<p>I got into NEU for EA with Honors program as a chemistry major. I've read from past threads that the Arts & Sciences program isn't as great as it could be.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure I'm going to get into Boston College regular, and I've heard that their chemistry department is AMAZING, but I really don't want to deal with the snooty stuck up students at BC. I want to live in the city and the co-op program at NEU seems amazing, but I still want a really good chem education.</p>
<p>Any takes?
BC v. NEU
chem department wise.</p>
<p>How are the research opportunities?
How are the co-ops?
How are the teachers?</p>
<p>The chemistry department at Northeastern is amazing. The faculty is pretty good, and the advisor is incredible. Plenty of people do undergraduate research; my best friend worked in the organic chemistry lab of the department chair last summer, which was the summer after her freshman year. Co-ops are everywhere, and Boston is a really good city to study chem in because of how many chem and biotech companies there are in the area. I know a lot of people at pharm companies and some at materials chemistry. NEU also has the combined BS/MS program for chemistry, which you can do in 5 years with three coops if you come in with some AP credit.</p>
<p>But it’s up to you. Go talk to the advisor and some faculty. I think the department is one of the best in the university, and yet I still transfered out of it cause I realized I didn’t want to do chemistry anymore (even though I was certain before). So don’t just choose a school because of one department, choose because of the overall feel for the whole university.</p>
<p>Neuchinie, you mention another advantage of the coop program: sometimes a student finds out that through a coop job that their chosen field is NOT what they thought it would be and he/she decides to change majors and career goals. It is better to find out say after sophomore year that you don’t like the field rather than after you get your degree and first job and realize that it is not what you expected. </p>
<p>I knew someone who started out in accounting, did his first coop and realized that the work was not to his liking. He switched to biology, graduated and went to Iowa State University veterinary school!</p>
<p>Fortunately I realized it before I did a co-op in chemistry. However I was interested in the actuarial profession (I am now a dual Economics and Mathematics major), and am doing a co-op in an actuarial firm. Since being here, I’m starting to reconsider my job choices. I’m really glad I got the chance to work here. Actuaries have to start taking exams in college which costs hundreds of dollars; now I know more about it and can make a decision BEFORE I shell out the money.</p>
<p>um I have actually heard the exact opposite about all of BCs science programs. They have three things going against them. First the lack of research on the graduate and professor level. They have dramatically less graduate programs to support any type of research. Second, the lack of hospitals and labs around them, BC is not in the city. They do not have the world renowned hospitals and private labs that BU, MIT, and Northeastern have. Third, the lack of great science professors period. No expert in a science field is going to want to teach at school that doesnt have the science infrastructure for them to do research, and definitely does not want to work somewhere without great graduate support</p>
