Northeastern or William and Mary-- HELP!!

I’m very conflicted. I committed to William and Mary yesterday, paid my enrollment deposit, the whole shebang. It will be expensive since I am an out of state student, about $37,000 a year including room and board, and I would have to take out loans. My family will make this feasible for me by dividing the costs between my parents, me working this summer, and my mom moving to Virginia to apply for in-state tuition for the remaining three years, where the cost would be much lower and I’d get more financial aid, as out of state student aid is capped at 25% of demonstrated need.

Today, Northeastern emailed me with an updated financial aid package, where I’d pay $14,000 a year, no loans necessary.

I’m extremely conflicted because I liked William and Mary for its traditional campus, the proximity to D.C. and internships therein (I’m an international relations major), and have already started looking into clubs and messaging fellow freshman. I’m a bit afraid of NU because of it’s potentially lacking academic rigor compared to WM and having to “grow up too fast” in the working world within the co-op program.

I haven’t visited either campus but I may be able to squeeze in a trip this weekend! “Eating” the deposit cost won’t be an issue for my family. Please help!! What should I do? Is WM worth the extra cost in terms of education, hirability, worth, experience, etc? Or is NU just as good, if not better?

Wow - so many thoughts for you:

  • Someone has given you bad information...NU is a prestigious university and is certainly not lacking academic rigor (FYI: NU's average ACT score is 31-34, W&M's is 28-32).
  • If you can visit, DO! These are wildly different campuses. W&M is quiet, in a small town, and it's quite a drive to DC. NU is in the heart of Boston, with all the pluses/minuses of being in a large city.
  • The costs heavily favor NU. Your complicated plan to achieve in-state tuition may not be as easy (or as quick) as you may think.
  • NU also has plenty of great internship opportunities.

At the end of the day, these are both great schools. Good luck!

NU is now ranked only about 7 spots behind W&M in USNews. Historically, it was ranked much lower, so that might explain some perceptions of it. You can see an interesting article here: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2014/08/26/how-northeastern-gamed-the-college-rankings/

A couple of thoughts, nothing really new. First, they are very different types of schools as magtf1 indicated. NU is much larger, urban (high rise), has the coop approach, and New England. W&M is smaller, in a town, more traditional liberal arts & sciences, and Mid-Atlantic. I think if you visited you’d probably get a strong feel one way or other given the substantial differences.

Second, the cost differential is quite substantial for year 1 and it sounds like it might create some difficulties to establish Virginia residency.

Good luck whichever way you go.

It doesn’t work that way. You and your mother are in for a big, and expensive, surprise.

So you will wait until after graduating college to “grow up”?

@TomSrOfBoston then how does it work? Why wouldn’t it work?

And also, I’d say that an experience living all four years on a college campus in small town colonial Williamsburg is more “comfortable” than potentially moving anywhere across the country to work in a full job or internship for a full semester at the age of 19 in the NU co-op program, the latter being an example of entering the true adult world sooner. Are you saying that I should not be worried?

@magtf1 Thank you so much! I will do my best to visit, and really reassess what NU has to offer. I haven’t decided quite yet, but I appreciate your input!

William and Mary tuition with room and board out of state, is closer to 55k per year

You and your mother should read this:
http://www.wm.edu/offices/registrar/studentsandalumni/domicile/

Time in university is a time to grow and try new things, not a time to cling to a comfortable adolescence. As an international relations major you should be considering a semester abroad and/or an international internship at any school, unless you just find that to be an interesting subject to study without it being a career goal.

Did you check the [residency requirements](In-State Residency | William & Mary) for William & Mary? I don’t think you can gain residency while you’re attending college. If Northeastern is affordable without loans, I’d go there.

Info about qualifying for Virginia in-state tuition is here:
http://www.schev.edu/index/tuition-aid/in-state-residency

It’s certainly possible to do, but just realize that public colleges are very aware that parents often try this just to save on tuition. The college will not make it easy…it’s a lot of money for them to give up.

Good luck!

I’m a huge fan of W&M but from the postings above it looks like you will not get VA residency. If you can graduate from Northeastern debt free that sounds like the way to go.

Where did you get the idea that Northeastern Is lacking in academic rigor? I would go to NE as it’s a great school and is affordable. I don’t think you will get VA residency - W&M does not appear to be affordable.

@sopapilla777 you may be able to do your Northeastern co-op(s) in Boston, if that’s your preference…or even where your mom lives. Some people choose to do a co-op and live at home so they can save some money, or for other reasons. Northeastern is definitely academically rigorous, not sure where you got the impression that it wasn’t.

@Yellow2017 Yes, but my financial aid package has reduced this overall cost to $37,000. Thank you.

Congratulations! Two great choices, and comparable in terms of reputation and prestige.

You are getting good advice here. It is very difficult to change your IS/OOS status once you start school. A friend of mine had a similar issue in VA, though it was long ago. (I know Northeastern pretty well and William and Mary extremely well.)

The two things you have to ask yourself:

  1. Would I prefer to be in Boston or Williamsburg? Northeastern is on the fringe of downtown Boston, which offers many wonderful opportunities. It is also very urban and very cold/snowy in the winter. All that is fine for some people, not for others. Williamsburg is a very nice small town. Student life is very campus focused, except for a few delis/bars/restaurants/coffee shops immediately off campus. Duke of Gloucester (DOG) Street ends at the Wren Building at one end of campus. It’s the mile-long tourist area with beautiful colonial buildings. Great for running, and several restaurants/pubs here. A small sorority court is between campus and DOG St. Fraternities are in new on-campus housing on one side of campus. Greek life is robust but not dominant in campus life. All this is fine for some, not for others. Weather is very mild almost the entire school year, just a couple of cold spells in a typical winter, maybe a good snowfall every other year.

  2. Do I want a traditional liberal arts program or more of a work-focused, career-oriented focus? Northeastern has a great coop program, one of the best. Do you think you will take advantage of it? If yes, you might want to go there. If not William and Mary might be more for you (cost aside). William and Mary has great government/international relations/economics opportunities. These departments are very strong. Good luck!

Northeastern isn’t that far behind William and Mary. Graduating debt free makes going to Northeastern a lot more appealing. Go for it!

Great advice her by everyone: a few small additions:

  1. First co-op's at Northeastern are usually in Boston, so it doesn't have to be moving to a new place for a job all at once. Many stay in on-campus housing while on co-op - an advantage of living in a big city. For the second or third, you can also always take a position in DC, or abroad, which both are great experiences for an international relations major.
  2. As far as growing up faster, I think that can be a good thing in many ways. An interesting dichotomy at Northeastern is that while it's pretty preprofessional, people are also very much learning about their adult selves in college slowly and gradually rather than all at once. If you wait until graduation, you may have to backtrack after. On a co-op, you get to try out an area of your field and decide if you like it or don't and adapt. You get to figure out what working 40 hours a week feels like and how you can balance that with your hobbies and interests, and then go back to school too.

Our president once put it this way: It’s the difference between “learning to live” and “learning to earn a living”. Getting a job coming out of either school will be relatively easy. Knowing how to be happy while doing that job after graduation, that’s something you have to learn to do. The co-op model really allows you to learn it gradually. It’s not for everyone, but hopefully, that perspective helps.