ops, students apply for co-ops and interview with the company just like they would for any job. There is a huge database of co-ops and the co-op advisors walk you through the application process, so it’s not as stressful as trying to find something by yourself on your own. However, if he wants to co-op where he has been doing an internship, that’s definitely do-able to create his own co-op position for Northeastern’s perspective if the company is on board with it. In fact, I’ve set up my own co-op at the Max Planck Institute in Germany for this summer/fall.</p>

<p>@ nanotechnology, so does that mean that all engineer majors have to do at least do 2-3 co-ops? Can engineers do just 1 co-op and maybe a summer internship? And with all the co-ops does that make it difficult for engineers to study abroad? Can you deviate a little from the co-op rotation you are given, like say one semester your schedule tells you to be on co-op but you’d rather continue classes, or is that schedule basically set for your 5 years there?</p>

<p>Sent from my ADR6300 using CC</p>

<p>I am not 100% sure for engineering, since I’m not an engineering major. (Is there anyone on here who is?) I do know that they have a reputation for having one of the stricter class scheduling because there are a lot of specific requirements that have to be fulfilled.</p>

<p>My daughter is finishing her freshman year as an engineering major. </p>

<p>Northeastern is more flexible than most schools in terms of study abroad for engineers. In addition to the traditional semester study abroad, they have summer programs abroad with northeastern professors and you can do a coop abroad. So it is actually easier than most schools to go abroad multiple times if you want as an engineer.</p>

<p>I don’t know how flexible the schedule is once you are on your coop rotation. I do know that there is a program to do 2 coops instead of 3 (and graduate sooner), but most students say they get a lot out of their 3rd coop.</p>

<p>I have a million questions!</p>

<ol>
<li>Can you really only bring a mini-fridge to the dorms? No microwave or coffee maker? If so, are there ones to use in the lounges or something? I need my coffee lol </li>
<li>Can you have overnight guests of the opposite gender?</li>
<li>How big is the partying scene at Northeastern?</li>
<li>What exactly do you do at orientation? I signed up for the June 17/18 one, but it didn’t really provide a lot of information on what I actually will do.</li>
<li>Will I ever get to know what my dorm looks like before I move in? lol it will help me to plan on what to buy!</li>
</ol>

<p>Different dorms have different rules but in general you can rent or buy the micro-fridge through northestern’s service (no other one will be allowed). In my daughter’s dorm keurig type coffee makers are allowed.</p>

<p>No one monitors your guests - although they must sign in with a photo ID. There is a rule about not having a guest sleep over more than 3 nights in a row I believe. Be courteous to your roommate/suitemates and make sure they are comfortable with anybody you have stay over</p>

<p>Once you are assigned a dorm there are usually facebook pages for the dorms and lots of pictures around on the internet and the school has floor plans on line for every dorm (accessible only by students).</p>

<p>The most important thing that happens at orientation is you meet with your advisor and set up your first semester schedule. There are lots of social events also.</p>

<p>As a parent, I will only say that the school does not have a reputation as a party school.</p>

<p>I could not find a statement that you could only rent or buy NU’s micro fridge. Under what to bring on the res life page it states: " a small refridgerator, not larger than 5 cubic feet". My D brought a fridge/freezer, no microwave that had been her sisters. No problems. </p>

<p>I just moved her out yesterday and saw lots of fridges coming out!</p>

<p>I think maybe that only applies to microfridges - not other mini fridges - that only specific models are allowed. Not sure - this was for IV. It was very easy to do and I rented it because Sophomore year she will be in an apartment style suite which already has a full sized refrigerator.</p>

<p>My D was in IV as well. We bought the fridge for older sister for just over $100. Older D used 2 years prior to moving off campus. D2 used one year. Will be in West Village next year so no need then. Cost per year under $40 to date. We still have one in HS so anticipate at least 1 to 2 more years. Very cost effective for us as we live within driving distance so not too difficult to schlep back and forth.</p>

<p>In IV (I don’t know about other dorms), the only way to have a microwave is to have the combo microfridge - you can’t bring your own microwave. You can buy the microfridge, but it was much more reasonable to rent it. Most students only need it the first year because much of the upper class housing is apartments with full size refrigerators. </p>

<p>You can bring your own frig, but it won’t have the microwave.</p>

<p>as an incoming sophomore transfer student I am being told that I will more than likely be placed in the ymca dorming. Any insight into what these rooms are like?</p>

<p>Thanks for the answers!! i have another question! When are placement exams?.. All my other friends going to other schools are scheduling their placement exams and will be taking them in the next couple weeks, but I haven’t heard anything about placement exams at NEU?</p>

<p>My daughter only needed an Italian placement exam. The one for Italian was not on the website but most of the other languages have online tests. I think you should complete the language one before you go to orientation so you know what level language class to be placed in. Once they had the Italian one available -it was extremely long - took her hours to complete pages and pages of questions.</p>

<p>[Requirements</a> and Testing](<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/wlc/requirements-and-testing/]Requirements”>Requirements and Testing - World Languages Center)</p>

<p>For the YMCA, they are generally singles, some with their own bathrooms, others without. They’re not huge rooms, but they’re functional. I think that they all have the newer, modular furniture.</p>