Hi guys! I’m a current student at Northeastern and am open to answering any questions that incoming freshmen or prospective students may have.
College confidential has helped me during the college application process and I want to give back to the community. Feel free to ask anything you want to know about NU!
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Anyone with knowledge of NU is free to answer questions in this thread.
Is the fact that friends leave on co-op cycles a big disruption on campus?
@USAUSAUSA Not at all, the school always has a cycle of students coming back to campus and leaving campus. New dorm spots also open up when students leave for co-ops. I personally have not gone on co-op yet, but friends of mine have and there’s no disruption or anything on campus.
I also assume by “disruption on campus”, you mean if it disturbs classes or student life? Could you clarify what you mean?
Are there any major negatives to the co-op program? I was thinking along the lines of how a best friend leaving for 6 months would affect people.
@USAUSAUSA Ah, I haven’t gone on co-op yet but those that I know don’t seem to have any issues with that. I know people who go off to co-ops in nyc, pennsylvania, denver, stay in boston, or go to various other states. If you and your friend are on co-op in the same state, it’s easy to have meet-ups. If you guys go to different states, I’m sure you can still keep in touch. I haven’t heard of any issues about keeping in touch with friends due to co-op. And you can also meet up with your friend over breaks or weekends or after work. Another plus to co-op is that unlike having school, you don’t have to worry about homework afterwards or anything, so the job is your only focus and you can have more free time outside of work
As for major negatives, there are not any major issues with the co-op program that I know of. I’ve known many people who liked their co-op as well as got a high pay by the hour, but I have also known an accounting major who says she worked a lot in a week and that the work was stressful at times, but she enjoyed it overall. I would say to just pick a co-op in an area that you like, rather than just pick one for the pay. Be prepared to work hard and also enjoy your growth as an adult while you are there
Do you know if most co-ops get paid?
@hopefully16 Yes, as far as I know, everyone on co-op gets paid. The pay ranges, but I know several business majors with high pay like 20-40/hour. All co-ops are paid, and paid quite well, for the business and engineering majors that I know. I haven’t met anyone with an unpaid co-op
Throughout high school, I’ve typically had one homework assignment per night for each class and one exam per class every other week.
Is the homework load/exam schedule very different in college?
@jenmejli I was actually pondering this same question during my time here and trying to decide whether high school or college work was more difficult. My answer is that the work itself is not necessarily more stressful, just different in terms of how you deal with it.
The high school I went to was very stressful for me with a lot of work, but it was manageable at the same time. I would say the same goes for the work in college. The difference is that in college, you have more time and whether you feel the workload is difficult or not will be entirely determined by your time management.
Yes, I have homework assignments every night for each class and a test every other week, and there are times when I get stressed out like I did in high school, but those times were only because I left work until the last minute. The key is time management, which takes on a greater meaning in college. In college, I get back to my dorm around noon rather than 4 pm in high school, so I have much more time on my hands. To answer your question, I would say the workload/exam schedule in college is the same as that in high school, but how you feel or deal with the workload is different because time management plays a bigger role and it is a major key to succeeding.
For me, another difference in terms of study method is that I didn’t study from the textbook everyday in high school, but I find that in college, studying a bit from the textbook is greatly helpful in understanding the course and doing well on the test.
Hope that all makes sense.
user0509 thanks you so much!
@USAUSAUSA no problem and good luck! 
Do you know many co-ops and summer programs do most people typically do on either the 4 year program or the 5 year program? Also, do most students do the 4 or 5 year program? If you do the 4 year program, can you graduate without doing summer classes?
wanted to add to some comments to the above.
Not all co-ops are paid - some are unpaid and some have only a small stipend. But they tell you that up front and you don’t have to apply to any unpaid ones.
The vast majority of students do the 5 year program, in the past few years they have been trying to make the 4 year plan work for more majors - but for 4 years you will need to do every summer session (either in co-op or classes.) With 5 years you still do many summers (again either in co-op or classes). Remember for most majors co-ops are 6 months and run either Jan-June or July-Dec - so they include 2 months of the summer.
The big differences between HS and college work are - you have fewer classes over all (typically only 4-5), you go to classes fewer hours each day, you are usually given the complete work for the semester in advance (a detailed syllabus) and need to follow it on your own (read or do the problems listed each week), many classes have only a final and midterm (with possibly some credit for class participation) so there are fewer tests (the exception is math - where most of them have a weekly quiz), and nobody holds your hand and reminds you of all of the deadlines so you need to have good time management skills.
Hi, i just sent in my deposit a couple days ago and i have a few questions (Mechanical Eng major).
1- Do most students have a class everyday monday-friday or do most have a day of at all?
2- How do you like the social life/party scene? How hard is it to find a good party? Im a male and a lot of things I’ve read was that the guys have trouble getting into parties. Is this true?
3- Do you think there is a best freshman dorm? Ive heard Stetson East and West are the best, but Speare is also good…
Just wondering about these things, thank you. Also whats you take on the LLC’s? Im an engineering major but very outgoing/ athletic, not the average engineer so i don’t want to be put with lots of students that are much different than me.
Most classes meet either Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Tuesday, Friday. There are some exceptions and you will have some classes that meet once a week only (like labs). It is fairly easy to arrange your classes to have a couple of free afternoons or mornings but pretty hard to have a full day off.
You don’t get to choose your freshman dorm - you can choose an LLC but they don’t end up in the same dorm each year.
Hey, I have been accepted to NEU without any financial or merit aids, and that is alright for me. I am mostly going to attend NEU this fall. However, over the course of years I would love to be a part of the honors program and maybe earn a merit scholarship to make it easier for my parents. Are there any specific requirements, or ‘cut-offs’ that enable you to apply for scholarships?
@hopefully16 - Not all co-ops are paid, but the vast majority are. The exceptions are generally in things like music industry/arts where the companies can get away with it due to demand, small non-profits (for social sciences majors) that can’t really afford to (there are some co-ops that you have to be work-study eligible for to get paid), and some international co-ops (if you want to do a clinical co-op in Africa, for example). However, these are the definitely the exception. Also, there is a $6,000 Presidential Global Scholarship available if you want to do an international co-op.
On your question about 4/5 years/co-ops/summer classes: there is generally a lot of flexibility, but it can depend on your major. I was in behavioral neuroscience, and I basically had free reign over how I wanted to set things up. I started planning to do 3.5 years and 1 co-op (I came in with a lot of IB credit), but ended up sticking around for 5 years and 3 co-ops, which is the “traditional” Northeastern plan. I ended up not needing summer courses to fulfill my requirements, but I took one summer term anyway to meet pre-reqs for graduate school; it’s very flexible. Northeastern now says anyone can do 4 years with 2 co-ops, but that would require summer classes (unless you come in with a ton of credit). I wouldn’t get too hung up on avoiding summer classes; it’s very much part of the norm here, and as a result campus isn’t totally dead over the summer. (Also, Boston in the summer is gorgeous.) I believe you can find some example schedules online (perhaps through your department’s advising site?), which could be useful.
@holden14ns - kiddie covered your other questions, but on the party front: Northeastern is not your stereotypical movie-esque frat/big 10 school. There are definitely parties and I had plenty of friends who went to these bigger house parties. Since Boston is such a college town (300,000 college students in the Boston area), there’s also a ton going on that’s not Northeastern-specific. A lot of it, though, ends up being smaller parties off campus hosted by upperclassmen with people you get to know through clubs/sports/etc. There may be some parties where it’s harder for guys to get in, but that would be those bigger ones, whereas a lot of the partying I think happens on this smaller scale.
Hey, I have been accepted to NEU without any financial or merit aids, and that is alright for me. I am mostly going to attend NEU this fall. However, over the course of years I would love to be a part of the honors program and maybe earn a merit scholarship to make it easier for my parents. Are there any specific requirements, or ‘cut-offs’ that enable you to apply for scholarships?
@NinjaTurtle1 - There are smaller scholarships you can apply for as a current student (some through honors, MMXI, others but I’m not sure where to find a complete list). The requirements for those vary by scholarship, and some are partically need-based. These are not going to be anywhere near the size of the scholarships that come with admission (at most a few thousand dollars total), and of course not something you can count on getting. But every little bit can be nice!
It is possible to join honors once you start (either after your first or second semester). There’s information for that on the Honors website: http://www.northeastern.edu/honors/prospective-students/joining-once-you-are-here/
pros/cons of northeastern?
what would you have done differently before you started your first year at northeastern if you could go back in time?
i’m trying to decide between northeastern (college of engineering) or boston college (economics/CAS). I got a 13k/year scholarship at NEU, but no merit aid at BC. Little/no financial aid at either college. Thoughts?
*I’m leaning towards NEU now for engineering because I’ve never tried out economics before.
*I am mainly interested in engineering or finance-- I am not good at physics, but skilled in math. I never tried finance either, it just seems appealing.