<p>My son was accepted to Northeastern for Mechanical Engineering & loves it; perfect school for him, students & faculty were great, Boston is great! They gave him some money, but not enough to be able to afford without tremendous debt. We are appealing for more and have our fingers crossed; he has applied for lots of scholarships, but won't hear until June - too late to help with the decision. </p>
<p>He was also accepted to Rochester Institute of Technology, which gave him a lot more money plus the full scholarship amount and he likes it but doesnt feel 100% the way he does about NEU. Even though NEU only takes a handful of transfer students into engineering, what about planning to attend RIT for a year or two - do really well and then transfer to NEU to save $ if he still feels the same?</p>
<p>It makes sense to go to RIT, put your heart and soul into the entire school experience, and then sophomore year re-evaluate. Going somewhere with the plan, from day one, of trying to transfer out is a mistake.</p>
<p>RIT, no doubt. And this is from a parent with a kid at Northeastern. </p>
<p>With a major like engineering, your son will get a great job no matter where he goes: the co-op experience won’t be as essential for good placement as it would be in other majors. Of course, if your son really wants Northeastern, then he could consider transferring, but I would say: go to RIT, make friends, have fun, enjoy summer employment for spending/traveling rather than for tuition money, and graduate debt or near-debt free.</p>
<p>I’d also go debt free as I truly believe that someone that really goes at it hard will succeed. I disagree with Katliamom on the importance of engineering co-op though. It can tell someone what they don’t like to do as well as what work they do like before leaving college. Also, the guys I knew in the program had plum jobs waiting for them with GE after graduation. </p>
<p>It’s also not just getting in as a transfer it is getting in as a transfer and with what transferable credits. It is also the reality of how many college specific requirements that your son with still have to make up. Not fun.</p>
<p>Let your son go to RIT. He will love it there eventually.</p>
<p>And, RIT is a prestigious school in its own right. It’s a very respected school for engineering or more so than NEU is. And, RIT, as a whole, is a top 50 school in the whole US.</p>
<p>We’re seriously looking at schools with coop programs. Although son could probably get full ride at southern state schools, there are little to no coop programs, so what good is paying nothing for a degree that in the end will not land you a job.</p>
<p>I believe in the old saying, You get what you pay for.</p>
<p>Now, I don’t believe in going into tremendous debt, especially for a major that is available at many other less expensive options, but nowadays, just having a degree does not land you a job. You’ve got to have connections, through internships and coops, to land a job nowadays, even in demand careers like engineering.</p>
<p>I know a couple people who went to RIT and they all enjoyed it. It’s pretty easy to get a job in engineering if you get a good GPA and had an internship regardless of the school.</p>