Hey guys! I was recently admitted to both schools for engineering. I am still undecided about what specifically I want to do in engineering, but I know that I want a hands-on experience. Both schools gave me a very good scholarship and Northeastern admitted me to the Honors College while Rochester admitted me to the 5-year master’s program. I have visited both campuses and while I loved the close-knit community of Rochester, I totally fell in love with Boston. It is important to me to go to a school that has a lot of hands-on learning, friendly environment, support, and a positive academic experience. Let me know any opinions you may have, thanks! 
You sound like a perfect fit for Northeastern The community as a whole won’t be as close knit as Rochester, but people mainly bond over some of the exact things you listed - hands on experience and exploring Boston. You’ll get a smaller and more academic focused community with the honors program as well. It’s also very easy to get research experience in engineering too, in addition to co-op.
Northeastern has a PlusOne program that you can easily add to engineering degrees if you want, and the admissions bar isn’t really a challenge - as long as you have a 3.0 or 3.25 GPA and above (can’t find exact number online), you are simply put in the program on request essentially.
I would be very careful of getting the 5 year Masters from Rochester especially when you aren’t sure of the area you want to go into.
I am a hiring manager for a reserach group in EE. My problem with 5 year MS is that whereas a BS provides breadth, an MS needs to provide depth. I can’t tell you the number of resumes I’ve seen of smart people with an MS who have specialized in something peripheral to what we do who have rendered themselves unsuitable to me even if they would have been suitable as a BS candidate.
When I hire a BS, I can send them back to school and pay for their MS to study what they need to excel in our work program. With an MS, they need to already have the right background because I can’t send them back for another MS, yet I have to pay them more.
When you choose an MS area to specialize in, you’d better make sure that it’s in a growing area where the skills you learn are valuable.
In terms of a brief description of URochester (you may already have a sense for some of these elements), the school can be thought of as offering a traditionally collegiate, medium-sized university experience set in a city historically known for technology. The campus quads, mostly aligned by buildings in Georgian and Greek Revival styles, include a classically stunning library. Though located on the edge of a city, the area is offset from the Eastern megalopolis, and escapes such as Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes and the wine region can be found nearby. International students in a relatively high percentage add to geographical diversity. Sports at UR, though wide-ranging, seem to be appreciated with a perspective appropriate for an academic institution.
Regarding your specific academic interests, their engineering should be excellent.
It depends on what you are looking for. if you are looking for experiential learning with co-ops embedded into the curriculum which gives you real world hands-on education then please consider Northeastern University.
If you want a more traditional academic experience with internship or 2 in you junior or senior year, if you more interested in research than hands on “industry experience”, if you are considering a Bio-Medical engineering or optics engineering then U of R would be the way to go.
In terms of campus, they are vastly different too… UofR has small Ivyish campus feel to it, whereas Northeastern is an urban campus.
Northeastern has better accessibilities to some of the best co-ops, internship and job opportunities because of it’s location.
UofR enjoys a better reputation as a non-ivy, Ivy.
good luck