Northeastern or Emory?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northeastern University
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So I had committed to Northeastern around mid-April as a major in CS @ the Khoury College of CS. But a few days ago I just got off the waitlist for Emory College and now I’m feeling really conflicted. I tried to do some research but I couldn’t find much info on the Emory College CS program. One of the big things for me is that I don’t want to do pure CS and I really like Northeastern’s combined majors program where I could major in both CS and another major (say business) without double majoring!

But the major isn’t the only thing that I’m really considering. I’m a pretty extroverted person and I really want to enjoy college. Obviously studies come first for me, but I don’t want to be completely drowned by work. Emory’s traditional college life vs Northeastern’s way of life is really really different and I’m not sure which is better.

There are definitely a lot of other things to consider, I’m just having a lot of trouble deciding which college is for me. I know that I’ll be happy at both places and that there isn’t much to worry about, but it’s just a very big decision to make. Even when I was applying to college I didn’t have many opinions about what I liked and didn’t like about a school and didn’t have huge preferences as to where I wanted to go. I didn’t have a “top school” which is what’s making this decision so hard for me.

If anyone could give me some advice, that would be so great!

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@PengsPhils is a Khoury graduate and can provide more detailed informantion.

Since you do not mention cost I assume that both Northeastern and Emory are equally affordable.

Computer science at Northeastern is its own college while at Emory it is a department in the arts and science college. Khoury CS at Northeastern is very visible on campus. In comparing to Emory do not assume that just because Northeastern is not ranked as high as Emory overall by USNews that the workload will be lighter.

Neither Northeastern nor Emory ranks among the top party schools in the country. But Northeastern students are seldom at a loss for ways to have fun.

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As far as CS specifically to make a long story short, Northeastern certainly offers more in that specific area both in research and teaching, but as you said, major strength isn’t everything. Emory isn’t a bad CS school by any means, it’s just not quite as known for it.

I will say that Northeastern’s CS+X degrees are very nice and the department is great with even creating some if they don’t exist yet if you have an idea for one that isn’t listed online. While I was there (graduated 2019) something like 5-10 new ones came into existence.

The good news is both schools offer flexibility in changing major, and both are strong for STEM generally if you’re staying near those subjects. Emory has an edge in humanities generally if that’s relevant, but as with CS for Emory, Northeastern is still decent for many subjects even with that edge.

Environmentally these are pretty different - practically focused vs LAC vibe, Boston vs traditional campus near Atlanta, the things I assume you already know. While it’s of course very possible for students to overlap preferences between them, this would be an area of difference to focus on in the choice. What is your gut saying, if anything? Is there anything you can say on what’s most important to you?

If you are still having trouble deciding I’d either default to Northeastern for major strength or the one that’s significantly cheaper if the difference is big/important enough to outweigh major fit.

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Hey, thank you so much for this response! For me, I think my gut feeling is saying Northeastern. I was wondering what the social life is like at Northeastern through the different years. I assume co-ops can sometimes cause a social rupture in student’s lives. How easy is it to find something to do if you want to go out? Or maybe party? I’ve heard that there aren’t usually major events that happen on campus.

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@ali7379

Very easy, it’s just a different form than your state school’s kegger is going to take, which is to be expected of any city school. You’ll mostly find apartment and dorm parties in smaller groups (5-30) rather than hundred person frat parties, though some end up being like that on Mission Hill, an off-campus neighborhood.

Given how many people come to Northeastern partially to be in Boston, people go out and do all sorts of things, and IMO that’s a big plus. Tons of concerts, public markets, parks, museums, food, anything and everything.

I think there is likely less compared to some schools, but IMO that’s because of everything listed above - why have everything focused on campus events when there’s a whole city to take advantage of? As an example, the science museum has a college night (in Fall I believe? I last went in 2018 so it’s fuzzy) that gets good attendance from students all over Boston. Not an on-campus event but something that is certainly part of the social experience.

Absolutely true, but again I think it’s a case of a different form than not being social. First, people don’t go on co-op until their 4th or 5th semester, so your first and a half everything will be the same as other places. If you stay in Boston for co-op you can still be social too, if not more due to the lack of schoolwork even though you’re working 40 hours a week. If you leave Boston, there will likely be other Northeastern co-op’s you can socialize with in major cities. I got to explore LA/SF and NYC on co-op’s and made friends there that I ended up keeping when we got back to campus, so it can be a good way to expand social circles as well.

If you are on a different co-op cycle than a friend or in different places it will of course put that friendship on hold, but IMO people learn how to have more adult friendships because of that where you actively choose to put effort into a friendship, something students from every college will have to do postgrad. Everyone is also in the same boat, so there’s an understanding people have if you’re not in Boston for a cycle. Clubs and on campus activities also run by semester instead of year to adapt to co-op as well. People can even be presidents of clubs, go on co-op in another city, and come back to the same position!

Hope that helps give a picture :slight_smile:

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Hi! I’m a current student at Northeastern. Northeastern has a very vibrant social life, and there are opportunities for everyone, regardless of what you’re interested in. If you want to party, there will definitely be parties on Friday and Saturday at frat houses. The great thing about being in Boston is that you can also party at other schools! (MIT, Harvard, BU, etc.)

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Thank you so much @PengsPhils this definitely helped me get a clearer picture of NEU’s social life. That’s honestly one of the biggest factors in my decision because I already really liked Northeastern’s academic system!

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Ahh thank you so much @bremcclarey ! I did want to sort of get into the party scene and wasn’t sure if NEU had those opportunities. This definitely helped cleared it up for me! :slight_smile: