I’m rounding out my list of colleges to apply to and I can’t choose between CWRU and NEU. My biggest deciding factors are their computer science programs and IB credit, but I’m also interested in their housing, scholarships, sports, cities, etc. What would be a good choice and why?
I forgot to mention that I plan to attend medical school once I get my undergraduate degree.
Apply to both and compare your options!
I personally picked northeastern. Expensive city to live in, but generous merit aid. & Honors freshmen have pretty cool dorms (lookup northeastern international village dorm).
Also, Boston is home to some of the best hospitals in the world, and northeastern lets students go to co-op (basically just school-sponsored employment for 6 months) and a lot of pre-med’s go over to the hospitals and get some pretty awesome experience before graduating.
Thanks, I was thinking about gaining experience working in hospitals, and that would definitely be a big factor for me.
Remember that CWRU has a hospital right across the street. And on the campus tour, the guide mentioned how students are given a lot of opportunities to volunteer there. I have heard much more about the strength of the CS program at Northeastern although I haven’t really researched CWRU’s CS program.
Boston is a much better college city than Cleveland. Neither CWRU nor Northeastern are big sports schools but Boston offers a full range of professional schools.
I agree that you should apply to both if possible. Med school is very expensive, so you need to compare financial aid packages and keep your costs down at the undergraduate level.
Case has a combined BS/MD program that provides automatic acceptance into a very respectable medical school if you maintain your GPA. It’s pretty selective, however.
Yes, CS at Northeastern gets more buzz – I’m not sure that actually equates into a stronger program, though. I suspect it’s rather that the co-op program is very appealing to such students. Northeastern in general is very popular right now, especially among the extremely pre-professional students proliferating on CC.
In general, I think the two are pretty evenly balanced in STEM fields. Case has the edge in biological/biomedical research, which leaks into other departments. (For example, it has a very reputable medical anthropology track in its anthro program, and BME is its standout engineering program.)
So, I’ve seen that Northeastern has good merit aid, but what are the two like in terms of scholarships? Are they difficult to get?
I would say Northeastern’s merit aid is very hard to get. I have no idea what your stats are like but an admissions guide told me that average stats for getting into the honors college was about a 33 ACT/2200 SAT and 3.9 GPA. I had a 3.93 UW and a 2230 when I applied and I did not get into the honors college or get merit aid.
At Northeastern you pretty much need to be in the top 25% of admitted students: ACT>34, SAT>2200.
I would prefer to live in Boston over Cleveland, but you may have a different opinion. You should visit each city and see which city you would prefer to live in.
Case is pretty well know for offering good merit aid. Both our D and her friend were accepted to Case and received $25k merit scholarships. They then gave my D enough grant money for us to afford the school (she did not attend in the end). Case has far fewer undergrads about 4300 vs. over 13000 for Northeastern. No one could say Cleveland is better than Boston for medicine, however, University Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic are up there with the best and both are within walking distance of the university.
University Circle in Cleveland is one of the nicest urban areas you can find, has even been voted one of 10 prettiest neighborhoods in US by Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/efel45lkj/university-circle-cleveland-ohio/
Case is right there, across the street from a world class art museum (and that fountain) and symphony, and yes, the hospitals are both in walking distance, UH in middle of campus, CC about 1 mile away.
Cleveland and especially University Circle, is up and coming.
Case is an AITU research university with high undergrad participation, NE is really pushing 5-year co-op program, so very different focus. NSF rankings for Case are 50, for NE are 120+. Coops can be done at Case, but are not required.
Weatherwise, Cleveland and Boston are about equally terrible. Case upperclass housing is terrific (suite style in new buildings), freshman dorms are old, sophomores mostly have singles, but in old dorms. Case is Div 3, NE Div 1, depending on your interest in playing vs watching, could be a decider.
Case merit scholarships also limited to top 20-25% of attending students, see the common data sets, very similar student stats to NE. Admission rates keep declining, so admission and scholarships are harder to get than in past years.
As someone who transferred from CWRU to Northeastern I can’t recommend you going to CWRU at all unless you get into the professional medical or dental programs. The differences between Boston and Cleveland are to great. CWRU does give more money but I’m telling you right now everyone I knew at Case transferred the first 2 years.
As for your comment about hospitals. Case had the cleveland clinic. Northeastern has Mass general, Boston Medical Center, Dana Farber, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Beth Isreal and Tufts Medical center close to campus.
Case has Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals/Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital
@cisplatin101 Interesting information. I’m wondering how it is that the graduation rate (6 yr) is essentially the same for both institution? I mean, it could be, depending on the circles you ran in I suppose. I’m wondering only because my daughter has Case (and NU) on her list, and I would be concerned if students were leaving Case in droves. Is there a larger % of transfers from Case vs. drop outs from Northeastern, or is there another explanation?
If the student wants to graduate with their degree in 4 years, Northeastern is not a good option. And if cost is an issue, when you factor in the 5 years (at least) at NEU, and perhaps the possibility of the first semester abroad (which increases costs significantly), one should really calculate the ROI for each college being considered.
There is nothing grievously bad about NEU but hands down Case is the stronger university academically for STEM.
For pre-med, Case Western by far. The med school is right next to campus, and it operates a system of clinics and hospitals throughout the area that are supportive of the university by far.