I’m completely torn between Northeastern and Bates. The coop at Northeastern seems cool, but I also like the idea of having a personal connection with profs at a smaller school. I’m going for econ and poly sci. I will probably be applying for grad school later down the road. Thanks for the help!
This is more than co op. This is large/small, Boston vs small town.
There’s no wrong choice but there might be a wrong choice for you.
Take co op out of it - which environment suits you best ?
Btw - any student at any school can connect with a professor. Most are open. Raise your hand. Go to office hours. Go up to the front after a lecture and ask something.
So that’s not Bates type school specific.
All what I wrote assumes affordability or similar costs.
Good luck.
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Hi, my son is an Econ major at Northeastern. Class sizes are small so you will be able to develop relationships with faculty. My son was a TA and went on a Dialogue of Civilization (summer study abroad) with an Econ professor studying Economic Development in Rwanda that was really great, where the students met and gave presentations to government and UN officials. NU is nice because there is a lot of flexibility in terms of combined majors and concentrations.
A parent posted recently that their child has graduate school acceptances for Public Policy in Urban Studies to NYU, UChicago, UCLA, Harvard and the London School of Economics. In Boston, you could do co-ops with government offices and elected officials.
Bates is a very different school. It’s small and not in a major city but if you love the outdoors maybe it’s for you. My friend’s D goes there and is happy but there was frustration about not being able to minor in English. I think it does not have NU’s flexibility there. Good luck with your decision.
These analyses, which are based on faculty scholarship, may offer you a sense for the economics departments at these two schools:
This is really helpful! I feel like it is hard to visualize what a big school or small school would be like without being there and experiencing it. I’m going to go to both welcome days so that might give some insight.
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Notheastern is quite pre-professional.
Students at Bates will be more interested in classes in themselves.
Small, discussion-based are the norm at Bates - classes are larger at Northeastern (though not huge in the way that they’d be at the large, public universities.)
The campuses are very different: Bates’ is on the outskirts of Lewiston, the campus is classical New England with a diverse town right next door, with lots of opportunities. And obviously Northeastern’s is in Boston and the campus is clearly modern&urban.
The relationship to professors would be good at both.
When you visit, you’ll probably feel like one is more “you” than the other. There’s no wrong choice but both are quite different.
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FWIW, the average class size at NU is 24 students. I am not sure how the discussion about macro or microeconomics would be different in a liberal arts college class than it would be in a college that has a co-op program, but anyway, good luck with your choice.
It really depends on the experience you are looking for. Two reasonable people could make different choices. You have one pre-professional co-op oriented urban college with almost 20,000 undergrads v a LAC in Maine with a student body under 2,000. I suggest you re-visit the two schools and hopefully one will feel right. FWIW I know people who have had great experiences at both schools.
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My D attended Bates and had several friends at NEU. Coop is great for some students, but, imho, it doesn’t necessarily make you more more desired as an employee. Bates’ career center is excellent and many students do summer internships or research. I am not aware of any of my D’s cohort who weren’t able to get jobs after graduation. There are many stories of NEU students doing mind-numbingly boring coops unrelated to their interests.
The bigger impact of coop, from the perspective of many students, is that they dislike having to be away from friends for whole semesters or even years due to coop. It is possible, depending on when you and your friends do coop, that you won’t see that friend for a very long time. This bothers some people.
Another “problem”, though it’s by choice, is that a LOT of kids feel compelled to take classes in the summer in order to graduate “on time.” They don’t take traditional summers off.
I’d describe Northeastern as having a city vibe. It feels busy and it’s obviously much bigger than Bates. Boston is your campus. If you are looking for a classic college experience, you are probably not going to get it there.
Bates is definitely more a place to get involved in collaborative learning and engage with professors and other students. If you want easy access to the outdoors, you’ll get it there. If you want to have the occasional excursion into Portland, that’s easily doable. There are a good variety of restaurants in Lewiston and there are activities in the surrounding area: hiking, skiing (Bates has an arrangement with a local mountain), sailing, orchards, etc…
If it’s important to you to have close interaction with other students and professors from the start, you will get that at Bates.
It’s apples and oranges. Both nice fruits, but what do you prefer the taste of?
P.S. Bates students have great results getting into grad school. My kid is currently in grad school and there is no question that Bates was part of her success getting there.
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As an alum and parent of a student with actual experience at NU (not NEU) I disagree with the previous post, which all seems to be secondhand. To be clear, “summer” at NU is 4 months so you can take classes in May and June and take July and August off. If you have a lot of AP credits (with a score of 4 or 5) it may not be necessary to take many summer classes. My son has had two months off each summer for family vacations and to earn money. The Dialogues are a way to study abroad in the summer, get credit and see the world. Many countries to choose from.
My son shares an apartment with friends on different co-op cycles. There is no problem with continuity and all of them (whether in school or on co-op) took a week’s vacation together for spring break.
I can’t say I’ve heard of any “mind-numbingly boring” co-ops “unrelated to their interests” in the NU Parents group in the past 3 years (let alone many) and, to the contrary, there are many stories about exciting co-ops, including international ones, so I would take that comment with a giant grain of salt.
If you visit campus, talk to students about their experiences. Much better way to get info. The Bates student I know was assigned a roommate who identified as the other gender. Doesn’t seem like that was handled well.
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Apples and oranges.
Many, many moons ago, I went to Northeastern for a health profession (one co-op) and then switched to psychology (another co-op). [Unrelated, but I returned for law school.]
I did not think the co-ops were as strong for liberal arts folks then, so that is something you might want to explore.
I had good relationships with professors back then, so that has likely improved in the last (gulp) 30 years.
Look closely at each department, the number of faculty members, their research, activities, and events. Back in the day NU was very pre-professional. I question how much that has changed (again, given its roots). It is EXCELLENT for health, business, engineering, computer science, sciences, law, etc., in part because many of those co-op relationships are long/standing and/or paid. Would co-ops in your major be paid? Is that important to you? What kinds of things are people doing? Could you arrange summer internships thar provide similar experiences? That is something to ask Bates.
I loved going to school in Boston. I needed to go somewhere big and urban. Go see both.
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Here are a few typical comments on co-op experiences from the more than 10,000-member NU Parents Facebook group:
My D did a co-op at the US Attorney’s Office. Absolutely loved it. Her boss wrote her a recommendation and after graduation she will be working at a law firm while she studies for the LSAT.
Graphic design
My S had two co-ops with the Red Sox, who created a position for him and hired him full-time.
MechE
My D just accepted a f/t position starting after graduation with her recent co-op.
My S got a job offer before graduating from both co-ops.
Bio-engineering major/Math minor
The biggest draw for her was the co-ops and the biotech community in Boston - the largest in the world. Her co-ops have been amazing and opened her eyes to career possibilities she couldn’t have imagined before college. One was in formulation R&D and the other was in gene therapy.
MechE
He has loved his NU experience. NUin was an incredible opportunity and the co-ops are invaluable. It helps that there is no tuition while on co-op and engineering co-op salaries are decent.
Econ/Math
S did co-ops with financial firms. He will be starting a position in the investment analyst program for an investment firm in July.
Chemistry
First co-op was at a biotech firm. Second co-op was at a lab in Belgium (paid $5k Euros and then $1k Euros/month). The experience is the real pay.
Pre-med
My S is doing clinical research at - Medical Center. He loves it.
Design/Marketing
My D is on a design/ marketing co-op in the financial district in Boston. Loving it so far. Easy commute.
Design
First co-op was at a magazine in Dublin. Second was at Universal Studios.
Music industry
Doing co-op for Warner in Sweden
I can’t comment on Northeastern, except that I went on a tour of it with my daughter and she and I both really liked it (for her), but my son is a freshman at Bates and it’s a perfect school for him. For him the biggest attractions are the amazing professors and classes he’s taken so far - he’s already really bloomed academically in a way that has - frankly - surprised me. He has, as a second semester freshman, developed some close ties already with his professors and is already starting to dive deep into several different academic areas. He’s also likely going to major in a social science - either Econ, Poly Sci, or History - and has taken classes in all three areas and really really likes all of them. I think it’s going to be a tough decision for him to decide which one he wants to major in. The classes are very small and intimate - he took an anthropology course his first semester that had something like 40 students in it, and he called it “huge.” The other strengths of Bates are its super close-knit community - the kids are really friendly and welcoming - and it’s location if you love the outdoors. My son loves to ski, hike, camp, so he really really loves being in Maine. It’s also got a lovely, traditional college campus.
The two schools are both great, but they are exceedingly different. I think when you visit it will likely be clear which one is more for you.
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(Sidenote: Your son may want to explore the possibility of a PPE or PHE major, ie., replacing philosophy with History?)
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If the OP is thinking more about grad school than career, the co-ops may not be as compelling. That’s hardly a given – a co-op could still be valuable for experience or perspective-- but given that it is one big point of differentiation, it’d be worth for the OP to determine how meaningful it is to them.
For many students, this is what makes NEU THE one for them. If the OP is happy with summer internships or working in a lab with a prof, this just isn’t that meaningful.
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I’m sure tons have great co ops. And it may not be 50/50, but I assume there is balance on the other side?? I mean, i know kids who intern. Some rave, some say - ehhhhh - didn’t really have a project.
I look at my company and our intern is sort of thrown to the bosses. They have no clue what to do with them. Or they create a project that’s sort of - data entry, lame.
I’m just saying - can’t be typically all positive.
But those are great to read and no doubt for many, co-ops are a great thing.
In some ways, I wish my kid in poli-sci can have one. The engineers shouldn’t have difficulty securing a job. The poli sci/history/sociology - name your liberal art - they are more likely to need that early career boost!!!
Thanks
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I was responding to the “mind numbingly boring” comment. I haven’t really seen comments like that from NU parents in the past 3 years and that was not my personal experience (co-ops at the Dept of Justice and Alaska Dept of Law). Seems like most of the complaints about co-ops are the stress of getting them, which is like a job search. It’s not common but sometimes a co-op employer in financial distress will cancel a co- op offer. Some students pivot and find something else, others take classes.
Big school/small school
Urban/small town
Relatively smaller classes at Bates
More prof connection at Bates, since there are fewer grad students with whom to butt heads
More programs from which to choose at Northeastern, especially pre-professional programs
Bates is more intellectual overall, while Northeastern is more pre-professional (academic vibe)
Bates is probably a bit better for grad/PhD prep, while Northeastern may be a bit better at sending kids straight out into the work force. (…at least partly attributable to the intellectualism at Bates and the pre-pro vibe at NU – kids largely choose their paths)
So – this is obviously all about personal preference.
OP, what will they both cost per year?
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Hi, I am a current Freshman at Northeastern and I only have good things to say so far. All of my classes have also been under 30 students so far which was an important factor for me when looking at schools as well. I will also say that just from talking to second year students, it’s super impressive how much experience you can get at Northeastern, and I feel more confident navigating my major and figuring out what I want to do. To me, the co-op program is what set it apart from other schools on my list, and to me it really is the perfect combination of a fun college experience and preparation for a future career. I personally knew I wanted a city vibe, but I still wanted a campus feel, which Northeastern does have unlike many city schools. You mentioned you’ll be visiting both schools which I think will really help you make a decision based on your gut instinct of which school feels most aligned with you. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions about Northeastern!
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Gotcha - my daughter is not co-oping but is going to school in DC in the Fall and just had her first meeting - and a full-time internship is part of it - and they talk about having to find your own.
That said, I think the full back is working for one of the state delegations from Congress - but she’s hoping to get an agency or private governmental relations job - so we’re going to go through that stress here real soon 
I think co-op is a wonderful idea. I didn’t push it on my son but a lot of info from his school came out but he wasn’t interested. So I can see it being great for those who want and not so great for those who don’t.
Obviously NEU is a highly desired school. Not when I went to college - but a total makeover!!! The same could be said for BU as well, who accepted this kid with his 2.8 and 1030 SAT - single sitting. They didn’t superscore back then - but 1070 If it was today, I’d have not gotten into many colleges listed on this board!!