Northeastern vs Bentley vs. Indiana

<p>So, I have been accepted to the business schools at each of these colleges. I know I would prefer to be in the Boston area, so I am leaning away from Indiana (which offered me direct admission into their business school). </p>

<p>Here's my predicament: I love the Northeastern campus, and overall it just feels way better to me in comparison to Bentley. I have visited Bentley and even took a business camp there, and it doesn't really feel like a good fit for myself. However, Bentley offered my a Presidential scholarship which is 1/3 off tuition each year (about 12,000). </p>

<p>If I go to Northeastern not only would it cost about $12,000 more a year, but I would be going there for 5 years, thus the expense being greater. I know the co-op will help me pay off some costs, but that doesn't make going there entirely worth it. </p>

<p>At this point, I have decided that I really want to go to Northeastern, but there's the money issue. Would going there because of preference be worth the greater expense?</p>

<p>At Northeastern you will pay for only 8 semesters of classes just like all other schools. The only extra cost is room and board or rent for the fifth year, and co-op more than covers that. So the expense is not really greater by going to Northeastern for 5 years.</p>

<p>@ericop8</p>

<p>I understand it isn’t exactly like paying for 5 years for a typical university, but the fact of the matter is that going to Northeastern will cost at least $50,000 more than going to Bentley would. That beng said, if you really really favored Northeastern over Bentley, is it worth it to go in my situation?</p>

<p>What is it about Bentley you don’t feel comfortable with? </p>

<p>That is a big difference in cost. How are you going to pay for that?</p>

<p>I find Northeastern has good internships and Boston is a great location. The campus feel is kind of weird because everyone is on a different track and schedule, so it is hard to have a class cohesiveness and spirit.</p>

<p>Indiana has a great rep, but it is not Boston.</p>

<p>@pepper03
I have visited both schools and have a general understanding of each environment. Bentley, while appealing for a variety of reasons, doesn’t quite feel right for me. I’m not one to get into the foo “I just had a good feeling visiting” stuff, but I definitely had worse feelings about Bentley than northeastern. I prefer larger yet not gigantic schools, a nice campus, and Boston. In short, academics aside, northeastern has everything Im looking for in a college, whereas Bentley has a few attributes I don’t prefer. Also, after visiting and seeing students at both schools, the personalities of the majority of the student body at Bentley I didn’t prefer; it seemed like the social scene was too dominated by both people who are only there because of sports and prep trust fund babies. Don’t get me wrong, I like Bentley for a multitude of other reasons, but northeastern just seems essentially ideal for me. Both are about equally ranked for business and both have tremendous career services. As for paying, I would have to take out more loans for northeastern, but with the money my parents have put away for me it is still very much feasible.</p>

<p>I actually found the people at Bentley down to earth. Most come from middle class families and are trying to pull themselves up. I know some friends from high school who go to Northeastern. The general feeling is that they are Ok with Northeastern, but not especially happy as it is hard to keep friends with the various internship schedules.</p>

<p>I also have two job offers and expect a third. I’m really glad I chose Bentley!</p>

<p>and you’d be crazy to spend $50K more for northeastern</p>

<p>I found a post on here that is similar to my situation; only, this person is already enrolled at Bentley. They stated that they too received a scholarship to Bentley and not Northeastern, and despite knowing they strongly favored Northeastern, they went to Bentley. They realized that the school just wasn’t for them and the person was looking to transfer to Northeastern. I hate to have any regrets, and likeminded individuals seem to have had regrets that are relevant to my situation. Northeastern costs a lot more, but in the end I will be able to pay for it eventually; it won’t leave me in debt until I die. I am obviously really confused as to what to do. After reading this, do any of you have insight to offer?</p>

<p>what are you planning to major in?</p>

<p>I am planning to study business, perhaps finance – the specific major I still have to decide. I have been accepted to all of the business schools of these three colleges as well.</p>

<p>If anything the students from Northeastern are more stuck up as they tend to come from richer families. Sounds like you have your mind made up and are just inventing facts.</p>

<p>I just have to say that my freshman daughter has found all of the kids she has met at Northeastern to be very down to earth, not at all stuck-up, and since many are on full tuition scholarship (NMF) dirt poor.</p>

<p>Ditto kiddie… I’m one of those NMFs. Yeah, there are some rich kids here, but I haven’t found a snooty culture at all. Part of me thinks that more stuck up people still see Northwastern as not good enough because of its history as a commuter school, despite its rise in the rankings.</p>

<p>Bentley is a very small school with very little name recognition (even in business) and the campus life is fairly boring. I wouldn’t attend even at such a discount, mostly because it is in would be boring, but also because academically, it doesn’t have much name recognition.</p>

<p>I don’t see how Northeastern could be $50K more since you only pay 8 semesters of tuition like any other 4 year school. You do not pay tuition when you are on co-op. Some students do co-op overseas or at home so there may be no housing costs. If you stay in Boston for your coop, I think it would be more like $4-6K (rent plus food) for each of the two 6-month co-op periods, but some of the off-campus coops actually provide housing as part of the package. In addition, some of the business co-ops (accounting) paid >$25 per hour with Price Waterhouse Cooper or Ernst & Young so you could easily cover those costs. Other coop jobs our DS friends found typically paid $10-$20 per hour.</p>

<p>I think they were saying that it’s about $50k ($48, actually)more over the full cost of education given the $12k per year scholarship from Bentley vs. none from Northeastern. $12k doesn’t sound like that much until you add it up over four years…</p>