<p>Which has a better Mathematics department for a prospective Actuary? Does anybody familiar with NEU know how good the co-op selection is for math majors?</p>
<p>I'm getting the same amount of money from each, so that's not a huge factor. BU's only going to end up being about $2k more per year.</p>
<p>Particle, my understanding is that BU's math program is a bit more theory-oriented, Northeastern more applied. Also, when looking at the over-all costs of your education, don't forget to factor in the salary you'll earn during
co-op.</p>
<p>I'd choose NEU.</p>
<p>I'm aware that over 3 co-ops, I'll earn about $60,000. While that's great and will keep me from having any loans whatsoever, it seems like it would be more productive to cut off the fifth year and have a full-time job.</p>
<p>Particle -- you have plenty of time to work full time. Enjoy an extra year of college. Trust me on this one ;)</p>
<p>Okay, anybody else? I'm going to an admitted students' day at each, but it would be nice to have some extra information in mind while I'm there.</p>
<p>Hi! Finally someone in my same position! I got accepted into both as well, with similar financial aid in both and they're really my "finalists", it's come down to BU and NU. Did you get into the Honors program? How do you feel that compares with BU's higher ranking (35 vs 95)? Do you know anything about opportunities for learning a foreign language at NU without taking it as a major or minor? (I'm an international student so I'm not familiar with how taking random courses aside from your maj/min works) </p>
<p>I'm aiming at pre-law and am definitely attracted by their honors program and co-op opportunities but BU's reputation precedes it...tough choice. Tell us how the admitted students day goes, I'm really interested please.</p>
<p>Best of luck!
Millitsky</p>
<p>millitsky, if you want to do "pre-law," I'd pick BU. The best preparation for law school are fields like political science, history etc. -- in other words, humanities. BU is definitely better in the humanities than NEU, and in languages. It attracts better humanities-oriented students than NEU. NEU's students tend to puruse very concrete fields: engineering, business, computer science, the health sciences.</p>
<p>I would pick BU. Lots of people graduate from MIT teach at BU.</p>
<p>^ I agree with that assessment. BU is more academic; NU more practical. And, for what its worth (probably not much), while both schools have improved their reputations in recent years, NU had a much longer way to go. Not that long ago, it wasn't very selective. I know that things have changed and it is now considered to be much better and is much harder to get into--but not everyone knows that.</p>
<p>Actually BU is rank 60 and Northeastern University is 96. You were probably thinking of BC.</p>
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<p>That sounds extremely, extremely high, I really doubt you’d make 60k over 3 co-ops, which averages to 20k per co-op. Most students make somewhere around 9-14k per co-op, and that’s before taxes.</p>
<p>I’m an engineering student and when I visited Northeastern, I was told that the average starting salary is $14-16 an hour for co-op students. Average work time a week is 40 hours and each co-op period is about one semester (15 weeks). If you do the math, that’s about $9,600. Of course, salary will increase with each co-op but emily2007 is right, the most you could make off co-op would be around $30,000 total. </p>
<p>But money isn’t really the big deal. You get work experience (3 semesters worth of it). You get to see if what you want to major in is really right for you. Employers will be more likely to pick you than another college graduate if you’ve already proven that you can be successful in the workplace (plus you already have experience so your starting salary may be higher). In addition, you can see what it takes to live by yourself and be self-sustainable in some way after college. </p>
<p>All in all, it seems like Northeastern can only be a win-win situation if you do not plan to go to graduate school.</p>