<p>So this is a somewhat unique scenario I've gotten into: I've been accepted by Northwestern and have been offered pretty decent aid: I'd have to pay 20,000 a year with another 5,000 in loans to attend, which my parents are willing to. If I go to Northwestern, I'd like to study computer science or economics, along with film studies. </p>
<p>At the same time, Northeastern has given me a full tuition scholarship, leaving about 12,000 for room and board. If I attended there, I'd be studying international business in their business school.</p>
<p>My parents have already done so much for me, and I'd like to minimize the amount they pay every year, but at the same time, is the quality of education between the schools different enough to warrant the extra cost? Could I get some input on this?</p>
<p>If you need more info on my scenario, just ask.</p>
<p>This is a tough decision, no doubt about it, but the cost for NU isn’t too bad for you. And you can always make it up to your parents later in life by buying them a vacation or a car = p.</p>
<p>The similarity of the names notwithstanding, there is no comparison between Northwestern and Northeastern. Northwestern is by far the better school by any means of comparison. The dollar differential you mention is clearly not a reason to attend NE. If you had no aid to NU and a free ride to NE, maybe.</p>
<p>Kingccm- If you are not sure what you want to study, then both schools could have something to offer. Have you visited both? Boston and Chicago are both great places to study. You could do well at either school and find great opportunities.</p>
<p>Objective789- basically kingccm is getting a free ride at NE since HE won’t have to pay anything to go there and parents will save $8k the first year and a little more than that the following years, so if finances are important (and no debt for undergrad is awfully nice), then that could become a solid reason to choose NE. As this is a NU site the positive NU reasons may far outweigh other reasons to go to NE-- and possibly justifiably so, however both would be excellent undergrad choices. Good luck wherever you decide.</p>
<p>4safrontman: yes, but at Northwestern, he will get a much better education. the quality of learning is incomparable between these two schools. Northwestern trumps Northeastern in every aspect. Northwestern is a top 20 university, while Northeastern is not even as good as Virginia Tech or Michigan State Uni.</p>
<p>if money really is an issue, then you might consider Northeastern. but only if it’s a huge concern.</p>
<p>@mediopollito
"4safrontman: yes, but at Northwestern, he will get a much better education. the quality of learning is incomparable between these two schools. Northwestern trumps Northeastern in every aspect. Northwestern is a top 20 university, while Northeastern is not even as good as Virginia Tech or Michigan State Uni.'</p>
<p>From your statement, I assume you have attended both Northeastern and Northwestern. Otherwise, you are a slave to the rankings or a blindly loyal Northwesterner.</p>
<p>@King CCM;
You should first decide what you want to study. Those are quite different career paths that you are choosing between.</p>
<p>There are a lot of blind slaves to Northwestern on this board…seems they are trying to justify paying 50K a year <em>coughcough</em>.</p>
<p>Here is my honest opinion as someone who does NOT go to Northwestern: After reading the post, I said, Northwestern, of course, holy crap! </p>
<p>But then I realized that my parents have a vastly different financial situation than yours - after all, we received NO money in grants. So, while 20K to me is affordable, it may not be to your parents.</p>
<p>One thing is for sure, is that if you are really going to emerge with a comp sci or business degree, 5K in loans each year is fairly affordable (especially if you work hard during the summers at a decent job). But I agree that you should really narrow down your majors, as someone who bounced around during college and wasted a lot of time. Don’t waste money and time by thinking you can do comp sci and film and…etc. etc.</p>
<p>To me, it seems that the cost differential is worth it in this scenario, and /I/ would personally go to Northwestern because it IS considered the better school by far (whether or not the actual quality of education differs by as many spots in the rankings, no-one can know for sure without attending both schools, as a previous poster said). But again, it depends on your folks. No-one knows how much 8K is worth to THEM so we cannot make this decision for you. And with your major indecision maybe it is wise of you to start out at a less expensive school!!!</p>
<p>tom: i’m not blindly loyal to northwestern. i got rejected from my first choice university, which is why i’m attending northwestern. and i did also state that if cost really is an issue, the OP obviously should consider northeastern.</p>
<p>“at Northwestern, he will get a much better education. the quality of learning is incomparable between these two schools. Northwestern trumps Northeastern in every aspect.”</p>
<p>This is probably severely exaggerated and why tom was criticizing your statement. Where you got rejected/accepted doesn’t really matter…it’s what you SAID.</p>
<p>Going on to call Northeastern “not even as good as VTech” - VTech is a fine school and the quality of education there is probably fairly comparable to Northwestern, especially in engineering, the sciences, math, etc. - just makes you seem even more “out there.” </p>
<p>Clearly there’s a difference in terms of rankings and prestige here, but tom was right in that you can’t really say that OP is going to get a fabulous education at NU, and that his NEU experience wouldn’t even compare. I doubt that highly.</p>
<p>That said, for many people, this cost differential would be worth the extra bit of prestige. Especially in the field of business (erm, well, not for a film major, and I’m not so sure about comp sci either…so again OP should decide what field he wants to go into). But I come from a very priviledged background, so I can’t say for sure.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input guys- you’re very right about my needing to narrow down my career path. That said, I’m fairly certain now that I won’t be attending Northeastern, my family probably won’t die with that extra 8k. I’m going to visit Northwestern next week, so I’ll have a better idea of whether I really want to go there. So far though, I’m leaning toward Northwestern out of all my schools.</p>
<p>Another factor though- what about a full ride to University of Pittsburgh, still NU? I haven’t gotten the scholarship technically, but I’ve been selected among 100 applicants to interview for 15 scholarships. Same majors as NU, barring film studies, which is just more of a fun idea to throw around than a serious consideration. I know that my personal situations are going to be different, but I’m interested in the general opinion.</p>
<p>Well i’m a sophomore at Northeastern and its pretty disheartening to hear all this negativity surrounding my school. Northeastern is an up and coming school and if we determined rankings on student SAT scores we would be ranked in the top 60 universities. We have better admission statistics than Virginia Tech and Michigan State which include test scores and acceptance rates. Although we are not top tier, Northeastern is certainly no slouch.</p>
<p>kingccm- visit, visit, and visit. If money is not an issue go with your gut. You can get a good education at all of the schools you’ve applied to. Tomofboston is right, don’t get too caught up in ratings, especially since you are keeping options open for your academics.</p>
<p>If by full ride you mean tuition, room and board at UPitt: WOW! That certainly complicates your choices. You and your parents could save the money and use it for grad school if you so choose.</p>
<p>“UMCP, I’m starting to think you regretted your decision not to come to NU since you spend so much time on the NU board.”</p>
<p>I’ve been posting a bit over the last few days because a couple topics sparked my interest, but generally I do not post on the NU board, which you can see for yourself - and yes, I wish I went to NU because my parents could’ve afforded to send me there but chose not to.</p>
<p>What’s your point? </p>
<p>I’m giving good, reasoned advice, and I am not bashing NU or Northeastern…which is more than some posters on this board can make claim to. It’s weird that you want to take personal shots when I’ve had nothing but good things to say about NU. Maybe I should be glad I didn’t go there? ;). </p>
<p>No one should be unhappy because they chose a school based on prestige, no one should be unhappy because they were forced to pick another school and went into it with a bad or ignorant attitude, and no-one should be unhappy because they chose to take a school that was 8K cheaper when their parents have the means to cover that difference. I have tried to give all sides here because I know it’s an important decision that affects people later on.</p>
<p>A comment like “NU is the best thing since sliced bread” is just inaccurate, and enough comments like that can give someone a warped view of how higher ed actually is - i.e. NEU is probably similar, not the same, but not as different as you say, etc.</p>
<p>Full scholarship at UPitt complicates things again. A lot of high achieving students take merit money at Pitt over “better” schools. Again it comes down to what your parents can afford, and what career path you’ll be pursuing later on (ex. it would be feasible to pay off 5K year in loans if you graduate with a comp sci major and work to pay some of that off during the school year/summers, however it might not be a good choice under some other circumstances).</p>
<p>I stand by the assertion I made earlier in this thread that 25k/year at Northwestern is a lot less money than a lot of other people pay to go there. But that doesn’t tell the whole story.</p>
<p>^^I wouldn’t call the statements above “bashing” Northeastern. Northeastern is what it is - a perfectly all right, mid-range school that simply is not top tier or competitive with top tier schools. NU is, without a doubt, a top tier school. These two insitutions do not exist in the same academic sphere, NU being clearly superior to Northeastern. If a student has financial or other (maybe geographical preferences) reasons to choose Northeastern, fine, but let’s not suggest that there is something wrong with stating the obvious: that all other things being equal, NU would be the obvious choice.</p>
<p>This “yes, but at Northwestern, he will get a much better education. the quality of learning is incomparable between these two schools.”</p>
<p>Is untrue. </p>
<p>No-one can make that statement based on where NU ranks.</p>
<p>You could possibly make statements about recruiting, or “recognition” (esp. in the midwest), or definitely about peer group. But you cannot say OP will get a much better education at one or the other, or that the quality of learning is incomparable. That is a gross exaggeration, the likes of which is usually only touted by prestige-hunters.</p>
<p>“All things being equal”, NU would indeed be the better choice, but it would not be the better choice because an education at NEU would be as bad as the poster said. It was an inaccurate exaggeration, and that’s why forums like this exist…to make sure people get access to info from all sides.</p>
<p>However, considering his parents can handle the 8K diff, and considering he might be in the running for a full scholarship at UPitt, it seems like NEU is out of the picture for the right reasons.</p>
<p>Sorry, but I would have to agree that the quality of education at NU and at NOrtheastern are not comparable: NU has a better faculty, better resources and overall smarter students (not to say that there aren’t exceptions; of course there are), all of which are key elements of the quality of the academics at a given school.</p>