Northeastern WITHOUT co-op program?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northeastern University
1

<p>I'm considering NEU for several reasons, mostly that I would get a full-tuition scholarship (NEU is currently my top pick among the schools that give hefty Nat'l Merit scholarships.) </p>

<p>But I'm wondering what are the benefits of Northeastern if I don't participate in the famous co-op program? I don't know a ton about this, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is that the co-op program helps students get work experience so they can hit the ground running in the job market after graduating...and that this is particularly beneficial in business fields. I'm not interested in anything remotely business-y (sort of undecided as to major), and I definitely want to go to grad school. I want to take a lot of diverse courses and explore intellectually in college, not power through.
So: first of all, would the co-op program benefit me at all? Second, if it wouldn't, are there any strong reasons to attend NEU? If I didn't do the co-op, would that be even a drawback--like, the administration is geared toward that, I would be a misfit, etc?</p>

<p>Thanks everyone!</p>

2

<p>Internships or coops can be very beneficial no matter what school you go to and even if you are planning to go on to grad school, co op is just another form of internship that was originally started for fields where that model worked well to provide employers a pool of potential employees. And yes for some fields the coop model is less as important and for some majors, you will see more and more students who do NOT participate in coops (so you should not worry about fitting in). if you believe that the experience gained through internships - or coops - are an important part of the college experience Then NEU is certainly worth considering given the importance NEU puts on experiential learning in general.</p>

<p>The school and the quality of its students and academics have been rising during the past several years which in and of itself makes the school worth considering, just as you would other schools with similar rankings.</p>

3

<p>Northeastern requires one period of experiential learning, of which coop is the most common in the professional schools.
There are forms of experiential learning other than coop:
[Experiential</a> Learning | Northeastern University](<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/experiential-learning/]Experiential”>Experiential Learning)
[NU</a> Core Overview](<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/registrar/nucore.html]NU”>http://www.northeastern.edu/registrar/nucore.html)
If you attend Admitted Students Day, you can discuss your department’s coop alternatives, or you can email the department.</p>

4

<p>It’s like going to the city’s best burger joint and not buying one of their signatures burgers…just opting for a normal smoothie.</p>

5

<p>There is not reason to go to Northeastern without participating in their co-op program</p>

6

<p>Co- op is great but northeastern would still be a good school without it.</p>

7

<p>As said before, without co-op, you need to do undergraduate research or specific work-ish programs (typically done by education majors that teach in nearby schools). For grad school, obviously undergraduate research would be very important.</p>

<p>Add to that the fact that EVERY person going to grad school has good grades and some research, whereas very few have awesome job experiences makes work experience a very hot commodity for applications. Co-ops are in no way associated with business-like subjects. In fact, co-ops may be even more important for other majors. Imagine graduating with an english degree and no experience… You are unemployable. An english degree with co-ops means you have plenty of opportunity for work.</p>

<p>Although personally I feel like if you don’t even know what you want to study, you shouldn’t make a decision based on studying something for two to six years, over four years from now.</p>