I’m a senior in high school and I’ve been accepted into NU’s honors program as well as BU (not honors). I toured both today and I liked both, but connected a little better with northeastern. Also, Northeastern gave me a significantly larger scholarship and I’m drawn to their co-op program, and I feel they’re more in touch with their students and there’s more of a traditional campus cohesiveness. However, I loved the BU campus (despite it being so spread out) and the dorms were better. More traditional Boston, I think.
So I’m still not sure which I should go with. Which would employers favor, disregarding the co-op program? Does BU have a better reputation? Is it worth going to NU for the co-op and honors? And which has a better “college experience”? (Clubs, student body pride, traditional college campus feel).
Any opinions, advice, and comments are appreciated!
My son just graduated from Northeastern and was hired for his first post-college job by one of his co-ops. So I’m a bit biased towards Northeastern! However, I will say that I think as far as student body pride and a more traditional college “feel”, BU probably wins on those counts.
Either way, you’ll get a great education. Best of luck!
If I had to guess employers favor Northeastern, but that can’t really be separated from fact that you will have real, extensive work experience. They are ranked the same in US News, so I cant imagine that there is much of a different in prestige. Although Northeastern is climbing the rankings significantly faster than BU is. Where there is a noticeable difference is in the stats of incoming students. This was enrolled students last year:
BU:
SAT CR 25%-75%: 570-670 (620)
SAT Math: 620-720 (670)
SAT Writing: 600-690 (645)
ACT: 27-31
Northeastern:
SAT CR: 660-740
SAT Math: 680-760
SAT Writing: 640-730
ACT: 31-33
That puts Northeastern about 150 points higher on the SAT than and Northeasterns 25th percentile students aren’t that far from BU’s 75th percentile in SAT Critical reading and ACT scores.
http://www.bu.edu/oir/files/2014/05/cds-2014.pdf
http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/application-information/academic-profile/
BU will give you the more traditional college experience socially. Each has plenty of clubs. That will be a wash at almost every large school.
The reputations are about on par. Neither one will carry significantly more “prestige”.
NEU can’t really be separated from co-op. About 50% of graduating students get employment offers from one of their co-ops. It’s not about prestige as much as it is about gaining valuable experience. The co-op program is the primary reason most choose Northeastern.
NEU honors has some perks but isn’t something I would put too much stock in.
Is money a consideration at all or should that be excluded from the decision?
Broken record here… but what are the costs of attendance (tuition/fees/room/board, after scholarships/grants but BEFORE loans)? How much loans will you need to take out for each?
It’s something to consider but it doesn’t play a huge role.
NU is $59,649 without scholarship and $44,649 with. BU is $62,956 without and $57,456 with. But I’ve toured each and decided to cross BU off my list, so now I’m between northeastern, WPI, and any others that may accept me in the next week or so :stuckouttongue:
And I don’t know yet how much I’ll need to take out in loans
Northeastern is at least as good, if not better, than BU, and it’s cheaper. So, for now, it’ should be your front runner. if you get better offers later, keep adding to your thread. 
Yeah, northeastern pretty much became my first choice. But then I visited WPI today and I really liked it there too, so I don’t know what I’ll choose. And I’m still waiting to hear back from tufts, Harvard, brown, penn, and maybe one or two more (not that I’m counting on getting in there haha)
Can you look at your financial aid offers, and type this info here:
NEU (tuition, fees, room&board) = … -(scholarships, grants) =… (work study offered? = …)
then list the loans they expect you to take on.
Do the same for WPI.
If the word “loan” doesn’t appear in your package, it may be camouflaged under “stafford”, or “PLUS”, or “Perkins”.