Hello, I recently got into Tufts, BU, and Northeastern and plan to major in Biomedical Engineering. I got accepted in Northeastern’s honors college and received a substantial scholarship (~25k per year). I am having trouble picking between the schools and would like for anyone to share their experiences with any of the school’s and their engineering departments. My main concerns are job placement after graduation (including salary) as well as the social/campus life at each of the schools. Any advice would be appreciated!!!
*Also, I know Tufts will not be ABET accredited for BME after the class of 2026. Does this have any significant impact?
Hi, my son is a junior at NU (people familiar with the school know it’s not NEU). It’s a nice contained campus in the middle of a big city. Many co-op employers hire NU co-op students after graduation and the co-op experience gives students a resume filled with job experience that sets them apart from other applicants. Engineering co-ops tend to pay better than other majors. I think you can Google salaries and job placement info.
As for social life, he has found students nice and friendly. There are many clubs and a little Greek life for those who want it. He and his roommates host parties and play intramural sports. He goes biking, skiing and rock climbing. He likes baseball games at nearby Fenway ($9/tickets). Colin Jost came to campus on Tuesday. He did a Dialogue of Civilization (short summer study abroad) which was fantastic. The DOC’s are in many countries.
Does sound like politicians talking, but other universities have also ditched ABET accreditation for engineering programs to gain curricular flexibility. A quick google turns up Caltech and Stanford. The Caltech statement for why ChemE ditched ABET accreditation has some similarity
(Caltech’s bioengineering program doesn’t “look” like it has ABET accreditation. )
Looks like at Stanford only mechanical and civil now have ABET accreditation. From what I understand, ABET accreditation is important for engineering disciplines in which getting PE (professional engineer) certification is important, but it is less important for other engineering disciplines.
BU is more urban, less of a campus feel.
Northeastern is very preprofessional.
Both are excellent.
Northeastern functions around co-ops, BU has the more traditional semester+internship system. Both work well for the right type of student.
So if you’ve visited both, you should have no trouble choosing which one appeals to you.
If you have a doubt, you could compute (tuition, fees, room, board) - (scholarship, grant) = and pick whichever is the least expensive.
BME is a different animal from other engineering fields because it requires further study more often than they do, so if you’re interested in a research focus rather than in finding a job right after college, Tufts can still be under consideration. However since your primary concern is job placement, it doesn’t sound like it’s the best choice for you.
My son found it helpful when considering programs to browse the Reddits for each school to see what students were saying about specific programs at each school. He also posted a question or two on the Reddits to get input from current students.
Also, try to compare placement data for the different schools. I know pretty detailed placement data is available for Tufts at
only b/c my son attends Tufts (not a BME major). Suspect BU and NU provide similar information or such information can be obtained from the individual programs.
I suspect I come across as a Tufts booster but am familiar with Tufts because my son is doing engineering there (not BME). Tufts’ BME program has a cooperative education track, see
That’s a pretty big oversimplification. NU has a lovely campus but it’s very small for the number of students, and facilities tend to get quite overcrowded as a result, especially vis-a-vis dining. BU doesn’t have a self-contained campus - it’s more of a long/slender campus that blends a bit with the city. But there are absolutely spaces that are campus, not city. The difference between the two is nowhere near as drastic as this makes it sound. MYOS’ description is much more fair.
The NU scholarship is pretty compelling, and with all of the medical and biotech facilities in the Boston area, I’d expect BME students to get some pretty great coop placements. Honors itself is generally considered not to be that big a deal academically, but it qualifies you for nicer housing which is a plus.
In your situation, I’d take the six-figure overall savings and go with NEU unless I felt I were on the fast track to grad school and didn’t want to do co-ops.
If you do
(tuition, fees, room, board) - (grants, scholarships)
what results do you get for each?
And what budget had your parents indicated they could afford without taking any loan on your behalf?
I would be able to pay full at all the universities. And although I received a scholarship at NEU, my biggest concern at the moment is the social/campus life at each college. I know northeastern has had trouble with overcrowding in the past and am worried about that. As for BU, I don’t the think the whole “campus is your city” is for me. I am unsure of the campus life at Tufts so any advice would be super helpful!!!
Most universities in the Boston area have overenrolled the last couple of years. Last year Tufts housed some freshmen in a hotel. This year they installed temporary modular housing on campus.
To get a sense of campus life, it might be best to talk to current students by connecting with student groups that interest you at each college via their Instagram pages. My kids found talking to current students very helpful when making college decisions.
FWIW, my Tufts son was told by the students he spoke to when looking at colleges that Tufts students were very friendly, outgoing, and collaborative. That has been his experience too. From what I hear from my son, Tufts doesn’t have a big party scene but there are parties for those who want them and even engineering students are able to take time off on weekends to have fun, whether that’s going to a concert, going whitewater rafting, attending a party sponsored by one of the athletic teams, etc.
Correction: Tufts installed modular housing in 2020 when the pandemic hit. They just never removed it due to overenrollment. There is a lot of controversy surrounding it among parents and students.
One can read about the modular housing at Tufts here:
A very recent Tufts parents’ FB group exchange about this new “dorm” has largely favorable reports. It is centrally situated on campus and is the only dorm with AC it seems! No students in a hotel this year–that did not go over well because of the distance from campus.
If BU is out due to campus type, and Northeastern has had space/resource availability issues on its campus – lots of kids on a relatively small campus – Tufts just might be a good fit for you. I’ve never heard anyone say that the Tufts campus is overcrowded or malresourced.
That depends on whether Tufts dropping the ABET accreditation is acceptable. I don’t know enough about the job market in that field to comment intelligently.
but am familiar with Tufts because my son is doing engineering there (not BME). Tufts’ BME program has a cooperative education track, see