Harvey Mudd vs Cooper Union vs Northeastern vs BU for ECE

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi guys --</p>

<p>I never thought that I'd have this hard of a choice to make, but by some stroke of luck, I do! I want to study Electrical & Computer Engineering (but I'm not set on this, I may switch to other forms of engineering, computer science, or even math), and Harvey Mudd is probably where I would go for that. The small problem, however, is that it is over 65k/year, and I go not merit or financial aid. My family's EFC is around 95k, but my parents are only willing to pay 35-40k/year, so I'd have to go into quite a bit of debt to go to HMC.</p>

<p>My second option is Cooper Union, where everyone gets a half tuition scholarship, and I got an additional 4k merit scholarship, so it would be right around 35-40k. The only problem is, I heard that despite being in Manhattan, Cooper Union doesn't allow students to have much of a social life. I worked my butt off in high school and was honestly looking forward for a chance to have some fun. Also, I heard that Cooper Union is quite a poor school and has limited resources.</p>

<p>Finally, I got into the University Scholars Program at Northeastern and Trustee Scholars Program at BU. They both offer full tuition scholarships (so I wouldn't have to worry about money at all), and some pretty nice additional benefits. I went to a welcome event at Northeastern for the Scholars Program, and I really liked what Northeastern had to offer, and BU seems to be pretty similar (though I like NEU's coops). My parents like NEU and BU less, though. They think the education I'd get there would be less then at Cooper or HMC, and I think that there is a small element of truth to their claims.</p>

<p>Any advice?</p>

2

<p>bump 10char</p>

3

<p>This is a no-brainer, to a point. Mudd and CU are out for money and social (@you) reasons. Now the choice is yours: BU or NU, and I hear you leaning toward NU because of your interest in the coop. Both are fine schools in a great college town. They are quite similar. Maybe a visit to them on consecutive days would help you decide. Great options you have.</p>

4

<p>We toured the College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern and were very impressed. Our tour guide was one of the most fantastic college students I have encountered during many college tours at Ivies, Stanford, MIT etc. I don’t have anyone at Northeastern, so no personal experience, but was definitely wowed by the program and money that they have put into facilities. Really nice.</p>