Hi everyone, when it comes to their Accounting/Business Management programs and majors, would Boston University or Northeatsern University be stronger? Can you tell me your overall opinions on these schools? Also, I know this is a very vague question, but just in general, which school is a bit better at giving financial aid? Thanks for your help!
Both schools pledge to meet full need but as is the case with all universities it will be their determination of need, not yours or what your family wants to pay. BU has the Cohen Scholarship which is very generous if you have high stats and are Pell eligible. Northeastern will grant up to $35,000/year merit aid to NMF Finalists.
Northeastern’s coop program is great for accounting majors with many coop placements in the Big Four. Northeastern also offers a M.S. in Accounting to bring you up to the 150 credits required for the CPA, if that is what you are aiming for. Both BS and MS can be completed in 5 years. BU does not have such a program.
Both are fine regional schools. Northwestern is ranked slightly higher if that matters.
Apply to both. Go to whichever is cheaper. IMO, NEU’s coop program is great for many liberal arts majors, but the Big Four accounting firms recruit from everywhere so not sure it give you much of a leg up.
Hi! Northeastern student here (going into my junior year). The business school at NU is the largest (or second largest? i can’t quite remember) school within the University, so there are TONS of great opportunities. I think there’s a few important distinctions between BU and NEU.
- NEU’s co-op program-- if you don’t know much about it, its a full time entry level position that you’re at for 6 months. While you’re on co-op you do not take classes or pay tuition, and the vast majority of co-ops are paid. Students can complete 2-3 co-ops during their time at NU (while they are not required, around 97% of students complete one or more). In terms of co-op opportunities at NU for Accounting/Business management, there’s a plethora of options (I’d recommend poking around on the business school’s website for examples). I personally know people who have co-oped at Disney in their finance department, or people who have worked at Goldman Sachs, etc. While at BU you could certainly do internships, the co-op program at NEU is unparalleled.
- Campus vibe. NEU is situated close to everything in Boston, while still having a campus feel. We have various green spaces and quads on campus, and it definitely feels like you’re on a college campus. On the other hand, (no shade), but BU doesn’t really have much of a campus. Their campus is situated between Commonwealth Ave and Storrow Drive, both really busy roads. They don’t have many green spaces and it felt like buildings along a long road when I toured the school.
Hope this helped a little bit! Feel free to reach out with any more questions! I’m also a tour guide and work for admissions at NEU so I have some insight into how admissions work here.
“which school is a bit better at giving financial aid?”
These were the only two unaffordable schools that either daughter got into. Of course there were lots of other unaffordable schools that they did not apply to. For us the answer was either “neither”, or “somewhere else”. However, your results might be different.
You should run the NPC on both and see what it says.
So, I am assuming you haven’t applied yet. Work on your application… get in and then you can decide where to go. Keep in mind both depend on International students heavily to help in the financial aid for domestic applicants. This year might be tough with the expected loss of so many international students. Keep a backup plan with your local state school.
As a BU grad I never saw Northeastern having that much of a green campus 
Both campuses are similar in that they are in the middle of a city with the T (subway) running on each campus. The only schools with a real campus close is Harvard, Tufts and that community college known as Boston College
Who wants to be a Husky when you can be a Terrier.
Good Luck!
@airway1 haha then you definitely didn’t really get to our campus! We have 5 different quads on camps and are actually technically classified as an arboretum for all the different types of trees and plants we have!
Plus, Huskies are way better than Terriers;)
@airway1 @bremcclarey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf8JkmC4ykI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn1zxlcz3Qc
The Northeastern Arboretum
https://news.northeastern.edu/2019/05/23/northeastern-universitys-boston-campus-has-been-officially-recognized-as-a-level-two-arboretum-by-arbnet/
A lot has changed in the past 30 years!
My son got more merit aid from Northeastern than BU, but it’s definitely worth applying to both to see what they offer. He did not qualify for need-based aid.
@bremcclarey how is the co-op program going now for students during the pandemic? Are companies still hiring or are co-ops being cancelled?
@TomSrOfBoston we have a “beach” at BU Northeastern does not! I must say campus has changed a lot…
@Mom270 Yes, applying to both is still a good idea! Co-op definitely looks a little different, and its different for everyone. I accepted a co-op offer right before everything went down in March, and luckily my co-op was able to support me through this, so I am currently on co-op working remotely. Some of my friends on co-op are actually going into their offices. I do know some people though who had a co-op offer and it was rescinded once everything happened, and some people who couldn’t find a co-op after everything. My boyfriend was in this situation…(computer science), applied to over 120 co-ops and not a single offer. But I also know people who got offers during all the shutdowns. So as you can see, it really varies.