<p>Northeastern sounds great and is my daughter's first choice because of the co-op program. i'm just wondering -- with so many people doing co-ops at different times during their stay at NEU (and therefore, not always on campus), are students able to form good, solid friendships, and have a good social life there? </p>
<p>Co-op doesn’t have much (if any) effect on social life. While on co-op, you really still feel like a Northeastern student-- you’re living in dorms (or maybe a usual student neighborhood like symphony/columbus ave/mission hill), you have a meal plan, all of your friends are students, campus is still your home base. You just aren’t on campus during the day-- so the only socializing you might be missing out on would be lunches, class, or studying with someone. Around 5:00, you’re headed back to Northeastern where you have plenty of time to hang out with your friends, go to the dining hall or the gym, do any clubs/activities,etc. And you have weekends wide open! I actually had a better social life while on co-op because I didn’t have any studying to do on weeknights or weekends… more time to hang out. </p>
<p>Sometimes people might leave Boston for co-op, but this is by choice, and it’s comparable to when students at “traditional” colleges study abroad. You come back and jump right back in to your friendships and social life.</p>
<p>I’m 3 years out of northeastern and still close with a lot of my NEU friends, and that seems to be the norm. We definitely make solid friendships just like at any other school.</p>
<p>I agree with emily. My daughter is on her first coop this semester and she and her friends who are on coop are going out more on the weekends for two reasons - they have the time (no studying) and the money (paid coops). She has also been able to continue with the campus clubs she participates in without any problem (since they all meet in the evening after work).</p>
<p>For her, she has solid friends but they are spreading geographically each year. Most lived in the same building as freshmen, now as sophomores they are spread out in several dorms across the campus, and next year some will be off-campus and some will even be abroad. This has not changed their friendship - they still get together regularly and enjoy the same activities together as they did as freshmen.</p>
<p>How important is it to join an LLC freshman year? My daughter will be in CCIS, and would join the Connections LLC.
I think it would also be a good idea to join major specific organizations.</p>
<p>My daughter was honors so she was in IV which is considered an LLC. My daughter has joined fun clubs and one major specific organization. I say pick a few fun clubs to join as a freshman - there are a bunch - cooking, film, ballroom dance, arts and crafts, etc. The major specific clubs are good when it comes time for co-op - they spend time talking about the jobs that their member got etc.- more important sophomore year.</p>
<p>One other thing to note is that your friends may not end up being in the same school as you - my daughter’s best friends include computer majors, engineering majors, architecture majors, international relations majors, deaf studies major and she is an econ major. So, don’t limit yourself to the kids in your school/major - people can have lots in common without studying the same thing.</p>
<p>Why join a major-specific LLC? LLCs weren’t a thing when I went to NEU, but I think it’s great to branch out and make friends in other majors. Students make plenty of friends with people in their major through class/labs/whatever.</p>
<p>As a potential student I agree with Emily. I would be in the CCIS department and if I enroll I am going for the music group.</p>
<p>My son is in his third year and is in the application process for his second coop. He has a great social life! I don’t think he did much with the LLC as a freshman. He has friends from all kinds of majors as he is very involved with a couple of student groups. When he was on his first coop he lived in the dorm and went to work instead of class-at night he had the time to get really involved in all kinds of things since he didn’t have homework! It seems daunting at first and he was skeptical about how it would all work but it’s been just great for him-he’s grown up a lot and I think for him the school has been a big part of it.</p>