Hey guys! I recently been accepted to both Northeastern College of Engineering and Carnegie Mellon CIT for Chemical Engineering. I received about equal financial aid from both universities so money is not an issue. I have been deliberating between these two schools for about a week now and I am so unsure of which institution should I choose. Here’s my pros and cons for each school.
CMU Pros
-Prestigious, nationally ranked chemical engineering program
-Ability to dual major with Engineering and Public Policy (public policy is a significant interest of mine)
-Intensive education prepares for my field
-Great research opportunities with world-renowned professors
-Washington D.C. semester for policy
CMU Cons
-Location (I would not have the opportunities and connections that a university in a city would have)
-Alumni mostly stay in the Pittsburgh area (I wish to live and work in the Northeast)
-Grade deflation and difficulty
-Perceived anti-social environment
-Course difficulty makes it difficult to become involved in activities and campus life
NEU Pros
-Honors (I will be living with what is considered the brightest minds in Northeastern)
-Co-ops: I will have to ability to work and gain work experience
-City location provides me with access with opportunities around Boston
-Alumni usually stay in the Northeast region
-Companies from co-ops usually higher graduates
-People in Northeastern seem intelligent, bright and social
-Encourages entrepreneurship
NEU Cons
-Quality of education isn’t up to par with Carnegie Mellon?
-Lacks the prestige that Carnegie Mellon has
-I’m not sure but the research opportunities aren’t as great as Carnegie Mellon’s
-Lack ability to effectively double major with policy or business and still graduate in 4 years (I don’t want to spend more money)
This is what I came up with so far. It seems like Carnegie pushes for research while Northeastern pushes for entrepreneurship. Although I would like to work in industry or at a small start-up in the future, I am worried about the difficulty in doing so. Doing research seems like a much more stable option.
I am also worried about the social environment about CMU. Throughout high school I have had the “work hard, play hard mentality.” When people complain about difficult courses and classes in high school, I usually am able to go through the courses with ease just by focusing a few hours a week. I am a high ranked student at my high school and never had trouble before in any AP classes (even now as I take 5 APs). However, I am worried that I’ll have trouble at CMU because of its reputation for stress and work. I feel like everyone at CMU is focused completely on work while NEU has a balance between it. I feel like CMU policy is a nice fit for me, while NEU push and focus for entrepreneurship fits me better than CMU push for research. I also wish to become very involved in extracurricular activities, club sports and volunteer work. It seems like doing such at NEU is much more manageable than doing such at CMU.
I also posted this on Northeastern’s thread to see what people in NEU also have to say. I am so conflicted :(((