So I was accepted into both Purdue and Northeastern but I wasn’t really considering them until I got rejected from my top 7 schools. Now that I have to make a decision, I don’t really know enough about either of them to decide where to spend the next 4 years of my life. I will be researching them thoroughly, but I would like to hear your opinions. I posted this in the Northeastern thread as well.
The current main factors for my decision:
Northeastern
Good:
N.U.id (going abroad first semester sounds amazing)
Boston (I like the city but normally I don’t like urban campuses, kind of a good and bad, not sure yet)
Seems to be the more prestigious school (acceptance rates are much smaller and average SAT is much higher)
Bad:
Co-op program (not sure yet if this is good or bad, I like the work experience part but it seems like social life and community will dwindle as people start leaving campus all the time)
Lack of sports (I want a community that will rally behind their team and actually attend games, sports don’t seem that big there)
Purdue
Good:
Sports teams (okay football team and great basketball team)
Outstanding engineering program (I hear it is world renowned)
Honors College (I was accepted to the honors college there)
Indiana (I generally like the less urban campuses more but still have to visit both. So far of the campuses I’ve toured, USC has been my favorite, just to give an idea of what I like)
Bad:
Seems less prestigious (60% accepted and lower SAT scores)
Much bigger (this isn’t really a bad thing, I don’t care about the school size, but I have heard with so many people, you are just thought of as a number and the school doesn’t care as much about you or your success. The Honors College could offset this though)
The colors (this is kind of trivial, but black and gold are not great school colors, especially for clothes. I have just suffered through a high school with brown and yellow school colors and don’t really want another 4 years)
Let me know your opinions and anything you think I should consider
Do not let the statistics deceive you. Purdue’s engineering is regarded as a top 25 institution. The other parts of the school are less prestigious, so their stats make the school look “average”. Take a look at Purdue’s engineering statistics alone. They are much higher than the university averaged. That aside, Purdue has a tight knit alumni network and top rated coop program.
I do not know anything about Northeastern, but I felt the need to correct your misconceptions about Purdue University. Since Purdue accepts students into each program based on their intended major and not into the whole university, you should take the acceptance rate with a grain of salt. Based on figures online, their engineering program hovers around the 25% acceptance rating, much lower than their university acceptance of 55%.
If you have any questions regarding Purdue, feel free to ask me. I have been thoroughly researching everything about the university’s education for the past few months.
Purdue’s undergraduate engineering program is ranked 9th in the country tied with Cornell. Don’t be deceived by the apparent generous acceptance rate. Engineers have to survive First Year Engineering and the be accepted into the department of their preferred major. Great Honors program. Beautiful campus. More and more OOS and OOC students attending. Career placement office is ranked 3rd best in the country. Students can participate in the co-op program and still graduate in 4 years. Purdue encourages study abroad (even for for engineers). Mitch Daniels has not raised tuition for the last 4 or 5 years. Lower cost of living vs Boston. People are nice. Small town in a politically conservative area of the country. Easy access to Indy airports. 2 hours from Chicago.
You are considering 2 completely different animals. Try to get out and visit each school before making your decision, It really comes down to environment. Do you want a metropolitan campus or rural campus? Friend’s son attends Northeastern and had an awesome time in Berlin his first semester. My d is in London now as a junior at Purdue having the time of her life. She did miss being in a more metropolitan area when she first moved to West Lafayette. She does appreciate the exceptional education and opportunities that Purdue has provided. Best of luck and congratulations!
Purdue is top shelf engineering, acceptance rates to the school overall don't mean anything.
Northeastern and Purdue are very different environments, and fit should be a big factor here. Personally, I am a huge city person and simply couldn't do a rural campus. Others are the opposite.
Here’s what I’ll add:
If you want to do co-op at Northeastern, you can do 2 and still graduate in 4 years. 1 will make the schedule easier, but if 4 years is appealing, its an option. Northeastern is really a design your own schedule game. I’m doing 5 years, 2 co-ops, and two degrees (BS/MS) while I’m here.
Northeastern is ranked #1 in the country for career services, so that’s a draw there with Purdue again. You’d get study abroad at both with you wanted.
One Northeastern advantage is that there’s no application for getting into a particular major in engineering, and even switching colleges is easy if you decide to switch out for any reason, however unlikely that may seem right now.
The social effect of co-op are there, but a few things to consider:
No one goes on co-op until 4th semester at least, so you have 3 full semesters to make plenty of friends
Many co-op in Boston and will still be around socially, especially for first co-ops. That moves that first consecutive period of people being on campus from 3-4 semesters to 5-6 semesters.
If you do leave for co-op, there are likely other Northeastern students in your city and often in your company. One of my good friends is in SF right now and made some very good friends at Northeastern while there. I’m currently in LA actually and going to an art museum with others here (school sponsored event) in a week or two.
Doing co-op at Noretheastern will be the norm. Doing co-op at Purdue may mean that you leave your friends and they keep going on without you. At Northeastern, everyone’s in the same boat, and people understand if you’re not in Boston for a semester.
As others said, it’s all fit here. Certainly visit both if possible.
Thank you everyone for your contributions, I will be visiting both of them in the next week or two. While visiting, is there anything campus specific about either that I should see or find out about? What should I pay attention for when visiting?
Try out the local restaurants at Purdue; it’s known for its campus’s food. Also, this is a personal preference, but take a look around for the “blue lights.” These are usually a bigger concern for females (for sadly obvious reasons), but its important to me that a campus has good security and safety regardless. Ask about various accommodations that your child needs such as special health things. These are often things forgotten when discussing a college, so I would take this time to figure out if the college will be able to support your child while they are there.
Just a note about co-ops at Purdue. They offer 3 and 5 term co-ops. My D is a 5 term co-op and her experiences are mostly positive. She has her university friends, co-op friends (from a variety of universities) and of course her HS friends. The major downside is moving every semester and finding housing each semester. It has made her much more independent than her non co-op friends. She has gotten quite good at signing contracts, contacting utilities and just managing her own life. As parents we miss seeing her as she has about 1-3 weeks between school and working. Great money.