@Hawkace I have seen your threads across CC and you are clearly a smart, fun and determined individual. I am sure you will find great succes wherever you choose to attend. Both Northeastern and Michigan are awesome schools with great programs, in great locations with vibrant school communities. Being a ‘Bostonian’ my whole life, I am sure you will enjoy all the city has to offer, in particular as a college student. Of course, you will have to deal with the Boston sports fan base, which coming from NJ could prove more challenging than your academics! Northeastern’s “prestige” is growing everyday and their co-op program is highly regarded. Now, I am the parent of a S2 who just enrolled at Michigan. He too was denired Ross pre-admit. He plans to go the Ross regular admit path. S2 did not seriously consider any NE schools, as he wants to explore life outside the NE area. We fully support him and are thrilled with his decision. I am a firm believer that ‘things’ happen for a reason. While your experiences in the college admissions process may have been less than you expected or hoped, I am sure you are learning valuable lessons you will take forward in your studies and career. Keep positive. You have great choices. You will make the right one for you, and go Red Sox…Partriots…Celtics…Bruins (…oh, that one hurts today!) and of course, Go Blue!
Good luck @Hawkace… and remember, sometimes you make your own luck in life!
Not yet. It’s on my to-do list. Have you been there? If so, could you describe the atmosphere? Does it feel too big? Is there a nice blend of academics, sports, and a social life?
Haven’t been on a tour since middle school (it was a field trip…oh the good ol’ days) but I spend a lot of time on “campus”. The University is pretty much part of Ann Arbor, which I personally love (it’s got many quirks) but it’s not as big as Boston, of course (Boston, admittedly, is AMAZING). The weather sucks, although now it’s getting warmer. I don’t know how the school feels but everyone I’ve talked to who goes there (a lot of people; my school sends about 200 kids a year) has always had a good group of friends and hasn’t said anything negative about the size. And maybe I’m biased but I think UMich is the best school for “a nice blend of academics, sports, and a social life”–the sports teams aren’t doing so well lately but sports events are HUGE and of course there’s the Ohio State and Michigan State rivalries that are so fun (especially OSU)! I’m sure you know all about the academics, which are excellent, and you can always go the regular admit path to Ross, which of course has prestige and name-recognition. I think UMich is probably the best in terms of academics on your list, but it all depends on the fit–if Northeastern and Boston are for you, then congratulations! I’m sure you’ll love it there!
@Hawkace, I tend to agree with your father on the professor part, NEU has come a long way and is able to recruit many smart kids in recent years, give NEU some more time, it might be able to get better faculty slowly, change takes time, Michigan is a fantastic choice.
And for your application package, if you don 't mind, I notice that you don’t have AP calculus, AP Physics, AP whatever, that could be part of the reason for Ivy rejects.
I don’t know where your dad is getting that from. As a freshman CS student, my professors at NEU have been great teaching wise. Academically they graduated from Carnegie Mellon, MIT, University of Washington and UT-Austin. All of those are very prestigious CS schools. One also did research at Brown.
I think people don’t realize how much NEU changes with its reputation, not after.
@seekzip I’m actually taking AP Calculus BC, AP Physics C, AP Econ (Both), AP Bio, AP Computer Science, and AP English Literature during senior year. So yeah, definitely not the reason for the Ivy rejections.
That’s what my father has been saying. When I went to Welcome Day, I met no faculty members, which was weird.
@PengsPhils I don’t know. What I’ve been hearing is that the faculty is not that great at teaching, but I may be mistaken. Are you in the Honors Program? Could you provide some insight, if possible?
I am not in the Honors program, all of these teachers are available to anyone.
I’ve had one less than adequate teacher, for Linear Algebra, through an entire year including gen-eds and outside of major classes. I think one in eight is a pretty good ratio. At any college you are bound to find a professor that isn’t great at the teaching side unless you go to a few select schools. I would say the CS department is better than others, but not by a huge amount. Consider the general ratio around 1/6ish. I have had some stellar teachers, some who bring tons of industry anecdotes to class, others who are incredibly accessible and encouraging, and others who give you lots of extra challenges that aren’t necessarily part of the class.
Not sure what they don’t use teachers in Welcome Day (maybe classes if it was on a weekday?) or they don’t want to bring in professors on the weekends if it was then, but I don’t think the faculty is bad at teaching by any means.
Does he have any source for that? A current/former student, connections in NEU, forum posts here, etc? If not, I wouldn’t put much stock in it. Where do you think he got the conception?
Any questions feel free to fire away! I’m an obviously biased source but I try to be as objective as possible. I love the NEU environment and school and enjoy advocating for the school. It’s not for everyone, but for the right type of student I think it is one of the top schools you can go to. So there’s the bias disclaimer
@TomSrOfBoston my father has friends who went to Northeastern. It might be been misleading, but I did some research and there were some posts about the faculty. Again, I might be wrong, but can someone shed some light on this?
Also, my father makes the argument that since Northeastern has been focusing solely on moving up rankings, their programs can’t be matched to UMichigan’s program who has been in the Top 5 for engineering in the last 5 years. What do you think?
I think i’ve shed as much light as I can on the teachers.
Yes, NEU focuses on the rankings, but not exclusively. In fact, the school focuses on rankings so it CAN do more elsewhere. It’s a cycle. As rankings go up, opinion goes up, better students apply, and the school benefits and improves the academics / facilities. All at the same time. Each year the school hires tons of new teachers to match, and the programs are constantly being built on. My EE requirement for CS was actually just updated this semester to a brand new class created specifically for a better CS/EE relation.
There’s no doubt NEU plays the rankings game, but they do it to improve the school, and do an amazing job with it. Rather, President Aoun does. He did the same thing with USC before he came to NEU.
USC is a well respected and highly ranked school, but 20 years ago the also did the similar climb that NEU did. They are now in the US News Top 25. They rose from 44 in '96 to 27 in '07, and have since stayed in the same place, about in correlation with Auon leaving in '06. I don’t think anyone gives USC the criticism that they rose in the ranks and the academics aren’t good there, yet the case is very similar with NEU. The only difference is recent memory and a larger gain at NEU. In 5 years, I doubt NEU faces the same criticisms.
All this said, I think UMichigan is a great school too, your dad is right there. But if you fit better at NEU, it’s not incomparable by any means. Pick based off of fit / co-op preference: that’s the real difference here.
@itsmyusername It’s been a long journey, but I’m happy with my final choice.
I’m 90% sure that I’m going to be a Wolverine next Fall. I’m going to be part of the University of Michigan- Class of 2019!
Go Blue!
In the end, what mattered to me the most was the education and I think that I’ll thrive at Michigan. It was a very tough decision, but I had to turn down Northeastern and Case Western Reserve.
Actually, after doing more research and just messing with my mind, I’m now 75% sure that I’m going to Michigan. Northeastern is what makes up the rest. The co-ops and the city is just too appealing. How do you not regret your college choice after you made it? Any advice?
