<p>I saw this in an information packet from Northeastern - am I going to be spending five years at this school only to have one summer vacation? I understand that co-ops and internships can happen during that time, and that they're six month commitments but I suddenly feel awful, even though I consider myself unafraid of hard work and want to go to Northeastern mainly to "grow up" and get a good education that'll help me get into med school. Winter and spring breaks look short. Do any current or past Northeastern students see this as a negative thing?</p>
<p>I have actually had summer vacations. Because I had a lot of IB/AP credit before coming, I have more flexibility and can get out of some summer sessions. I also have a more flexible schedule in terms of co-op and such. But I don’t see it as a huge negative. You’ve still got free time, and the change between co-op and classes can be refreshing. You still get breaks between all the terms, like between summer and fall classes, which is nice, too.</p>
<p>If you go to a traditional college and spend your summers “on vacation” you will not look too impressive to med school adcoms.</p>
<p>It seems like a big deal now, but it won’t be. My son was on the summer co-op cycle. While his HS friends in traditional college programs were hitting the pavement hoping to find a min wage job to get them through the summer, he had a real job that paid real money.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your responses, they were very helpful and I feel a lot better after getting your perspectives!</p>
<p>Depends on your major, how many co-ops you plan to do, how many years you plan to graduate in, and how many AP courses you have. Personally, I had all my summers off (all of May-August) except for the year I did co-op, when I only had off July-August. But I only did one co-op (four years) and had placed out of a lot of courses with AP credit.</p>
<p>That said, my experience is not the norm. However, most people I know have had some time off, just not the entire May-August. For example, they might have co-op January-June, then take July and August off, then return to classes from September-December. That’s still a full two months of summer.</p>
<p>Other people get offered to stay on co-op longer during that two months. Some people choose to take summer classes during that gap, and some people have to, but plenty of people don’t. It’s really different for everyone.</p>
<p>Even if I had chosen to do three co-ops and five years, I still would have had those two month breaks.</p>
<p>I have to say that my daughter only had one summer off because of co-ops , but it wasn’t a problem at all for her or us as her parents . She actually drove me nuts the one summer she was home because she was so used to being on her own and transitioning between her high school friends and college friends. She loved being in Boston year round. She has a few weeks to be home in her middler year, and by then she had matured so much that she had kind of moved passed her high school friends and socializing with them and instead, spent most of her time helping us out with the family business that she grew up in, and just being home with us.
Now she is graduating and the next chapter of her life begins 
:(</p>
<p>I think it’s worth noting, now that I’m thinking about it, the trouble I did have with this. Even though I have had at least some summer time off both of my two summers I’ve had since starting, neither were full summers. From the perspective of having a break from classes, this was ok. What was difficult for me was that I didn’t have a ton of time to spend with my family, especially since I’m from Wisconsin and couldn’t go home throughout the year except for winter, spring, and summer breaks. For most college students,bathe break from parents/siblings could be a welcome relief, but my mom had terminal cancer. It was hard for me to be so far away and not have as much time to spend as would be ideal. But it was OK. And I hope that’s a situation none of you have to experience!</p>
<p>As a parent I think the year round schedule is great - you still get time off (at least a couple of weeks) between terms and you never really have to worry about getting a traditional “summer job.” Do you really want to be scooping ice cream or taking tickets at an amusement park?</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman at Northeastern and has been struggling to fill the long 4 month summer with productive stuff to do. I am glad that future summers will be filled with classes and coop.</p>