So I’ve been admitted to both NEU and McGill, and I’m waiting on a few more, but I have a feeling these will be my top 2 options
NEU would be about 40k (no loans, possibly a work study)
McGill is complicated, as I applied to the Faculty of Sciences but intend to transfer over to the Interfaculty of Arts and Sciences, but it’d be 50k USD for the first year, then it’d be about 30k after that.
I’ve been in love with both schools for years, and having spoken with my dad, both would be affordable. I’m not sure which would be a better program, as I know McGill is great for out of the US, whereas NEU is better for within the US.
NEU is closer to me, about 1.5 hrs away, but not too close, and McGill is 6hrs on a good day, but it was 9.5hrs one of the times we visited.
I would try to compare more, but I’m not completely sure what to even look at, it’s a bit overwhelming… so, I figured I’d put it out there and get some outside opinions
If you have any other questions please feel free to ask. For specific questions about Northeastern CS you may contact @PengsPhils .
Current Northeastern CS student here! This is adapted from a recent post so sorry if you saw that one and it’s repetitive.
I can’t help as much on a linguistics front and I’m not terribly familiar with McGill CS, but here’s some good info and data on Northeastern CS:
Here’s a great essay on the unique aspects of the program:
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/Thoughts/Developing_Developers.html
In terms of research, Northeastern also does pretty well for CS:
http://csrankings.org/#/index?all&northamerica
The co-op program is of course a major draw for Northeastern, though McGill has a pretty robust program as well, particularly comparing to most other American co-op programs. Still, Northeastern’s focus is hard to beat and it’s been consistently a top 3 place for career services according to the Princeton Review. An interesting data point is that 67% of Northeastern CS grads have a full-time job offer from a previous co-op employer when they graduate which is a pretty staggering statistic.
All that said, both schools are very solid generally and have CS programs that will keep every door open for you. Fit should definitely be a factor considered here given similar pricing and no loans from either with a family willing to support you going to either. Given the size of the investment you’re making here in both money and time, I would absolutely visit both again before deciding, even if you’ve already visited.
The full other adapted post: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/22079734#Comment_22079734
Happy to answer any specific questions, CS or otherwise! I personally couldn’t speak higher of the program and it’s been an amazing fit for me but everyone’s situation is different of course and you’ve got two very good options here. Congrats!
@TomSrOfBoston 's advice from the thread he posted is solid, and the OP should definitely read it. All Canadian universities have a much, much higher requirement for independence. Though there is little hand-holding at large American universities, what guidance and one-on-one help there is is much more than you’ll find at U of Toronto, McGill, and so on. I am not trying to scare U.S students away, since in US dollars Canadian universities can be a modest bargain, but if an eighteen-year-old is not ready to hit the ground running with relatively little guidance, a Canadian university should perhaps give one pause.
If the OP (or others) need confirmation of this, visit Students Review. Yes, it’s a very basic website that clearly hasn’t changed its style in over a decade. And, yes, you need to sort through the reviews to discern which comments are useful and which ones are purely idiosyncratic. But guess what? When one looks for patterns–repeated comments that say the same thing–you’ll see that there’s definitely an adjustment for those students who were not expecting the “sink or swim” environment of a Canadian university. Again, for those students who are aware of this and possess a high degree of independence, ambition, and determination, the benefits would be sizable, especially since McGill and U of Toronto are Canada’s two most prestigious post-secondary institutions.
Not that many colleges can offer very robust programs in these fields, for which demand is limited.
McGill seems to offer a richer program in linguistics / comp ling, as far as I can tell by browsing the course and faculty listings. NEU’s department chair appears to be an associate professor of psychology, and I cannot find a comprehensive listing of linguistics faculty. Maybe you can.
I’m sure you could put together enough CS/linguistics/other courses to keep you busy at either school. NEU may not cover all the subject areas of interest you, or have ongoing research projects in those fields. But then, there is a lot of ground to cover even if you only expect to get a strong foundation in linguistics/comp ling (and a natural language or two), and save specialized study (of, say, historical linguistics or speech recognition) for grad school.
Either city (Boston or Montreal) could be a great place to spend 4 years, as long as you’re ok with cold weather.
@sarisally Have you checked out the Cognitive Science programs at each university? Cognitive Science integrates CS, linguistics, psychology, philosophy and neuroscience. Here’s the link for McGill’s program https://www.mcgill.ca/cogsci/ I couldn’t find a cog sci program at Northeastern, but they do seem to have quite a few combined CS and other majors. I’d delve a little deeper into what programs look more interesting to you.
Among the NEU linguistics department faculty, there appears to be only 1 full professor with a PhD in linguistics. Maybe there are cross-registration privileges at other Boston-area schools?
For comparison, here’s the McGill faculty listing:
https://www.mcgill.ca/linguistics/people-0/faculty
I see 13 full time, with a number of doctorates from strong departments (including MIT, Penn, UChicago, USC, and UMass-Amherst).
@Hapworth I keep reading that about McGill: needs more independence, less hand holding, sink or swim, etc, but I’m not sure exactly what that means.
The advisIng system seems to be less available and well-informed than at US schools my son has looked at and pretty much everyone moves out of the dorms after their first year, but other than that, how is there less hand holding than at a large US school with big classes? NB, I’m not arguing with you, I’m just trying to understand what it means in practical terms.
@millie210 All students move off campus after first year unless a student becomes a resident assistant or don as they call it. The workload is demanding and students do actually fail courses. The drinking age in Quebec is 18 and it places the responsibility on the student. No need for campus police to be monitoring underage drinking like on US campuses. First year McGill sponsors many activities to acclimate students to the university and Montreal especially the many Frosh programs that are unlike any orientation activities at US college. But after first year the student is on his or her own to find and develop their niche.