<p>I am a senior in high school most likely applying RD to northeastern but have been reading about the "lack of community" and how freshman have a hard transition and it is "awkward" i know these are people's opinions but can any current students shed light on this for me? I know northeastern is different because of its co-op but as far as freshman life it shouldn't be all that different...right?</p>
<p>danlo as a parent I have been following these posts and I think I understand what happens. Northeastern is a different kind of school and it appeals to a certain kind of student. In my opinion, those looking for the rah-rah football/sorority/fraternity/beer party college experience should not go to Northeastern. Of course there are hockey games, fraternities/sororoties, etc on Northeastern’s campus but it is not the same, because the city is out there and all the other Boston schools and it just isn’t as self-contained.</p>
<p>So with that said, what you have to do is get involved. My daughter is having the time of her life and probably couldn’t see herself having gone to any other school. However she is an athlete and those girls were an immediate link to a social life; and she is fortunate that they’re a great group and all get along. Other freshmen join clubs, club sports, or other interest groups, and sometimes they do bond with those in their dorms. I have read a few posts where people say that their kids are bored and have nothing to do on the weekends and I scratch my head. That has not been my daughter’s experience at all, nor the experience of most of the people she knows.</p>
<p>You should go and visit and decide if the school appeals to you. The co-op does not affect the freshman experience.</p>
<p>thanks for the reply wild berry, that was very helpful. I am not seeking a party school/football sorority school such as the kind you mentioned. I am a huge hockey fan and I know hockey is a big part of the social life at Northeastern, or so i’ve heard. I find it hard to believe that students are having trouble finding things to do as boston has endless opportunities. I read on here that someone was living in IV and they said that they didn’t meet other hall mates for weeks, but isn’t that on the student’s shoulder to go out and make an effort to meet people?</p>
<p>Here is a short video from Northeastern that may help:
[Street</a> Smarts: Advice for Incoming Freshman - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee92r9WE2Qg&feature=channel_video_title]Street”>Street Smarts: Advice for Incoming Freshman - YouTube)</p>
<p>The shy student in high school will likely find it hard to adjust at Northeastern (and elsewhere).</p>
<p>The RAs and RDs sponsor programs to try to get everyone to go meet each other, etc. But yes, it is sort of up to the student to meet people. My best friends from my first year were found because the first night, me and my roommates decided to go randomly knock on everyone’s doors and say hello. You meet people in the hall and doing laundry and in honors classes (since a lot of the IV kids are honors). </p>
<p>A lot of times when people get upset about not meeting new people, it’s because they are expecting it to be as easy as in high school- but then they forget that if you didn’t know anyone, the first few weeks of high school were pretty hard too. But eventually you start talking to people in classes, watching movies with hallmates, etc. College is bigger and people have more things going on in their lives, but the same rules apply to making friends as in high school. The only exception is if you join greek life, where you are pretty much handed a massive group of friends out of no where that you have no choice in… But some people really like that.</p>
<p>Thanks neuchimie, thats comforting. I think I will definitely apply, I really like the school. One more question, I also saw that they have the nu.in program and if I got admitted to that, I have a chronic medical condition that would prevent me from traveling abroad, do you think the staff would allow me to take classes near home and then start at NEU when everyone else comes back? Would the adjustment be hard since other students would have met people abroad? Thinking way ahead but I do need to take this into account as a possibility because I do not have a lot of other schools on my list that I actually like right now</p>
<p>You wouldn’t be allowed to take other classes, I know that for (nearly) certain. Northeastern is crazy strict about taking classes while you are a Northeastern student…</p>
<p>But there is someone else on this board who has a medical condition and got out of NUIN as well, so I imagine its definitely possible. </p>
<p>I know it sounds stupid to apply to schools you don’t actually like, but just make sure that you apply to a good amount. I kind of regret not applying to more. haha</p>
<p>OK but say that I was able to get out of NUin do you think the transition would be difficult because everyone else would already have met people, or do you think students are generally open to meeting new people?</p>
<p>and yes i do need to start looking into other schools</p>
<p>I think it’d be what you made of it. If you went in super scared, stayed in your room the whole time and never talked to anyone, then yeah it’d be hard. But no one really cares what year you are in or what you did last semester, especially with co-op and everyone being on different schedules. I wouldn’t be worried about it.</p>
<p>But try no to worry about it. You’ll only have to worry about that if you get in for spring-admit, and the goal is to get in fall-admit. :P</p>
<p>Granted, I was a freshman a loong time ago, but the posts about neu being “awkward” socially and not having a great social scene are totally opposite of my experience as a freshman.</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s not quite as easy as it might be at a big greek/house party kind of school, or a really small school. There are a lot of people at neu, you might have to meet a lot of students before you find people you really click with and before you start having parties to go to every weekend.</p>
<p>I’m just one opinion, and I started school a loong time ago, but as a freshman, students were really friendly and social. People in the dorm wanted to get to know each other, people were open to meeting new friends, etc.</p>
<p>Overall, my social life at neu was really good. It was definitely better once I was 21, and I know we’re talking about freshman year here, but that’s just 1 of 5 years. You can’t judge the entire social scene of a school by the experience of a first semester freshman. Boston is a great city for being a college student, and NEU has a pretty visible social crowd. </p>
<p>Make an effort to meet new people, get involved with groups/clubs/sports, you’re going to be fine.</p>
<p>Also, I’m not sure why you’re so worried about NU in … if it’s that much of a problem, apply with the understanding that you may consider a different school if you get a conditional acceptance.</p>
<p>because i don’t have many schools on my list so if it comes down to neu that could be a very real possibility. thanks for the advice everyone. ill start looking into more schools</p>
<p>danlo - my D is a freshman that initially had some transition issues…she hated it at first thinking that all her friends at different schools were having so much fun but now she realizes that most of them didn’t study the first month and are paying the price at mid-terms. Her academics were much more demanding and difficult than she anticipated due to her program so she was slammed with work on Day 1. She has only been in school now 8 weeks and she has adapted, embraced the city and now seems to be enjoying herself…a couple comments…1. in our town, my D was a very mature 18 yo, in the city she is an 18 yo kid. Living in the city is definitely a new experience and at times very overwhleming. 2. D is in a very demanding major which she thought she wanted ever since she was a little girl. She has decided it is really not for her. Now that she has made the decision to change majors, it seems as if the weight of the world is off her shoulder and she is finding more time to reach out socially. 3. If you go to NEU, it helps to become integrated into the off campus scene as quickly as possible. This is where the parties are and alot of the social interaction takes place here…so how do you do that? Join a frat/sorority, do community service work with upper classman, join intramurals, etc. Also take advantage of the under 21 nightlife in the city. Every week there are at least one or two events, you just have to tap into it on FB tog et on the admit list.</p>
<p>So, I think that some of the freshman at NEU have missed expectations, including my D - as the school becomes more global, the academics are becoming much more challenging. They have hired professors with unbelievable credentials and they have high expectations from their students. Unlike more rural schools, NEU has a strict underage drinking policy on campus…some RAs will turn a blind eye occasionally but if there is any indication that it is getting out of hand then it is shut down…so there are no parties in the dorms. I am hearing from other parents that kids in other schools that have cracked down on underage drinking are having similar social issues as NEU freshman…nothing to do, no place to go.</p>
<p>momofboston, thanks for the insight. do you mind me asking what major your daughter initially had and what she switched to? if so, i understand. i would definitely take advantage of all of the opportunities that the city has to offer. boston does seem like a great city. i don’t drink so that policy won’t be an issue. i feel a lot better now</p>
<p>I am a parent of a freshman and started a thread on this issue maybe a month ago.</p>
<p>My son was doing OK back then but told me some of his concerns-which you can read in that thread and probably already have.</p>
<p>Let me be clear though-he loves it there. He has also been slammed with work-I think he was operating on some outdated information about the level of academic challenge he was going to get-so that alone made trying to socialize harder-he was always working!</p>
<p>He also lives in IV and has told me he does feel cut off from the rest of the freshmen since he is also taking only one non-honors class. He knows it isn’t a major effort to walk ten minutes to the other side of the campus-he said though when you are tired and bombed with work that is the last thing he feels like doing.</p>
<p>I have also heard the same stories from my son that momofboston has heard about his friends at other schools-as more time passes he is even happier at NEU.</p>
<p>I think going to a school in the middle of a city is a very different experience-but a great one. The campus is very manageable-I don’t know how they manage to have it as compact as it is with so many students. I do think the school doesn’t have as many organized events for the freshmen as other schools appear to-but that is just an opinion.</p>
<p>NEU strikes me even more now that he is there as the kind of place where the opportunities are endless-but no one is going to hand it to you-you have to go out and make it happen-that includes the social aspect. I think that is great though-isn’t that what life is like?</p>
<p>He is about as happy as a first semester freshman can be-at least that’s what he tells me!</p>
<p>If you are looking for a rah rah school (and there is nothing wrong with that) I don’t think this would be the best fit. It seems like the kids there like to have fun but they are very focused on their work-when I have visited I have also picked up on that-the kids there mean business-nothing wrong with that either.</p>
<p>Will you be visiting?</p>
<p>Haven’t read through the entire thread, but the whole awkward transition thing is very true. If you’re not a certain type of person, it’s hard to make a lot of friends. Partying type, you’ll be fine, or if you happen to actually fit into the mold of your LLC, it might be easy. As a freshman right now, I can say once you go to orientation your social life is like a ticking time bomb and if you don’t establish at least a small group within the first month you might be alone.</p>
<p>Um… I’m sorry if that was your experience, but it wasn’t mine. I’m definitely not a partying type, I rarely drink (even now that I’m 21), I don’t like hockey, my LLC wasn’t anything special, and I hate the snow. And I wasn’t alone.</p>
<p>People sometimes confused “being friendly” with “being a partier”. I don’t party at all, and it has definitely made it hard to become friends with CERTAIN groups of people- but then again, I don’t want to be friends with them anyway because we have nothing in common. But I am friendly to new people I meet, so I make friends in classes all the time. I personally never joined a club (and never felt I needed to in order to make more friends), but that is definitely a route a lot of people go towards if they want to meet people with common interests.</p>
<p>i really can’t imagine the experience of making friends at NEU to be dramatically different than at any other school. it seems to be all about the effort, and getting yourself involved</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong here, I’ve made friends of course; you’ll find plenty of people you have stuff in common with, but people are generally not very approachable. It’s not ‘dramatically different’ but most freshmen, after the first month, get a lot less friendly which is expected and making friends in class is not really the easiest thing if you’re mostly in lectures.</p>
<p>I’m a freshman at NEU, and I’ve found it to be pretty easy to make friends. The most important thing that you have to remember is that EVERYONE is in the same position as you are. Everyone wants to make friends, and I haven’t met many people that just blow you off. Get out into your dorm, get to know people. I found that making friends through my classes was probably where most of my friends came from. I’m a biology major, and I have multiple classes & labs with the same kids, so it was really easy to get to know everyone. </p>
<p>Yeah, this school isn’t huge on the whole football/parties/greek life like you might find at other schools, but I think we have a pretty nice community. Everyone that I’ve met, freshman or upperclassmen, have been really nice and accommodating. And even though greek life isn’t HUGE here, there still is a good greek life, and many of my friends are in sororities or fraternities and have a great time and have met a lot of awesome people. I promise, there are definitely ways to make great friends here.</p>