+1 Programs
I can’t speak to the specific program, but in general, the +1 program’s aren’t too intense. You take some grad courses instead of undergraduate ones, and then take a year of grad classes. I wouldn’t worry about deciding now, as your curriculum won’t change in the first year based on it. Wait to make any decision on that.
Co-op and Summer Courses
Think of it this way: You usually need 8 semesters to graduate from any school. Northeastern is the same. Summer sessions = half a semester. So for every semester you miss, you need to do 2 summer sessions or an extra semester. If you do 2 co-ops in 5 years, you won’t need any summer classes. A +1 program will add a year to that just like anywhere else, no summers needed.
Don’t forget about degree credit differences and AP credit either. For example, a 5 year 3 co-op program usually includes 2 summer sessions, but with a semester’s worth of AP credit, you won’t need them.
Most people at Northeastern take at least one summer class session, and there are good offerings because of that. The campus is active pretty much 365 days a year minus winter break. They enable a lot of the 4 year programs with co-ops as well, though the most common by far is 5 years with 3 co-ops and 1-2 summer sessions depending on AP credit.
There’s a lot of nuances here, and everyone’s pattern is different. I’m actually doing something similar to you. I’m doing a BS/MS program with 2 co-ops. Because of AP credit and summer sessions (2 total), I’ll do it in 5 years and 9 total semesters, rather than the usual 10 semesters and 6 years.
Core/GenEd’s
The core curriculum isn’t 11 courses - it’s 11 learning goals. A single class can satisfy 2-3 of those at once. Some classes in your major will hit these goals. As long as you hit each one before you graduate, you’re good to go. Given co-op, every major (as far as I know) starts with classes in your major in your first year (usually 2/4 of your courses each semester). You can do them at any pace you like. That flexibility was a big draw for me, as well as diving straight into my major.
Want to add a few things. Co-ops are usually 6 months (either Jan-June or July-Dec) so you will be working 1/2 a summer for each co-op you take (even if you don’t take summer classes - you won’t have the full summer off)… You do need to do some planning to do a plus 1 program. During what is your senior year (year 4 or 5 depending upon the number of co-ops etc.) you need to take graduate classes. So you can’t be on co-op that year (some people do co-op fall of their senior year). I think you need to have/maintain a certain GPA to be in a plus 1 program. Also, not every major has a plus one that lines up well - many of the joint majors don’t work well with plus one programs.
@kiddie what do you do during the gap between june and july for the co-op/academic sessions? Do you take summer courses during that month or is it a month break? What months typically do summer courses start and end?
So what I’m hearing is that you need 8 semesters to graduate…say two co-ops during the 4 years so if I’m doing it right I have completed 6 semesters of coursework, so you need another 2 semesters to finish so if you don’t do the summer session do you have to pay for another year of tuition? Just want to maximize ROI. Also, I’m confused on how AP credits transfer over to the core requirements, so currently if I have a 3 in apes, 4 in psych and human geo, and 5 in apush and chinese planning to do a bsib degree, how long will it really take if I want to do two co-ops in the shortest time possible (not counting the +1 program)
The summer is actually 2 half semesters - summer 1 and summer 2. Summer 1 is May and June and Summer 2 is July and August. You pay for summer semesters the same as any other except since it is a half semester you pay 1/2 tuition (as an example not real numbers - if a full tuition for a fall or spring semester is $10,000 - then tuition for summer 1 or summer 2 will be $5,000). You don’t pay any tuition when you are on co-op. So a typical school year might be - fall semester classes, spring semester co-op, summer 1 co-op continued and summer 2 classes. There is no saving any tuition by doing a shorter program - you still need 8 semesters of classes and therefore 8 semesters of tuition (unless you come in with AP credits) .
@kiddie then I assume if I complete the program with 2 co-ops and the 8 semesters will the +1 program add another year of tuition? Sorry but I’m just confused about the process!
^remind myself to call and ask…by the way how many classes do I need to take if I do a summer session and is it less rigorous then say a regular semester
Any +1 program is usually 2 additional semesters you will need. So if you need 8 semesters for your undergraduate, you will need 10 total semesters, and need to pay for 10 semesters. Graduate rates will apply once you graduate undergraduate. Depending on what makes sense, it could be useful to delay undergraduate graduation.
Summer sessions are pretty much exactly half of a semester in every way. Half time, half price, half classes (so 2 at a time, double the class time per week per class). Generally people find summer sessions to be easier since you don’t have to juggle as many balls at once, but it can be harder for some courses that get significantly harder when accelerated.
There’s only a week break. It’s the end of the last week in June to the start of the first week in July usually.
Here’s a full academic calendar, more or less:
Spring Semester: January 1 - April 30
Summer 1: May 1 - June 30
Summer 2: July 1 - August 31
Fall Semester: September 1 - December 31
Co-op Calender:
Spring Co-op: January 1 - June 30
Fall Co-op: July 1 - December 31
The summer split is designed to align with co-op so anyone on co-op has the ability to take summer classes before/after if they want. If you don’t need summer classes for a semester, it isn’t uncommon to extend a co-op to cover the full summer, to make an 8 month co-op.