<p>My D is thinking of applying to NEU, but my concern is that she is undecided with liberal arts inclinations. NEU seems to be a school with significant pre-professional focus, liberal arts education looks to be almost an afterthought. Even the CAS home page chooses to highlight what are essentially pre-professions majors (sciences) and spends exactly 1/2 page on the core curriculum and their view of liberal arts.</p>
<p>Would any current CAS students care to weigh in?</p>
<p>Well, my D has had exactly 3 days of classes at NEU so I can't really help you with your question. However, I do feel its a legitimate concern to have. My D is an undeclared major and I'm not sure NEU has designed their programs to accomodate a lot of soul-searching and exploration. Already she feels the pressure to declare a major.</p>
<p>Any thoughts from students who have "been there, done that"?</p>
<p>Let us know how it goes, my D still has some time to decide what to do. From your description she may be better off with our state school.</p>
<p>This is all just my opinion and what Ive experienced, but NU is definitely career-minded. We know what we want to major in, we know when we want to co-op, we know what we want to do after we graduate. The majority of students are here for engineering, business, or a science. There are only 200 undecided students in an incoming class of 2800, you're definitely the minority, so there's obviously pressure about declaring.</p>
<p>Not only is there pressure to declare a major, but theres also a pressure to declare a pre-professional major. When my friend tells people shes an anthropology major, people usually look at her like shes crazy, and occasionally dont even know what anthropology is (usually athletes or dumb rich kids, working hard to cheapen my degree). Keep in mind that this is all peer pressure, not necessarily pressure from the school.</p>
<p>That being said, it is very possible to get a liberal arts education here. No, the program is not the best, and as Ive said, pressures to get that B.S in Biology do exist. Still I have lots of friends who chose NU over a small LAC and never regretted it. It's still a major university with a wide variety of majors and subjects to explore. Also, just because someone is "declared" doesn't mean they actually know what they want to do. I know American sign language students who switched to behavioral neuroscience and business majors who switched to engineering. </p>
<p>So yes, consider the lack of a really strong liberal arts program. Its definitely an issue. But its not impossible nor is it unusual for someone to really have no idea what they want to do. Especially with 5 years of school, you dont have to be decided when you come in as a freshman.</p>
<p>My undeclared D is now trying to register for the Spring term. She is finding that all the Science classes meet at the same time and the other 5 or 6 classes she's interested in are already closed; having had reserved spots for the kids in that major. She does really like NEU, but really feels at a disadvantage by not knowing her ulimate goal. She is so worried that the 5 yr program will end up being a 6 yr program .</p>
<p>Thanks, after some further consideration my D decided not to apply to NEU for this very reason. She does not know what she wants to do, and NEU does not seem to even try to cater to kids like that very much. She is looking at schools with more solid liberal arts programs.</p>
<p>BonTon-This is a pretty common problem. There's nothing you can do about a scheduling conflict, but if a class is "full", it's almost always possible to find a way to get into it. Professors are generally very willing to override the max # of students, and if they aren't, people tend to drop classes, switch classes, transfer schools, etc., once the semester starts. While I've had to wade through some "long lines and red tape", I've always been able to get the classes I need. It also gets easier once you're not a freshman as you have priority in choosing classes. </p>
<p>Hope this is a little reassuring, I know what a hassle course registration is!</p>
<p>Emily2007, your posts are always so calm and reassuring! Sure enough, my D ended up with a wonderful schedule for next semester, a math, a science, an art and a humanities-type course. She's very excited. Like you said, a little more effort(but not much) and she ended up with a great schedule!</p>