Hi everyone, I’m currently trying to decide on which university to go to next year. The main choices I’m looking at now are Northeastern University in Boston, Washington University St. Louis, University of Rochester, and Case Western Reserve University. While I got no aid of any sort from WUSTL, I got 20k merit at UR, 32k merit at CWRU, and full tuition at NEU. I also got into the GEAR program at UR (an automatic entrance to grad school with some other networking perks) and the University Scholars Program at Northeastern which provided the full tuition scholarship a well as would give me a huge amount of benefits, such as specialized advising and better shots at internships and co-ops. So I’m not sure what exactly I’ll end up doing, but most likely it’ll be engineering and business. During the application process I sort of expected to get into more high end schools (perfect ACT, 12 AP tests with all 5s, 4.7 GPA, National Merit Finalist, etc.), so I haven’t really given these universities much thought until now. I did visit NEU at a scholars weekend, and really liked the feel of it, and I’ll be visiting WUSTL next week. For the moment, I’m curious what all your opinions are on this.
What is the net cost of each?
All of these are fantastic schools.
Case Western has an excellent engineering school and business school. The single door admission policy means that you are admitted to the entire univerisity…there is no “having to get into the engineering or business schools” so you can take classes in each area.
Have you gone to an admitted students day?
I’m just voicing my vote. There are a lot of different factors, like where you want to live and what kind of weather you want (although it will suck-ish at 3 of the schools, depending on your attitude). WUSTL, off the table of course, due to cost. I would rate them: 1) NEU, 1a) CWR, 2) UR, and a distant 99) WUSTL. All great schools, can’t go wrong! Sorry you didn’t consider the fact you may not get in any of your lottery schools. Good luck!
We faced a similar decision last year. In the end there were lots of good choices but it came down to WUSTL and CWRU. Full pay at WUSTL, substantial merit at CWRU. Are there any particular reasons you like one school over another because of the arts or sports? That was a factor in our decision. If you like NEU equally to your other choices I would strongly consider that option. As an engineer, it doesn’t matter what undergraduate school you come from if you make the most of your opportunities and graduate with a strong gpa and work experience. NEU has a great coop program. If you end up at CWRU you will find a lot of strong students like yourself who expected other options or turned them down because of generous merit aid. You have to ask if WUSTL is worth $140,000 more than CWRU or $180,000 more than NEU or $80,000 more than UR. Only you and your parents can answer that question. I can tell you that our child is very happy with his decision to attend CWRU. Best of luck!
No not yet. I honestly wasn’t thinking of going because of the cost of flying myself out there. Is it worth it to see it in person?
Yes. You will be able to sit in on classes and spend a night in the dorm with other students. You went to NEU and are going to WUSTL. You should see CWRU if you are seriously considering attending.
Okay. The only reason I visited NEU and wustl was because they paid for the flight. Im looking to see if i can find time to visit CWRU now though. Almostdonemom, do you think that the place where you get your undergrad for engineering or business doesn’t matter as much? I had been told that it can be pretty crucial later on. 2muchquan, what makes you rank NEU first? When I visited I really liked it, but I am not sure whether its relatively lack of name recognition and/or “prestige” could make it harder to get a foot in the door later on.
Also, here’s the annual net costs for each school to make it clearer:
Case: $29,133
UR: $45,000
NEU: $15,382 (just room and board)
WashU: $68,000
My daughter is strongly considering CWRU so obviously we are fans. But we live in MA and northeastern has a great reputation on the east coast- very well known and known as difficult to get into - it’s CWRU that is an unknown here. And because they are giving you a great deal and Boston is a wonderful city my vote is for NEU. You’ll definitely be with some top students there.
Good luck!
I agree with @2muchquan in terms of the order of schools and thought process behind it.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge fan of Wash U.
You’ve got a chance to go to NEU on a full tuition scholarship.
Only IF your parents consider the cost of Wash U ($68k x 4) as budget dust, then, and only then, it would be worth it in my mind to go there over NEU. You say (in this post or another) your parents can pay but you’d prefer they don’t, then that suggests to me that full pay for 4 years at Wash U isn’t budget dust.
CWRU is a very close 2nd in my mind to NEU. However, IF you like Cleveland significantly more than Boston and curriculum is more favorable, then I wouldn’t hesitate to go to Case even if COA is $15k more. I only say that because you said your parents can pay.
I also say the above only because seems like you’re chasing prestige a bit. Not saying you’re wrong or a bad person - we all chase prestige to a certain degree. It’s human nature to want be part of an “exclusive” (however you define the term) club/organization/etc.
As a Midwesterner, I would say the prestige leans more toward Case than NEU at this time. May change in the future. Of course, prestige varies greatly with chosen occupation and region of the country.
NEU’s co-op program is hard to turn down though - especially if you only have to pay R&B.
Good luck to you and your parents on your pending decision. Though you stated you didn’t get into more “high end” schools, you’ve still got plenty of choices that most students would be ecstatic to have.
OP, @ChicagoSportsFn said it pretty well. I ranked NEU first because it’s a great school, in a great town, and it’s cheapest. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them, so for me (again, this is my ranking) if they are all great schools with great opportunities, then I would choose the least expensive school. It’s Boston, for goodness sake! That’s an awesome town. You’ll have money so you don’t have to worry about every penny you are spending. I love Case, too, but seeing the net costs as you laid them out…I would push NEU even a little bit more.
@JohnNZ I honestly can not tell you about the business degree. I can tell you that all of these programs are well known for engineering and it will be what you make of it that counts - gpa and work experience. I felt that WUSTL had limited choices in types of engineering offered, but we know kids there who love it. That being said, whether you spend $272,000 for the program at WUSTL or $65,000 for the degree at NEU and graduate with a great gpa and work experience from either program you starting salary will be roughly the same if you are thinking about your return on investment. I am from the Boston area and I can tell you that NEU has come way up in the rankings and it is very popular. Lots to do in Boston. Regarding the visit to CWRU. A friend of ours has a kids accepted to a HYP and is considering turning down a full ride to WUSTL. He didn’t feel he fit in well with the student body when he visited. So yes, I think being on campus and trying to decide if you can see yourself there is important. Can you contact Case and see if they subsidize the visit for some students?
I would definitely call Case and see if they can do anything. I’m sure they’ll definitely want you at their school because you’re obviously VERY high performing. If you let them know that the other schools paid for your visits and the amount of money you’re getting from other schools, they may be able to work something out with you. Congrats on being admitted to such great schools!
Look into the co op program at Northeastern University. My understanding is that it is REQUIRED to take a co op position during at least one semester. If you pick NEU, Just be sure you want to do that. Case Western offers co ops but they are your option to take summer positions instead and get your education done in four years. Co ops at Northeastern U will stretch out your education, but if all your tuition is covered and you don’t mind that, the co ops should be very positive experiences. Boston is somewhat better college town than others .St Louis is very nice, though and if you want a very well rounded education both CWRU and WUSTL are the best for humanities, perhaps. Although Northeastern and Rochester are still very good for well roundedness.
For location Rochester may be the most dull location, but the engineering college is quite good, and well known, especially for optical engineering.
Boston may have the best summer job options both in business and engineering of the four cities, although Northern Ohio has a surprising number of high tech companies , especially software, biotech, and the Federal Reserve Bank , insurance and other business related jobs are strong in Cleveland. First Solar has a few research plants in Ohio. Bridgestone Tire, in Akron.
You could land at summer positions in any city from any of these fine colleges but sometimes the local contacts are helpful and the local job market may dictate where you work.
One more plug for CWRU, I think it has an extremely good record of getting students into top engineering grad programs at MIT, Michigan etc. It also has a solid business school well ranked for accounting and finance if you go that route. I do think it matters a LOT in engineering where you go to undergraduate college! You must go to a school with HARD classes if you want to go to grad school. Matters a bit less if you are in CS and going directly to work, but every other engineering field you need a masters today or even a PhD in biomedical or materials sciences to get the good jobs.
I think of Northeastern as more of a school for marketing, but its change a lot and engineering has beefed up a lot. Northeastern is considered better than Boston U for engineering, BU may outrank NEU for CS only. But I think that Northeastern suffers a bit because its so close to MIT, Harvard, Tufts, that have better ranks and longer tradition of solid engineering and the top business schools in the world! .
Case Western is the TOP school in Ohio and does not suffer by being compared to Ohio State, or Kent State. (except if we are talking college football! )
Many midwestern students with similar records to yours will go to top ranked engineering programs like UIUC or Michigan but quite a few choose Case Western for the size, and research opportunities .
Of all your choices, I think WUSTL is the highest overall rank, but not for engineering. Its just much more of a social sciences and humanities college with a lot of good strong premed students.
Co-op is not required - you must do some experiential learning - that can also be research, a study abroad experience, or service learning. So, if you don’t want to do co-op, Northeastern can still work well. Additionally, there are 4 year programs with 1-2 co-ops if you really strongly prefer 4 years vs 5 years.