My daughter has been accepted to the College of Science at Northeastern (probable bio major). She loves science but has many other interests, and wants to take classes in literature, art, film, history, poli sci, etc. How easy/hard is it to take a broad curriculum like this? And, how are the classes? I feel like Northeastern is so well known for science and engineering that I don’t hear much about the other areas.
Thanks in advance!
@nanotechnology may be best for this one, but I’ll share my experience with it.
Northeastern allows students to take courses over any college, so it’s very easy to get a broad curriculum if you choose to. For example, next semester, I’m taking 3 courses in CSSH as a CCIS student, and I didn’t have to tell anyone anything. Same would go for if I wanted to take a course in business or engineering, so long as it wasn’t restricted to majors only. Many popular intro courses have major and non-major sections to guarantee spaces for those who need the classes first.
My experience is mostly with the philosophy/sociology departments, and a good friend in communications, but all of the professors have been really good for me, and I’ve really enjoyed the classes. They are very practical, as you would expect at Northeastern. If you take a look at the course offerings in the fields and browse the course titles, that will help you get a feel for what’s offered. I’ve found the courses to be on quite interesting and often specific subjects. I’ve taken a comparative ethics course, social and political philosophy, a current moral issues course, and am lined up to take a sociology course on problems in cities and suburbs as well as a film/philosophy course on ethical analysis in science fiction films.
The departments may not be as in depth as a good LAC for example, but they serve very well for minors, as the department likely knows they may get as many minors as majors at Northeastern. For a major in one of these subjects, I think co-op/practicality is usually an important factor, but I think they are more than sufficient for minors.
It also varies based on the field. I know Political Science is well known here at least internally (admissions always makes a big deal about how Dukakis is a prof here), while literature or history is probably the weakest of those listed. Art and film would be in the middle.
Link for looking up classes:
https://wl11gp.neu.edu/udcprod8/NEUCLSS.p_disp_dyn_sched
For an example, select Fall 2017, pick one department from the Subjects list and then browse.
I agree with PengsPhils - it’s super easy to take classes across departments and colleges. Very few courses have major restrictions on them like you’ll encounter at many large schools. When you do run into that, it’s fairly flexible; if there are spots after the majors have signed up for their required courses, they’ll let in non-majors. My first semester I had a free space in my schedule and used it to take a drawing class that was art majors only (I was a neuroscience major), and at orientation my advisor just put me in the class with no hassle.
It’s interesting that you say Northeastern is more known for science and engineering, but I’ve seen other people on CC have the opposite impression. I mostly know those areas since I spent most of my time there, but Northeastern is not as hyper-focused of a school as say MIT. There’s a good variety of strong and interesting classes in arts/humanities/social studies that should be able to satiate your bio major daughter’s interests. She could also look into taking a minor; I considered minors in creative writing and international affairs before settling on computer science.
There are also a lot of really good clubs that could be a way to stay involved in these areas outside of courses. A lot of my really good friends came from Film Club, for example, and most of them were not majoring in anything film related.
Thank you so much, @PengsPhils and @nanotechnology , this is really helpful information. My daughter is trying to decide between Brown and Northeastern and with her interests in so many areas, she wants to be sure she’d be able to indulge those interests at Northeastern as much as she knows she would at Brown (with their open curriculum).
Countdown to D-Day continues…it’s a really tough decision.
Good luck! While it may seem odd at first glance, Brown and Northeastern (usually with merit $$) is actually a relatively common choice. While it’s as not as open as Brown of course, Northeastern offers similar flexibility when it comes to a core curriculum and classes in any subject.