Northeastern Co-op

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northeastern University
1

Hey! Can someone who is/was in Northeastern university’s co-op program just give me some deets about it???
How was it??
Did you like it??
What did you do??
Im going in as a biology major! THanks!!

2

Hey! You seem excited :slight_smile:

You can find a lot of general information on co-op on Northeastern’s website:

https://www.northeastern.edu/coop/

Here’s a basic summary of scheduling:

Here’s an excerpt from a quote on another thread about co-op employers in the College of Science.

Personally, I’ve had a great time. I’m a CS major and have had two very well paying jobs with top tech companies as a software engineer, as well as an internship over a summer with a healthcare company. But co-op varies so much by major so it really depends on what you’re looking to do! For biology, you can go any route from environmental to medical to ecology to marine life to healthcare and more I’m probably forgetting or unaware of.

Co-op is the main reason most come to Northeastern, and it’s the real deal. I think one of the most telling stats is that 50% of students graduate with a full-time job offer from a co-op. That means not only do you have a full-time job offer, you’ve already tried it out for 6 months or more and can use that to decide if you want to come back.

3

Wow that makes me so excited to go there! Hopefully I get accepted because I got deferred /
Thanks so much for all the info!!!

4

The concerns about coursework and social life may be valid at a school where coop is optional. The curriculum at Northeastern is designed around the coop experience, as is the entire experience. You will need to earn 128 credits to graduate (less any AP credits) just like any other school.

Many pre-med/life sciences coops are in the Harvard medical area and provide the opportunity to engage in research, and be paid for it.

5

HI! So NEU is my top school. I applied EA and was deferred but I sent a letter of continued interest and hope to get in! I am mainly applying for the co-op which is why I think most people apply but I have 2 questions that will be the deciding factor for me if I get in.

  1. If I do co-ops outside of Boston, and then end up coming back there for classes, will I have a huge miss on social life? How do roommates work if you are going to leave for a 6-month co-op? Is it going to be hard to maintain and make friends?
  1. Are the co-ops going to be a hindrance to my education? I want to go to med school so going to have to take the MCAT, but if I keep going on co-ops, will that mean that I am losing learning time?

Thanks for the help!

6

To add to the post above, there’s an entire co-op connections office that helps organize students in various cities while on co-op. Some of my good friends currently in Boston are people I met while on the west coast originally on co-op. There are usually also Facebook groups for each city/region.

As far as medical school, co-op’s can provide great experience that will make you stand out in med school applications, and you can choose a 4-year pattern over a 5 year one if you’re worried about being in school too long. As said, you’ll have the same number of credits as any traditional school.

7

@PengsPhils So do you pay tuition for four years or five year with the co-op?

8

@FwiendGuy

You only pay tuition while in classes, not on co-op. 4 years / 8 academic semesters of tuition paid as with all other schools.

9

Thanks

10

@PengsPhils Do you happen to know if a student does a co-op during the fall or spring term and has a NU Honors Scholarship or a National Merit Finalist Scholarship if their status as a full-time student is still in tact and would not be in jeopardy of losing that status which is one of the requirements to keep the scholarship .

11

@GarpRules

Northeastern is built around co-op’s and neither scholarship or financial aid is affected by them in any way - it’s put on pause, and aid/scholarships are run by academic semesters taken, not years, so they still apply for 5-year programs.

12

@PengsPhils @TomSrOfBoston How many credits per a full semester (fall or spring) is considered full-time (no overloading), based on TomSrOfBoston response above about it takes 128 credits to graduate , it would be 16 credits. So if that is correct then how many credits is each course worth that is offered in either the Fall or Spring; is it 4 or 3, or do they vary by course. Trying to figure out how many courses (not credits) you would need to take in each of the Fall & Spring semesters to be considered a full-time student at Northeastern.

13

@GarpRules The normal course load is four 4 credit courses per semester. There is a 1 credit Intro to Coop course and science labs would be an additional credit.