<p>Please don't think this is a bragging thread, it's the decision going on in my household! I'm a computer and electrical engineering major accepted to both MIT and Northeastern. I need to decide between the two for next year. I originally had NU as my number one (but then somehow got accepted to MIT...) however MIT gave me no money and my teachers and parents are concerned if that's the "right fit" for me..</p>
<p>Pros of northeastern:
-I fell in love with the school and campus a year and a half ago
-they gave me 14k so they'll cost about 42k/year
-co-op program will get me into jobs easily
-5yr masters program is what I'm looking at
-beautiful in Boston</p>
<p>Cons of northeastern/pros of MIT:
-MIT gave me zero money, so will cost 59k/year
-I'm a perfectionist student and my parents and teachers are concerned about the immense pressure at MIT
-NU didn't accept me into their honors program..?
-MIT has superb connections for jobs post-degree (the "it's MIT" effect)
-MIT is smaller/less majors = more people with engineering majors </p>
<p>I'm going to the accepted student day(s) for both schools, but I honestly dont know what to do. Some people say I HAVE to go to MIT cus it's MIT, but other people who know me well are concerned about me there so that's why this is a very tough choice for me. NU and MIT are at a 50/50 right now, could anyone give me any advice on the pros of choosing one over another?</p>
<p>Man, I do NOT envy your decision (one of those “great problems” to have, but a problem that still majorly sucks). </p>
<p>On the one hand, yeah, it’s MIT. You will have the name “MIT” on your resume and all the connections that come with that. But, it’s true that MIT is very competitive, and you will suddenly be a small fish in a very very smart and high-achieving pond. If that’s going to make you miserable, or if the pressure is going to cause some sort of epic break-down/drop-out/flunk calculus kinda scenario, that’s something to consider. Going to MIT is useless if you can’t finish your degree.</p>
<p>Cost is also something to consider. $18k a year, over 4 years, is a TON of money. Wow. That’s more than the cost of a Master’s degree. I would almost, ALMOST never say “it’s worth it to go to the more expensive school”, but when we’re talking MIT, depending on your financial situation, I don’t think the cost difference should be a totaldeal breaker (though definitely up on the list of considerations). You’re going into engineering, with MIT behind you, you’re not gonna be broke.</p>
<p>I just can’t say “go to NEU over MIT”. But, I do think you have two valid concerns-- the money and the potential pressure of MIT. At Northeastern, you can probably be a top student. You can get great grades, meaning you’ll get good co-ops, meaning you’ll get good jobs after graduation. And maybe you truly will be happier at Northeastern. I just wonder if you may find yourself-- as a competitive and smart person-- graduating from NEU and resenting that you don’t have that MIT experience, or that students just as smart as you are getting better jobs, because they have the connections and advantages that come with going to a top school.</p>
<p>As far as the Master’s, I’ve always been under the impression that many top engineering firms with fund an MS if they want to keep you around. Plus, you don’t necessarily need a master’s to get good jobs in engineering, so I’m not sure that’s something that should factor heavily into your decision.</p>
<p>My son has a similar query. Full pay University of Pennsylvania engineering vs full tuition scholarship and honors college at Northeastern. Also computer science. I would love to hear what people have to say.</p>
<p>Your son has to decide between $60k/yr at UPenn, or $16k/yr (room&board) at NEU? This isn’t even a hard decision. $240,000+ vs $70k+. Save that money for grad school, go to NEU. With a part time job and co-ops paying for room & board, he could walk out of NEU debt free.</p>
<p>And Malm59, I would say go Northeastern if the choice is between NEU full scholarship vs. Penn full tuition. Very true that that money can easily pay for an MS, and a student at NEU who has excellent grades, good work experience, and does well on the GRE can get into a top engineering program for graduate school. I graduated NEU in science, and am now in a very good graduate school-- no one cares where I went to college. (Had I not gotten such mediocre grades in undergrad, I’d probably be at a “better” graduate school-- although I definitely can’t complain about where I wound up!)</p>
<p>Definitely. Part of it was just that NEU was a really good fit for me. I liked that it wasn’t super small, hand-holding, tight-knit. There were very helpful advisors and professors and definitely guidance when you needed it, but there was also a lot of independence and flexibility to do what you want with your education, both class wise (although, engineering is much more structured), and in terms of extracirricular stuff like co-op/activities/volunteering/whatever. It’s big enough that you never run out of people to meet or new things to try out, but small enough that you feel at home on campus, run into your friends, have your own little community. Boston is such a fun place to go to school, you’re never limited to the opportunities provided by campus, you have the whole city to play in, and everything caters to students. For my personality, the atmosphere and lifestyle were really perfect, but it’s obviously not a perfect fit for everyone. It also helped that this is the attitude of the student body, so I was able to meet a lot of like-minded people who wanted to explore the city, were excited about their co-op jobs and there careers, while also enjoyed being college kids.</p>
<p>In terms of academics, I was challenged-- and I think in general, if you come in as a science/math/engineering major, you’ll probably be challenged no matter how smart you are. Organic Chem and Calc II can only be made so easy, the material can only be so edited. Science/Math are pretty standardized, so the material is generally the same across schools, and the difference will mainly be in the curve and in how smart your competition is. And, now that I’m in graduate school, I feel even better about the education I got at NEU, because I feel like I’m just as prepared as anyone else in the program.</p>
<p>The pay for BS in Engineering even from MIT does not justify $240,000 debt (not counting Masters). I agree with bargaining with NEU. Maybe they can take a closer look at your application and give you more Merit or put you in the Honors program. Do not fret. Maybe at NEU you will have opportunities that only few will have at MIT.</p>
<p>Emily2007: I appreciate your detailed insight about your NEU undergrad experience. My son was accepted for next year’s freshman class, but is still not sure about going. He’s leaning toward a biology major, but probably won’t declare until he explores other disciplines. He’s taken AP Chem and Bio, so has a decent feel for the demands of both. How did you and your friends find the quality of the academic advising, particularly at the freshman and sophomore levels? I read your earlier post about NEU faculty being supportive & accessible, but not holding your hand. That sounds like a good balance, but I’m curious if you have any more insight. E.g., did advisors have a ‘cookie cutter’ approach towards guiding students, or did they really take the time to get to know their students? Did it seem like your faculty advisors had to deal with an excessive amount of students, or did NEU balance out the advising load? How well did your advisors know about course options outside of their discipline or department? Did you have good access to faculty advisors while you were doing your co-ops?</p>
<p>OP are you concerned about the fit at MIT? If your parents and teachers are that would concern me.</p>
<p>I am baffled MIT would accept you but you weren’t accepted into Honors at NEU.</p>
<p>I don’t think the money difference is enough to pick NEU over MIT-as long as you feel it is a good fit and the money is there-I mean MIT is MIT! I agree go to the accepted students days that should help-and fit is very important. </p>
<p>Malm that is a toughie! That is a lot of money-again if you have it and money isn’t an issue there are many who feel the difference in the prestige and quality of education is worth it. Again I love NEU, my son goes there, and he took the full scholarship v. other higher ranked schools and has never looked back. He didn’t have a UPenn or MIT acceptance though-hard to say what he would have decided if he had.</p>
<p>Thanks Pepper,
I think he is leaning Neu. First, Boston over Philly. Second, the money is not insignificant. If more parents refused to pay full tuition, maybe the schools would reduce the tuition price. As long as people continue to choose prestige over price, or perceived educational value over price, tuition will continue to rise. Also, Northeastern does not appear to be a pressure cooker, but kids create their own pressure, so I cannot be sure about that.</p>
<p>DDahn – MIT on your resume will be there for 40 years. Maybe jobs easy to get right out of school – things can change. There are very few schools I would say this about, but MIT and Wharton are two schools that will be with you with forevever.</p>
<p>I think with UPenn it is engineering not Wharton. </p>
<p>I can’t answer if NEU is a pressure cooker. I can only tell you from his experience students work together and study together so that has not been an issue for him. Maybe he has been fortunate but he has had a lot of support and made a lot of friends there.</p>
<p>I would be hard pressed not to pick MIT but again I am curious about the OP and why people who know them best are concerned about fit. I know many people who have worked at MIT and know several students there-I don’t like to make generalizations so I will only say from what I know secondhand it is a very intense place-again if that is what you want that is what you should do-much as NEU would not be a good fit for many neither would MIT-for different reasons. </p>
<p>I don’t think anyone would suggest here the academics at NEU are at the same level as MIT.</p>
<p>I know a lot of kids that are a perfect fit for MIT and their parents can afford it without hardship. However not everybody is in the same boat, academically or financially. Not all MIT graduates earn super salaries. Actually the salary of any engineer is not that high (maybe some in Silicone valley are the exception). Now he mention that he does not know how he got into MIT, that means that his grades are probably borderline. The class pace at MIT is not the same that of NEU and the rigor of their tests are notorious because most of their students are very good at Math and Physics. A GPA of 3.5 from NEU is better than a GPA of 2.8 from MIT.</p>