<p>My son was accepted to Northeastern with a decent merit/financial aid package. He recently visited and was impressed with the program but had 2 negative comments:1- They seemed to focus frequently about the importance of getting a job afterwards and he thought that was all they cared about, and 2) the schedule gives little free time from the 3rd-5th years in the program between the 3 co-ops and school. Does anyone have feedback about these 2 issues?</p>
<p>As to the second issue, that’s going to be the case at basically reputable engineering school. The 5-year program isn’t too popular right now, but even four year universities encourage you to find internships after your sophomore and junior years, so you’ll be spending most of your 3rd and 4th years working. It’s of course more flexible because internships aren’t mandatory, but it might be difficult to find a job without one, and you won’t get as much first hand experience with engineering.</p>
<p>Yes Northeastern is very employment focused (engineering department consistently hits 100%), but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. At most schools they have the resources but they leave it to you to use them. At Northeastern they force to do what you should be doing. Basically if you want to be an engineer you’re going to have to get as serious about it as their program makes it seem. In most regards though, it’s still a normal college. It’s of course in Boston so there’s plenty of things to distract you. Most students I talked to actually said they had more free time while on co-op than during academic semesters, so it’s not as if you’ll be working every hour of every day for 5 years.</p>
<p>NEU’s overall atmosphere is very pre-professional. Not a lot of students go there to study liberal arts, it is best known for the co-op programs and the engineering, sciences, business and nursing programs.
What else is he comparing it to?
My son didn’t like to co-op concept so he is at a school that emphasizes summer internships instead. He thought he would rather use a 5th year to get a Master’s degree.</p>
<p>BeanTownGirl- My son thought he wanted co-op but when he looked at the schedule it feels too much to him. He would like to do internships and maybe 1 co op but not free. He is comparing it to U of R, Case Western, and UMD and others he is waiting to hear from including Carnegie Mellon and Tufts- both very hard to get into!</p>
<p>The great thing about co-op at Northeastern is that everybody is in the same groove (and half the friends will be on the same co-op rotation.) The students can live at least through 3rd year on campus. </p>
<p>" He thought he would rather use a 5th year to get a Master’s degree." - That would work well for many students (especially if they arrive with AP credit). But my thought is that it would be better getting three six-month assignments in real jobs. Summer engineering co-ops are great (I did 2 summer at IBM). But since then I’ve come to realize that a longer stint is more valuable to the employer and to the student. After that, a student would have a better idea of the best fit grad school specialty. </p>
<p>My own son does traditional semesters, and last summer he did research on campus. This summer he wants a real internship, but the college support is not as intense as NEU co-op would be. In other words, he needs to be more proactive. That’s a tough thing for a modest kid, easily distracted by near term academic demands.</p>
<p>Most schools with co-op like Northeastern, RIT, Drexel (I think), focus on employment.</p>
<p>We visited Northeastern too. For awhile it was our son’s front runner, until we got him to admit it was the time we spent in Boston that he really liked. I liked the campus, and love the city of Boston. As for your son’s issues…</p>
<p>1) and it is a bad thing that they are focusing on post education employment? Those 3 co-ops will help separate him from everyone else–because he will actually have 12 months worth of real life work experience.</p>
<p>I didn’t get any feeling from them that they were focusing on students getting a job after graduation. They probably mentioned post-graduation employment rates–which I’m guessing they are quite proud of.</p>
<p>2) Yes, I would image the 5 year plan could seem overwhelming. But if he focuses on the fact that he is getting a quality education and work experience that will enable land a great job after those 5 years, I would think he could get through it.</p>
<p>What type of engineering is he planning on majoring in?</p>
<p>I don’t think 5 yr programs are mandatory for engineering anymore, you can also choose a 4 yr option with fewer co-ops</p>
<p>TaciturntypeA - the 5 year program is still very popular. I have 2 sons there right now who are in the engineering program. My older son will graduate with almost 2 full years of job experience. He was kept on at his first co-op for the summer so he spent 8 months there. </p>
<p>To all those who would rather have internships - it is very tough to get one on your own. I can’t imagine having to do that every summer without connections, and really, there is nothing more important on your resume than experience (in addition to grades of course).</p>
<p>Im cooping right now and it is not bad at all. Good thing is that we get 6 months to take school off and so we start missing school. Then we get back to school and miss cooping. hhh</p>
<p>Keep in mind that you are not paying tuition and earning money during co-ops.</p>
<p>"you can also choose a 4 yr option with fewer co-ops " - True. But why rush? There is no extra tuition with the 5 year / 3 c-op option. And salaries go up with each co-op. From what I’ve read, engineering co-ops earn enough to cover their room/board (and maybe also save a little bit). Or if living home they could practically bank the paycheck.</p>
<p>To the point of getting internships - colleges like WPI have excellent rates of getting students into internships. There are two career fairs each year (4 if you count the separate ones for the Life Science students) that attract 150-200 employers every time. Most employers are there looking for both interns and full-time employees (co-ops too). My son already has one internship lined up for this summer and had a few other options under consideration, and he is a sophomore. WPI also does allow/encourage kids to do co-ops, but only about 3% do. Probably because kids who want co-ops go to Northeastern to start with since NEU is well-known for it and structure their program around it.</p>
<p>So, this is something you would need to investigate when looking at colleges. I’m sure there are big differences in how easy/hard it is to get internships among colleges depending on how strong their Career Center is! </p>
<p>Overall, I don’t think there is a BETTER or WORSE way to go about getting an engineering education. 5 years with co-ops, 4 years with internships, 5 years Masters degree - they all work well!!! I think it is totally a matter of personal preference. Of course other factors matter - the quality of the college, the strength of their career center, the alumni network, the student’s grades and personality etc. etc. So choose the school that fits your desires/needs.</p>
<p>Beantown girl - WPI maybe but that is similar to NEU to be honest. We looked at WPI but neither kid could see himself there. I’m talking about big state schools - they do have internships they all say they do, but like you say, they don’t help you along the way northeastern does. This is NEU’s reputation (as WPI’s) so they need to deliver. Like I said, I can’t imagine going to a State school and competing with 1000’s of kids for the internships. They just don’t have the bandwidth to do so.</p>