Coming down to the wire here… all decisions(except ivys) are in, and we are trying to figure out the best option for DS. He’s highly motivated & very passionate about EE - focus is getting an awesome, exciting, challenging job post-graduation, and wants to be ‘inspired’ by his college. He’s also liberal in his political views, and very independent/willing to work/not overly concerned about a stressful courseload.
Assuming similar cost, which would you pick?
Northeastern is in Boston (we live in NJ). Center for all kinds of tech jobs & great city. Amazing co-op program, which is a huge draw. He would also be in the honors program, which has lots of perks.
GA Tech is #5 for EE in the country. Hardcore tech school with a great reputation.
At first pass, he prefers GA Tech. We haven’t visited either school, and it would be very challenging to do so due to Covid.
GA Tech would be full OOS pay, or close to it. Northeastern has offered $32k/year scholarship, bringing the cost of both to about the same.
Other cheaper options are Rutgers Honors, Rowan, or NJIT Honors, and he might end up at one of those, but we are just trying to narrow down the ‘expensive’ option to focus our decision.
Our situation was identical. Picked GT (it seemed like a no brainer because of the reputation/ratings alone) and it’s clear this was the right choice. We visited both schools and Georgia Tech knocked it out of the park over Northeastern in every possible way: campus appearance and facilities, campus spirit, coops/internships, research opportunities, activities, employment prospects, reputation, etc, etc. Northeastern is known for its co-op program but if I am not mistaken, GT actually places more co-ops than any school in the country. There is also a vibrant Greek life community and it doesn’t hurt that D1 sports are featured (not the highest-ranked teams but getting better each year). Our student is surrounded by overachievers from all parts of the US and pretty much every place in the world. The opportunities are endless and the only problem has been a lack of time to embrace them all. Your child should also be congratulated on the accomplishment of getting into Georgia Tech, especially as an out-of-stater. That is really hard to do. I am almost surprised that you are even considering Northeastern. It is truly an excellent school, but I think it is clear (from an objective standpoint as well as my personal opinion) that it is not in the same league as Georgia Tech in any way. I wish you could visit GT and see its amazing campus.
If I had to offer cons to GT, they would be minor: OK but not great freshman housing, and meh food in the dining halls (offset by a new food supply system next year (current contract was just terminated), excellent (and cheaper!) Greek dining options, and much dining variety near campus). GT is also really hard and can be very, very stressful. But everyone seems to get through it and still partake in the many other things GT and Atlanta have to offer. In the end, the degree is worth the work.
Thanks for the replies, everyone. I am definitely getting the sense that GT has the better program - lol. However, I’m reading on reddit & studentsreview.com that there is such intense pressure and grade deflation at GT - everyone is miserable. Then I come here, and on the GT parents facebook page, and everyone loves it. Sooo hard to really know.
Also, in regards to co-ops - I have been told that Northeastern has 3000 employers that hold co-op jobs reserved for Northeastern students - no one else - and they have a class on preparing for co-op, and a staff of 35 people dedicated to maintaining relationships with these companies, and helping students find jobs. Whereas, from what I’ve read, GT students are just told to find opportunities by themselves, or from job fairs, then apply to get it approved as a ‘co-op’. Doesn’t seem comparable. But maybe it is easy to get an intern/co-op job if you are a student at GT?
Only five weeks to make this decision - we are feeling the pressure!!
The GT Reddit page is well known as a repository for a handful of malcontents who are not representative of the wider student body. The same students post on that site repeatedly, alleging they are suicidal, and that GT has ruined their lives. My student says they are regarded as a bunch of jerks who can’t cut the grind, which is admittedly tough. Many college Reddit pages are extremely negative in similar fashion.
I can only reference my own student’s experiences and those of friends and classmates. Internships and coop opportunities are in abundance, and I am not aware of anyone who wants such an opportunity and can’t find one. One such student is a friend, someone who transferred from NEU into GT after their first year, on the Transfer Pathway. This student was denied acceptance at GT on the first try despite stellar application credentials. They say the two schools can’t compare and has far greater respect for GT, although they did say NEU was slightly more fun.
If the information you have been given about Northeastern’s efforts to secure co-op opportunities is true, then I would say that GT does not put in nearly as much effort to personally guide students into co-ops. But they don’t need to, as students seem to be fine on their own, with some school guidance and access to career fairs.
Northeastern is a fine institution, arguably among the best in the country. But again, it is not in the same league as Georgia Tech, especially for engineering, it’s such a shame you can’t visit both schools. I think seeing both locations and stopping random people and peppering them with questions (as we did) would do much to calm your worries and lead you to a decision. For what it’s worth, our tour of NEU was among the most unimpressive of any school we looked at on the Eastern Seaboard. It really left us cold.
I think some of the grade deflation talk comes from GT’s grading system. Only straight A, B, C, etc. No +/-.
Mental health is a concern but that’s at every campus, for all types of majors, not just GT. You have to know your kid and talk to them. It’s tough for some kids who are used to being the smartest in the class, but are just average at GT. GT’s retention rate is 97% for a reason.
Not sure about the internships at GT yet but I know my son has done looking on his own. That said, I think employers know about GT.
Reddit is just one tool in the shed. I’ve found it useful to ask further questions but it’s like a lot of things on the internet…an open forum to complain.
GT is the better school but the best advice may not be from parents.
Your student child would be best finding actual students in the programs he was admitted to and talk to them about the program. I would look for sophomores or above who were there before covid to hear about things. Your son is going to school there, not you or any of us. Sometimes parents don’t really know what kids are going through. If you don’t know one, you should join the respective fb parent pages and ask anyone if anyone has a student willing to talk to your son. Many will offer theirs up. That is the most useful information. Engineering anywhere can be real tough and intense so you want to know what the environment truly is like and if it’s a fit for your son.
Thank you all for your thoughtful replies. He’s also reaching out to current students to get their perspectives. I can’t believe there’s only five weeks left to make this decision -seems like we’ve been going through the college application process for eons, and here we are so close to the end. Hard to believe. I really appreciate your input!
My son is very happy with EE and CS at Northeastern.
My son loves being in Boston because it is truly a walkable city with good public transportation. We’re from Texas so he is experiencing a different part of the country. My son isn’t interested in effusive school spirit or sports spectating so lower key sports wasn’t a factor for him. He is on a club sports team. Northeastern has been open to every student who wants to attend in person for the entire academic year and has had great success in keeping COVID numbers down with mandatory testing and contact tracing. Classes are hybrid. A big investment in classroom technology has paid off in that students are doing well attending classes both in person and online.
In terms of the academics, it is easy to change majors at Northeastern. I don’t know how that compares to GT. Northeastern allows students to credit for high school APs with a score of 4 or 5.
I know GT has a long established reputation in engineering but once you get to the very good schools, fit can be important.
We have been looking at GT and Northeastern for DS and while I think he is leaning heavily to GT I do think Northeastern has a great school. For DS I think one of their advantages over GT is the majors. We attended an orientation pre-Covid and were told they discourage double majors. NE has quite a few dual major programs, eg, Phys/Math or Phys/CS etc, which is exactly what DS is looking for at this stage.
GT also seems to be a little bit more stringent on accepting credit or placing out of courses. DS is quite happy to take a class over if he is learning new material but I am not sure that is going to be the case in some of the courses. He has reached out to GT and eventually got decent answers but it was not that definitive and it took much more effort to get an answer than other schools he is considering.
Overall, both are great options!! GT has more name recognition and probably a stronger overall cohort and I think that is ultimately the biggest thing that is attracting DS so far. Good luck!
Well, I’ll disagree. Aside from pointing to “rankings” I’d like to see someone explain exactly what they do academically or otherwise that is better at GT.
EE programs are acredited by ABET so the content is going to be much the same at any college. The reputation of engineering colleges is much flatter than that of liberal arts programs. There are a few elite schools such as MIT and Caltech, then a broad middle which employers are going to view as pretty much the same. At the lower end would be schools with weaker students where the curriculum might be softened a bit. That doesn’t seem to apply here; the middle SAT range at NEU is Reading and Writing 680-750, Math 710-790 and at GT it is Reading and Writing 630-730, Math 670-780 so both schools have pretty bright students.
What is going to matter for the future of EE student is what they do. Did they work hard to earn good grades? Participate in campus groups related to their major, especially leadership positions? Did they take part in coop or internships? Two pages discussing coops are career.gatech.edu/what-cooperative-education (which says about 4K out of 26K current students are in coop) and coe.northeastern.edu/academics-experiential-learning/co-op-experiential-learning/co-op/undergraduate-co-op/ which says almost all participate.
Another consideration worth be thinking about – what happens if the student decides against EE? Are they still at the right college? Nationwide about 1/2 of all students starting college as engineers switch to something else. www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/what-prevents-many-ee-students-from-making-it-to-professional-careers is an example link, the percentage has been like this for years. The rate likely is lower the more qualified the entering students. EE undergrad is heavily theory-based and is built on pretty much 4 years of more and more advanced calculus including vector calculus; for a variety of reasons, people decide it isn’t for them.
For the same cost, Georgia Tech, absolutely, if you find him efficient in his HS work (ie., it’s a lot harder than most high schools so if he’s maxed out now, it may not be the best choice.)
Great city for young people btw.
GT is a top 10 engineering powerhouse. The benefit of having a STEM focused school is that’s where all their resources are going. Maker spaces, labs, shops, etc…are state of the art. There isn’t another college/major competing for funds. That is great if you have a kid who you feel will stick with engineering.
GT is known for their strong career readiness focus and just because 100% aren’t co-oping, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t working in the summers at internships. GT and Purdue vie every year against each other for who brings the most companies to campus. Companies hire from GT from all over the world. And, IMO, there is a lot more flexibility going to a school that is co-op optional.
Boston is a great city, especially for college kids. I made it point to take our kids there for a visit in high school. I wanted them to see what I would consider the best city/college combination around. Kind of a benchmark to use as a comparison. Both applied to schools there but couldn’t make it work financially. From that perspective combined with the co-op program NEU is very appealing. That said, I know GT has a great rep but didn’t realize how good. We’ve had several people offer us business cards and contact info for internships or jobs when we mentioned our son goes to GT. They love GT grads apparently…and we live in Pennsylvania.
Agree. My sophomore son is a Civil Engineering major at Georgia Tech. He did not want to do a co-op because he’s not exactly sure what sort of civil engineering he wants to do, and a co-op at GT requires three semesters with the same company. In his interviewing process this year he turned down two co-op offers. He will be interning at one civil engineering firm this summer, and is taking another offer for a civil engineering internship in the fall. Two different companies doing different things which is exactly what he wanted to help him zero in on his career path. He took summer classes last summer after his summer abroad was canceled, so he is still on track to graduate in four years or less.
The co-op program at Georgia Tech is excellent and from a number of students standpoint I think they have the largest co-op program in the country. However, there are lots of students that have no interest in doing a co-op and internships are readily available even in times of Covid. Both of his internships will be in person.