Hi,
I got into Indiana’s business school and Northeastern’s business school but I’m having A LOT of trouble trying to choose which one I should go to. Before, I thought that the obvious choice was Northeastern but now I’m not sure. I plan on going into financial statistics. My parents are pressuring me into choosing Indiana because of it’s top 10 ranking and so are some other people in my family. Here are some things that I have in mind:
Northeastern:
Pros-
Boston
Easy access for internships
Excellent co-op program
Smaller school
More Diverse
Reduced cost due to co-op
Closer to home
If I do my co-op in NYC then I would literally pay nothing for about a whole year
Smaller class size
Cons-
Expensive
Have to study abroad for 1st semester (NU.in)
Everyone comes and goes due to co-op
Indiana:
Pros-
Strong business school
Strong alumni system for internships and jobs
Cheaper compared to Northeastern
I wouldn’t have to study abroad
A lot of school spirit
Has that “prestigious” name(primary reason why people want me to chose Kelley)
Cons-
HUGE School
Less diverse
Bigger class size
Remote area
Far from home
Cold
Keep in mind, I really don’t care about sports. I know that Indiana has a really good basketball team but quite honestly I don’t care, and that is not a factor that I would consider. I just need some inside information on both schools that would help me make a choice in the end. Thank you!
1 Like
bleh, a couple of your assumptions about IU are incorrect.
- Bloomington is indeed cold, but it is not colder than Boston. They have similar winters, only Boston may actually be snowier.
- Bloomington is not "remote". It is one of the best college towns in the US, and it is less than an hour's drive from Indianapolis, a city that is roughly as large as Boston.
- IU is indeed twice larger than NEU, but NEU is not exactly small. With 18,000 undergraduate students, it is a relatively large university. If you are looking for a small and cozy campus, NEU is not going to be ideal.
Unless your parents can easily afford the cost of attending NEU (approximately $20k/year more expensive than IU), I highly recommend Kelley.
^ Agree. Bloomington should actually have milder winters than Boston.
@Alexandre Wouldn’t they cost about the same because for NEU, when you go on your co-op cycle, you’re not paying for tuition and if I did my co-op in NYC, then I wouldn’t have to pay for room and board either. Indiana costs about $50,000 and Northeastern costs $65,000. So for NEU, I would basically be paying for 3-3.5 (including summer courses) years and for Indiana, I would be paying for all 4 years. And with NEU, people make a decent amount of money during their co-op, so if I put that money towards the costs, then it will go down even more. But regardless, cost isn’t a concern, I’m just trying to be mindful. Thank you for your input though! I’ll try to do some more research on Kelley
@bleh1234 You still pay for 8 academic semesters at Northeastern so no, it would not work out that way. While making money on co-op is common in business, I wouldn’t tie my co-op earnings to the affordability of the school by assuming too much co-op earnings, where you still have to pay for room and board. I would not put reduced cost as a full on pro for Northeastern. Assume the cost is 65K4 for Northeastern and 50K4 for IU.
One factor that could help though is if you do 5 years at Northeastern, the cost is spread over 5 years, not 4. Still, IU will be objectively cheaper, even after potential co-op earnings.
To me it sounds like Northeastern is the better fit but IU is a solid school and cheaper. This really boils down to one question: Is the difference in cost worth it and affordable to me and my family? Only you can answer that question, but you have to be honest with the financial calculations here and dive deeper into the costs.
You didn’t mention your preference for/against Greek life at all, but that is a significant difference between the schools. Greek life is pretty big at IU, not-so-much at NU (I know the former personally, the latter by reputation). Another thing to mention is that IU has a very high percentage of Indiana & Chicagoland kids, which some out-of-staters find a little difficult to get used to. That being said, Kelly is fairly evenly split between the two, so if you’d be spending most of your time with the business school, that may be less of a factor.
Good luck and congratulations on your acceptances to two outstanding schools!
1 Like
@mathhappy Thank you so much! I don’t care for greek life, so that is not really a factor.
I am really confused between these two