With all due to respect to Pengsphil and all that Northeastern offers, I would unequivocally suggest Bates, for a number of reasons.
(Full disclosure, my bias is clear.)
I agree with everyone else that it’s hard to compare these two schools. They are extremely different, for reasons that have already been mentioned. City vs small town. Small cohesive campus vs large urban. Lots of student/professor engagement in smaller classes from the outset vs larger classes and, being honest, not as much student/professor engagement.
Lewiston isn’t quite the faded mill town it used to be, but it’s not Boston, and it’s not quaint or charming. Certainly in the years that we’ve been visiting, it has improved dramatically and has plenty of fun places to eat, a nice river walk, a bird sanctuary next to the school, and easy access to outdoor activities. If being in a city is what you need, you won’t get that. However, many students go to Portland which is nearby, and it definitely has enough on offer to give you a city fix if you need it. Bates has shuttles that run to Portland, Freeport and even Boston.
I think the main reason for choosing Bates is pretty simple: smaller classes from the start and a lot of student/student and student/professor interaction. It’s likely you will have a superior educational experience at Bates. Getting to know professors well is a very important advantage. Good professor recommendations can be critical for research positions, scholarships, and internships.
I’ll address your question about name recognition and jobs. My D has a well paying job due to start in October. Meanwhile, she has a paid summer job too, doing analysis for a university. As an undergrad, she had an internship and a different summer research position, for which she received a grant from Bates.
Bates has an excellent reputation among those who are familiar, but like many LACs, it isn’t a household name. Though things recently ground to a halt, D’s fellow grads are being hired: a clinical research job at a hospital, an advertising agency job, a teaching job, working for an environmental group based in the West, working in biochem, and a finance job. In short, no, her friends haven’t been struggling to find jobs. One friend will be starting a prestigious year long scholarship program in the late fall. Hiring managers and grad school AO’s know about Bates.
You are interested in NE co-op program. My D had no trouble finding a summer internship as a sophomore, and as a junior, did summer research. Everyone she knew did something similar during their summers.
We know a lot of students who attend or have recently graduated from Northeastern. One had to spend her first semester in Greece. One graduated in 2019 and still doesn’t have full time employment. She did several really great co-ops as an undergrad, so I’m not sure why she isn’t employed now.
D’s two best friends from home have tried to graduate “on time” and every summer have taken online courses so that they can complete all their coops. (To be clear, they chose to do this because they didn’t want to get a degree in five years.) One managed it, the other is still taking summer courses online to finish her degree. All three students I know well say they disliked that their friends would disappear to do co-oops and you never knew if or when you might see them again, because everyone’s schedule is different. Two of her friends did co-ops that they felt were boring and “useless”. Of these students, only one is currently working.
Northeastern unquestionably has the upper hand if CS is something of interest to you. But you can check out what @merc81 was referring to on Bates’ website. https://www.bates.edu/digital-computational-studies/
It’s a new program, but I’m sure the standards are very high.
I am sorry to be negative about Northeastern, and I agree that for some, co-ops are clearly an excellent way to earn money and get necessary job experience. However, I wouldn’t say that the students I know at NE universally loved their undergrad experience, whereas the students I know at Bates have loved their experience and they are getting jobs.
I am not sure, at the end of the day, if the co-op programs make a big difference in students being able to get jobs over students who don’t do co-ops. Given the uncertainty of the economy at the moment, maybe co-ops will become much more important. Bates has enough of a reputation that I don’t foresee you’ll have trouble getting a job. I’m sure Northeastern grads are also getting good jobs, but I can’t help feeling that their college path may not have been quite as enjoyable.
