<p>In your opinion, How good of a school is Northeastern, academically? And overall?</p>
<p>You need to ask a better question. the folks hanging in this thread are pretty likely to be positive about NEU as they are waiting to hear about acceptances. Depends on your field of interest and your location interest-northeast, big city. It is a tier one school.</p>
<p>^i concur.</p>
<p>it sucks.</p>
<p>but really, it depends on your major. I remember being… underwhelmed as a freshman and taking intro social studies, but now that I’m a science major and taking upper level courses I don’t feel that way anymore. </p>
<p>Academics aside, the reasons people come here are usually A) Boston, B) Co-op.</p>
<p>emily… what caused you to feel underwhelmed?</p>
<p>Oi. I should learn to keep my mouth shut on this, after last year I advised Blinkangel (another frequent poster here) to go to Tufts over NU for academic reasons, and it seems like she was right to not listen to me! My opinions are based on NU 4 years ago (this makes me feel old) when it was a very different school, the students now are a way higher quality than they were when I came in as a freshman, and I think the academics here reflect that.</p>
<p>To be fair, my first semester was just too easy. I had 3 intro classes in social studies plus a calc class. Calc was no cakewalk, and Globalization & International affairs is still one of the best classes I’ve ever taken, but I didn’t do much studying, didn’t go to class much, and got pretty good grades. But, of course intro classes are easy, so my not feeling challenged was partially just because I hadn’t gotten into real college classes yet.</p>
<p>I also haven’t felt underwhelmed since after freshman year. I wish. Being a science major is like waking up and getting punched in the face every day. I still find some of my psych classes to be easy, but combined with my science classes I never have easy semesters anymore. I also occasionally take courses with younger kids and they’re such better students than most of my grade… so my opinion is becoming less and less valid. Someone younger is going to have a better insight than I do.</p>
<p>If you’re someone who comes from an intense high school and who chooses NU over “stronger” academic schools, there are going to be courses that don’t really challenge you. Simple solution is to focus on taking tougher course loads and choosing professors wisely (ratemyprof is a lifesaver), plus getting involved in the cool groups that have suddenly popped up over the past 2-3 years.</p>
<p>Emily2007,
Thanks for the advice. Sounds like the Honors classes will prevent the kids from feeling underwhelmed, if they don’t want easy classes…</p>
<p>@Emily: I greatly appreciated all of the advice you and other posters here gave me through my very difficult decision last year! I took all of your advice into great consideration and came very, very close to choosing Tufts over NU. But ultimately, I am very glad that I chose NU and couldn’t see myself at Tufts. I’m going on a Dialogue to Spain this summer, will hopefully be studying abroad next spring semester, and then doing two more Dialogues in my time here at NU, and this will all cost ~tuition. Yes, Tufts has a great International Relations program, but NU is giving me international experience, which I am greatly lacking. </p>
<p>And, to be shallow, I really wanted to live in IV 
But furthermore, I feel like I am getting so much for my money here at NU (and I’m spending $14,000/yr less here than I would be at Tufts). </p>
<p>And I have been academically satisfied with NU! The honors courses have certainly contributed to this (I highly really enjoyed my First Year Inquiry course). Although, I am not even taking any honors courses this semester, and I feel even more challenged this semester than last (it really just depends on the combination of courses and I also highly recommend ratemyprofessors). </p>
<p>So I really feel that NU is a great school. And I know people shouldn’t live and die by rankings, but NU was ranked #2 up-and-coming or whatever, and I have really gotten that vibe around campus. Each year, the school is getting more selective, and I really feel like now is a perfect time to be here. </p>
<p>One last thing-- I am soooooooooo glad that I took Globalization and International Affairs. Of course, as an aspiring IAF major, I had to take it, but it is really an amazing course (at least with Prof. Horn). My civil engineering roommate is now super excited to take the course (she’s an aspiring IAF minor).</p>
<p>I’m the opposite as Emily about the underwhelmed stuff. My honors courses have been the easiest I’ve taken, and no semester has been as hard as my first (granted, I took orgo chem my first semester). For me though it’s entirely been because I finally found a major that I enjoy-- so even though I might take way too many math and econ courses in a semester to be considered healthy, I don’t get overwhelmed by it that much.</p>
<p>dowzerw: perhaps look at the actual rankings before proclaiming it ‘tier one?’ I also concur about being underwhelmed. I did probably about 5% of the assigned readings each semester, and still pulled A’s. However, the summer courses I took at Harvard Summer School kicked my ass! But I learned so much more.</p>
<p>Downsloper:</p>
<p>From this and your other posts on this forum, you sound very unhappy at Northeastern. It seems that you chose the wrong school. Don’t run down Northeastern because you made the wrong choice. You should transfer out if you are so dissatisfied with Northeastern.</p>
<p>Is Northeaster tier 1 or not? just wondering…</p>
<p>USNews ranks national universities from 1 through 128 with no Tier 1 and tier 2 breakdown. They then lump everyone else into Tier 3 and Tier 4. </p>
<p>If you divide 128 by 2, you can assume that 64 is the divider between Tier 1 and Tier 2. That is entirely arbitrary. Northeastern is ranked 80 so it may be Tier 2.</p>
<p>I would not be surprised if NU rises to the low 60’s this year though.</p>
<p>They gave aoun a pay raise, so I presume he’s doing pretty well with the rankings. haha He gets paid more than the BU president.</p>
<p>NU has gone up several “steps” in the rankings in the last few years so soon it’ll be tier 1 (if it’s not already). I would think that starting college in NU right now is something to take advantage of, since its reputation and standads are growing really fast right now.</p>
<p>How expensive is it to have a social life at northeastern versus any other colleges/universities?</p>
<p>Anyone here pursuing masters in computer science in NU? How good is it? I’m an international student. So hoping for a detailed review. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>NEU was ranked No. 56 last year by USNews. This year’s list comes out Sept. 10.</p>
<p>TomSr NEU was ranked 56 by US News not 80.</p>
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<p>I posted that on 3/9/2010. Northeastern was ranked 80 back then.</p>