As one of the resident Northeastern students on here, I do have to chime in about the weather.
I have no idea what you guys are talking about - I only have 4 blankets over me and I barely feel the cold!
@PengsPhils â thanks for chiming in â my son was admitted to engineering - I thought when we were there we heard about some buildings having underground tunnels? Not sure. The campus felt fairly compact though. The dorm over the CS building looked pretty nice! He was accepted into honors with a nice scholarship but I am not sure how it relates to engineering & CS courses - any thoughts?. We are still curious about what all will go on in the new ISEC building & if undergrads will get access - supposed to open next month or so t seems.
@CA1543 Yeah, there are tunnels through the academic side of campus. I just havenât left my apartment/bed yet lol.
Academically, honors doesnât make much of a difference at Northeastern. There are a few smaller freshman classes here and there, but in the case of CS, the Honors class has been dropped for Regular/Accelerated versions, since so many non-honors kids come in with tons of experience while many honors kids come in without it. Not sure on engineering. The big honors benefits are in housing and other perks, and the honors community, which has regular events. The program is being revamped next year (they got rid of the university scholars program to focus on the Honors program), so I would expect even more there.
ISEC is still an unknown but it will have its biggest effects on research and teaching labs, much more so for engineering. CS already has a nice setup in WVH as you saw. I am highly confident that there will be plenty of undergraduate use. A staggering number of engineering students at NEU are involved in research, and there are multiple rooms in there explicitly for teaching, as well as general classrooms. I wonât be on campus next semester or I would update you soon 
Thanks @PengsPhils â appreciate all the info re honors etc. Yeah CS - very nice space indeed⊠We should visit again too and learn more - son loves hands-on opportunities in labs etc. Perhaps you are doing co-op next semester? Hope all is well & stay warm!
@CA1543 Yep, co-op on Venice Beach (Los Angeles, CA) with a certain social media company 
I never minded the weather but Iâm certainly not going to miss the winter!
Good luck with the rest of the college process! If you do visit again, I would recommend going through the engineering department specifically in addition to any admitted students events. No need to do the tour/info session again, it probably wonât change to include anything in ISEC just due to geography.
Sorry itâs so hard to list all the congrats and commiserations. Iâm trying to keep up with âlikesâ and âhugsâ at least! After hearing the NEU decisions, both positive and negative, Iâm glad I talked D into taking it off her list.There are tough decisions coming, not just in terms of acceptance but merit as well. I know Iâm alone in this problem, but hopefully some of you can understand. 
:))
Weather
D will only wear her sweatshirt until it goes below 20 and I insist on a parka. She called me yesterday needing directions to a building on CU-Boulder to turn in a paper (had to be a physical turn-in - no email :-?? ). So I was directing from home via googlemaps. On her way back (about 20 minutes in) she mentioned âI guess I shouldnât have worn my sandals today.â Breaking another one of Momâs rules: âIf thereâs snow on the ground, you may not wear your sandals.â
We were doing some more research on Michigan Tech where she just got in and judging by the NPC, the merit package could be very nice. It is in Houghton, MI, which looks to be on the far north of Michiganâs upper peninsula. We got to the part where âwinter can go from October to Aprilâ and as Iâm considering this in horror, D says, âThatâs great! I love winter.â
Apparently the tiny town and the college get along great and really embrace winter activities and celebrations, including a winter carnival put on by the school for which students get days off. I think she was nearly ready to put down the deposit when she read this:
WARNING: Michigan Tech is not intended for kids who donât like to wear pants.
Virtual friends
I think anyone who doesnât believe you can make ârealâ friends on-line is missing out on one of the big positive effects of the internet. Communities like this are great for bringing together people who otherwise wouldnât know each other to offer support, laugh, and cry. I donât know any other HS senior parents (and only one other HS senior kid). I could go through this whole process with D on my own, but it would be much lonelier. If thatâs not real, Iâm unsure what is. >:D<
@snoozn --your post and your daughter crack me up.
Northeastern is off our list. It sounds great and they offered some good token merit but the total COA would still be >$40K and I donât even want to think about off campus housing in Boston in the years to come! ButâŠD loved and still loves Boston and their co-ops and research opportunities sound fantastic. If I could be convinced we would see some $$ for completing the CSS I could be convinced to go on a paper scavenger hunt through our office to do it. ;).
Virtual friends: way back 18 years ago when we were going through IVF treatments I felt very alone. H is great but not overly talkative and certainly not borderline obsessive about some things like me. He was very relieved I found an online group so I did not continually probe him. He was like âweâre doing IVF. Letâs do it.â I was all âwhatâs the success rate? How bad are the shots? Are yaâll freaking out too?â The online world provided that for me PLUSâdonât have to remember birthdays and have awkward moments with âwaitâŠI didnât get you a giftâ type situations. Iâve been an online support person ever since then and have even moderated a forum for women with the same post-partum cardiac condition I had. Definitely helps one feel they are not alone.
On NE weather,
About now or around 7/4th is the time to invest in an ultra warmth down comforter. They donât weigh on you like a lead. 
I wait for at least a 30-40% discount.
http://www.thecompanystore.com/bedding-comforters/legends-luxury-royal-rds-baffled-comforter/c2t3-ps-j16.html
http://www.thecompanystore.com/bedding-comforters/legends-luxury-rds-baffled-damask-comforter/c2s8-ps-h16.html
Case pushed back EA/ED decisions until Monday.
Like @snoozn I donât have many friends that are parents of seniors so I love this group.
I normally catch up at night on my iPad and my DH always asks what Iâm reading. I say âCCâ and he totally doesnât get it. But, if he did join, he would get obsessed and post all the time so I havenât encouraged him to join.
I am so excited for all of the acceptances and so sorry to hear about the deferrals/rejections. I found myself thinking yesterday morning about all of the kids and what would happen as if they were kids my son went to school with. The funny thing is, I donât even know what my sonâs friends are doing or where they are applying. I feel like it is rude to ask in real life so I donât know anything unless someone volunteers information. My son certainly wouldnât tell me. He and his friends would rather talk about movies and comics.
@jedwards70 Same here, except itâs music, current events for my D and her friends. She particularly dislikes talking about school. But Iâm really curious. Iâm going snooping this weekend on the internet. :))
Iâm new to the thread, but what a supportive group! My D was accepted BC Honors and this am got her deferral for Georgetown. For months, its been all about Georgetown, but getting an acceptance first sure helps with the sting. Sheâs taking it in stride, which is good considering she has a final today 
@texasmissy Welcome, congratulations, and Iâm sorry about the deferral. Yes, it stings but BC Honors is a wonderful acceptance! She should be very proud!!
A bummer
Itâs not that bad outside, just went and checked the mail box in jeans and flannel shirt. Sunâs out, makes the cold days tolerable.
Cold days = fast snow. You can really fly. Have to dial it back sometimes.
Iâm doing some interior paining of the house today to stay off the internet, and make my wife happy. Sheâs been waiting patiently
Any thoughts on whether our children should reach out to their interviewers and let them knowâgood or badâwhat happened with EA or ED applications? Maybe some schools let the interviewers know, but it still might be good manners to let them know and thank them for their help.
@chillkitty I suggest letting the interviewers for schools where accepted know the decision and say thank you.
QOTD: If one has early acceptance to a lottery school or top school (but not much $$$ aid), should they consider strong schools (like Bama) that have given strong aid instead? Or is it norm that once some gets into a lottery school, they pretty much choose that over everything else?
@Mom22DDs If someone gets into a lottery school via ED, then yes, they choose that, per agreement, over everything else. If itâs not binding, then decisions are very personal, and finances typically drive every decision. I would stick to an original budget, which hopefully was discussed, and go from there. If no budget, then sit and discuss what you can afford ASAP.
@MACncheez, speaking as a transplanted Alaskan, I loathe the cold, but love the snow. If we could have snow and 60-degree weather, thatâd be perfection.
Of course, Iâve acclimated enough that low 70s is about all I can handle as far as summertime highsâand speaking as someone who lived in Florida for several years (and who grew up in an Upper Southern swamp), no Southerner really loves the heat, either. I think itâs simply in everybodyâs natures to complain.
(And as for D17, the whole idea that it could be in the 80s orâgasp and horror!â90s at any point during the school year is one of the things thatâs keeping her from embracing the idea of going to Alabama.)