I was admitted to D’Amore McKim (with NU in) and UMD College Park Smith School of Business (OOS). I’m trying to decide between the two, and there are so many different parts of both schools that I like/dislike. I love the location of NEU, and the fact that NEU does coop and the job placement rate is high - however, graduating in 5 years is something that I’m unsure about… whereas UMD has a more traditional college campus/lifestyle and classes that I think are interesting (and you graduate in 4 years)… does anyone have any insight into which might be better?
It is possible to graduate from Northeastern in 4 years with 2 coops.
@TomSrofBoston do you know if doing 4 years is significantly more stressful and worth the extra 20k a year, return wise?
Where is that 20K a year coming from? Is that loans or from parents or a college fund?
On 4 vs 5 years: A 4 year program would be a bit more rushed I think, and you’d have to carefully align stuff when it comes to summer classes, and you’d have virtually no summers available. Generally, the 5 year program is best in my opinion. A good number of people come into Northeastern with that 4 year mindset and usually switch to 5 years, often not because 4 years isn’t doable but because they end up preferring 5 years from a personal standpoint. You’ve got your whole life to work full time ahead of you - what’s the rush? If you ask adults, I bet a mojority would love to have an extra year of college looking back now.
I’m in that camp - came in planning to do 3.5 years and 1 co-op because I had a lot of credit coming in. Ended up staying for 5 years with 3 co-ops and couldn’t be happier about how it all turned out. But you don’t have to decide that right away. You can change your co-op schedule/plans at any point.
As for costs, in general both 4 and 5 year options require the same 8 semesters of classes (just arranged differently), so you would have the same costs.
@PengsPhils Sorry if I was unclear - I meant extra 20K a year in comparison to Maryland.
Yeah, that makes sense; 5 years is just really different, and if I wanted to the +1 program, I’d be in school for 6 years, so everyone that I graduated from high school with would already be done with college, but I think the 99% placement rate at Northeastern is really appealing and makes it sound worth it. I think it’s just having my parents pay for school for longer, but I’m hoping coop will help with that. Thank you!!
@nanotechnology That’s really assuring; thank you so much!!
Can someone elaborate on what coop is?