I was admitted to Northeastern and when I visited, it seemed very STEM-heavy. My tour guide was an engineering major and she showed us all of the science buildings and stuff, but she never even mentioned anything about the humanities or social sciences. I got the impression that STEM at Northeastern is strong, but social sciences and humanities, not so much. Does anyone have any experiences they could share about their experiences that could help me get a better idea?
@pdubs97 I graduated with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Middle East Studies. The best part about Northeastern is how flexible everything is. Lots of people my year worked in DC for co-op or law firms. Some of them decided that their old ideas of becoming lawyers, weren’t for them after spending 6 months at a firm. That is an invaluable experience. Dialogues of Civilization are awesome and let you explore different fields around the world. I know people who created their own co-op by running for office, writing a novel, or creating their own non-profit. The faculty is also generally interested on letting you join in on their own research if you reach out to them and show interest.
What are you thinking about majoring in? Our international relations/poli sci/international business seems stronger than STEM, just less fancy buildings
Since your tour guide was an engineer, that’s the best explanation of why it was stem heavy. I know northeastern has good social science programs, but as a science major, I didn’t spend a lot of time with those areas and couldn’t tell you nearly as much about the programs and facilities as I could about the stem stuff.
@swimchris , do you know if a lot of your peers in the social sciences and humanities schools went to grad school? If so, where do most go? If not, what’s the job placement like out of NEU’s liberal arts programs?
What are you planning on majoring in?
I’m a communication major, so not exactly social science/humanities. I have a friend in a human services major with an emphasis on human resources, and a friend with a psychology major.
My human services friend’s courses focused on a lot of a mix of historical context and practical application within her field. She’s done classes emphasizing LGBT+ sensitivity in the workplace, interpersonal communication with an emphasis on firing and hiring practices, and she’s been involved in service - learning classes (volunteer work is a requirement for the course and practical experience is integrated into course topics). Her courses don’t tend to specifically be human services courses and rather are related courses under the communication or sociology major. She’s had great experiences with her professors, and since it’s a small major, she feels like the faculty she works with have been really helpful and supportive. She is interested in doing a graduate program but I don’t know the details of what that will entail. She’s doing her first co-op in human resources and had several offers when she accepted the position.
My friend who is a psychology major would like to go into clinical psychology. Her courses have a big range with lots of labs, a lot about history mixed with practical application. From my understanding, most of her professors have been actively working in the psychology field so most are able to give very practical, real-world emphasis in their lectures. Research projects are also a big part of her coursework. Though she does not do this personally, a lot of her friends have taken up research part-time jobs or co-ops either at Northeastern or at other universities in the area. From what I know, these co-ops/jobs are a bit harder to find. A lot of students plan on grad school afterward but I couldn’t tell you what that process looks like.
I’m a communication major, and I can tell you that 100% of the communication students who want co-ops get co-ops. These are usually either in public relations, marketing, advertising, human resources or something in the film/tv production fields. Classes are very broad and tend to cover topics within those fields as well as the more theoretical and practical courses. Writing and public speaking are big components of most courses I take, and classes are usually more based on practical application rather than theory (though both play a role).
In general, I would say non-STEM majors have just about as strong programs as STEM majors you probably just got a skewed view with your particular tour guide. I will say in non-STEM majors don’t have as many dedicated buildings for their programs but that’s because it’s not necessarily as necessary as it is for an engineering student or a computer science student.
You asked about NEU’s liberal arts program. NEU is not a liberal arts school and if that’s what you’re looking for, this isn’t the right school for you.