A couple days ago I posted a discussion about choosing between Northastern University and Bryant University. I have decided to go for NEU, but now I have to decide one last final thing between NEU and UW.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I would love to explore Boston and I know that NEU has an exceptional co-op program. UW is located in Seattle, also a progressive city. UW’s Foster School of Business is one of the most competitive school in UW and I heard good reviews about it too. Foster’s tuition is about $34,000 while NEU will cost $35,000 after scholarship, per year.
NEU has a higher ranking, from what I saw on Bloomberg. It being #19 for undergrad business and UW Foster being #52. Apart from the ranking, I would love to heard feedbacks and opinions from you guys!
For undergraduate business, these schools are not peer schools. Northeastern is ranked in the top 20, while UW isn’t even in the top 50. That being said, if you want to live in Seattle after graduation, UW is going to be the best option for that. Otherwise, I would go with Northeastern.
@informative true! Thank you again for replying. I have a hard time choosing between some schools clearly. haha. But now, I am leaning on towards Northeastern. Thanks again for helping me make my decision
US News would agree with informative that they are not peer schools for undergraduate business.
It has UW at 22 and Northeastern at 72!
US News also ranks UW 18 in accounting, 16 in entrepreneurship, 13 in international business, 14 in management, and 15 in management information systems.
Northeastern does a little better in the 2015 US News graduate school ranking, which places UW at 23 and Northeastern at 57.
I disagree with Bloomberg and US News and agree with Poets & Quants that they are in fact peer schools for undergraduate business (UW at 32; Northeastern at 35):
@UWfromCA Hello, I appreciate your information. I am not sure exactly where those US news ranking are pulled out from. Because from what I googled on US News, NEU is ranked 42 nationally, UW being 48 nationally.
I am pretty sure that bloomberg is a credible site for these rankings because they are a business magazine company, with informative business events.
I heard good reviews regarding Foster school of business at UW, so that is why I was interested. However, NEU has also perks like their co-op and located in Boston, a city directed lane to New York and Washington DC. I see a lot of opportunities there.
Are you a student of UW? I would love to know more besides the ranking, because the ranking can sometimes be tricky and skewed.
Hi, @pikachu11111 , the rankings of 42 and 48 are from the US News most recent “Best Colleges” list of national universities.
The reason I posted that article from Poets & Quants is that it lists the US News and Bloomberg undergraduate business school rankings and the US News national university ranking and combines all of these separate rankings into one ranking.
Not a student, but I know Boston and Seattle are great places to be a student. It all depends on your personal preference (for example, East Coast or West Coast, oriented toward Europe or oriented toward Asia, finance or tech, etc.). Work hard and do well at either school, and you will have many interesting and rewarding opportunities.
Boston is not a progressive city. If that’s what you’re looking for, for God’s sake go to Seattle. Boston is Democratic, yes. Progressive, not so much.
@NavalTradition I’m confused when you say that Boston is progressive? Our less-than progressive public transport system (lol)? Because I live here and I would consider it both progressive and liberal.
If progressivism is the criterion, Boston would be nowhere near the top of my list. I would choose Madison or even Austin over Boston if I was just looking for the most progressive place.
I feel like this isn’t really relevant to the OP and is just semantics. Boston and Seattle are comparable on the liberal v conservative scale, are both socially very accepting, and very friendly. Boston is IMO a slighter better place to go to school, but I see Naval’s point about progressive (I have family in Olympia, familiar with the area) but that would tend to be a factor one would consider when they are settling down permanently. Both overall are amazing cities, there’s really not much to debate here.
It’d be more about school preference:
co-op or not?
East or West coast working life? - NEU will have a better name in the northeast, UW will fare better on the west coast. The education quality as shown is comparable, but the recognition geographically certainly does vary for both these schools.
Size matter at all? NEU is more mid sized, UW is a larger school for sure.
Forget the city. (But I don’t think Boston is the most racist city in America. Never actually been to Boston but I have many friends from the area.) Focus on your academics, the college itself, the quality of education and your personal preference for the SCHOOL. The three points @PengsPhils brings up is crucial.
The co-op is a big thing. Especially if you want to do business. If that is important to you, then NEU is a no-brainer. If you don’t want it or aren’t partial to the co-op, UW can be a stronger contender.
Although you are quite reasonably not particularly concerned with rankings, @pikachu11111, these are the USNWR positions of your choices, along with their peer assessment scores, the sole basis for the ranking:
Undergraduate Business Programs
University of Washington, 3.7 PAS
Northeastern University, 3.1 PAS
I also make a distinction between progressive and Democratic. Since you have stated a preference for a progressive environment, I think the comments regarding these cities has been relevant to your thread.
@UWfromCA Thank you! Yeah I looked through poets and quants. Its helpful that they combined the ranking. But I am still wondering why bloomberg and us news have a very different ranking for both schools.
Yep, you’re right. I am currently living in Seattle actually. I loved it here, but I want to explore Boston too.
From all the factors you mentioned, it brought me closer to Northeastern. I am currenly living in Seattle right in UW area. So I definitely want to try something new too. Plus the co op program
@TheDidactic true! I haven’t been to Boston either. But I heard good things about that city. Well…I definitely care about the co-op program and like you said, its good to focus on the school instead of other smaller factors
