<p>My daughter is now choosing between the honors program at NEU and another more prestigious school. So, I have a few questions about the academics. </p>
<p>1 Are there honors sections for the popular basic courses (econ or psych) and are the honors sections smaller - is the work in these sections different (I am sure these questions were answered at the honor panel we went to but I don't remember the specifics)</p>
<p>2 Are the academics strong enough for honors students - will a straight A student who only ever took honors and AP classes feel bored or unchallenged in their classes?</p>
<p>3 Since there is such a strong co-op/intern program - are kids only doing things to "build their resume" or are they truly interested in what they are doing both academically and extra curricular?</p>
<p>4 How is the chorus - is it very elite or can my daughter pass the auditions (has been singing in chorus all four years at HS but never in the elite chorus or at state or county levels)?</p>
<p>Thanks to anybody for any help with these questions.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Most of the honors course are for sections of the intro level classes, though I don’t know which specifically, ad it varies by semester. If you look on the registrar’s website, the Banner course schedule can show the honors sections of classes. Mostly the honors sections are smaller and give you a chance to be involved with other smart honors students. Some professors might make the class a little harder (like an extra lab report in bio 2), but for the most part, th classe are not designed to make your life difficult.</p></li>
<li><p>From my experience, the academics are definitely strong. I was a 4.0 student with all IB classes in high school, and I can tell you that the classes are by no means a joke; I don’t know how man hours I spent studying for yesterday’s calc 3 final. Of course, there will be some classes that are easier than others; I found my computer science fundamentals class relatively easy. I would not expect your daughter to be bored, especially if she uses her AP credit to get into some higher level classes her first semester. </p></li>
<li><p>From my experience, I have not seen an exclusive focus on resume-building. Keep in mind that I am in a science field, so my experience may be different than someone in something like business. I have actually read, though, that students will come back from co-op and actually do better in their classes and become more involved, because they realize why the stuff they learn in class is important, and they also see that employers want well-rounded employees.</p></li>
<li><p>The chorus program is not an elite one. Northeastern does not have music performance majors, so the group is made of students from all majors, as well as some alumni and community members. I do not believe there I an audition or the group at all. However, there is a smaller chamber choir group within the chorus that is auditioned, but I still do not think it is at an elite level, though they do sound quite good. The other thig on campus is a Capella. There are a number of these groups on campus, and some of them are really competitive.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>What other school is your daughter looking at?</p>
<p>Thanks so much - the other school still in consideration is Tufts. Most of her classmates are saying there is no comparison and to go to Tufts, but she was not bowled over on Monday at their Jumbo Day and she loved the dorms, community, and atmosphere that she saw in the NEU honors program when we went to admitted students day in February. So, her last concern is really are the academics strong enough.</p>
<p>kiddie I am a parent of a freshman who I will be picking up today after he completes his first year.</p>
<p>I was also concerned about the academics and wanted him to chose another school because it had a higher academic reputation.</p>
<p>My son went in undeclared and did declare second semester as a Math/Econ combined major and plans to get a Writing minor. A very close friend of his went to the school I thought would be more academically challenging and when I saw her recently and they were talking it appears his program is harder-she is a STEM major so I was pretty surprised by this. That is just one example of course-but my son was arguably a stronger student so I was pretty surprised by this.</p>
<p>I was leery of NEU since I was thinking of the NEU of 30 years ago when I was looking. I can only tell you based on one students experience he has worked very hard and been very challenged-and the professors are extremely accessible. The school embarked on a very ambitious program several years back to upgrade a lot of areas and from what my experience has been it has been a success.</p>
<p>My son is definitely thinking about careers and coop but he also loves to learn just because he loves to learn. A student at NEU, like him, is career focused but very much a regular college student who also is becoming well rounded through challenging classes, living right in the city although they still have a very nice campus, and soon he will be taking advantage of his first study abroad.</p>
<p>It is not mutually exclusive to be interested and thinking about how your studies will pertain to the career you think you might want and also to be focused academically and socially. In fact, one of the reasons he ended up choosing NEU is because he was so undecided about what he wanted to do after college he thought a coop school would give him a preview of what he might like to do and give him some direction. His biggest fear was graduating in four years with a degree in something he ended up hating!</p>
<p>It wouldn’t be for everyone but for a student who is looking for a school that combines classroom learning with real world experiential learning it is a great place to be.</p>
<p>Tufts is an excellent school-some very sold options here. Good luck.</p>
<p>I have not visite Tufts, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I have heard from people who have (as well as some Tufts students) that the school is very Pre-med oriented.</p>
<p>Pepper - your son is exactly my daughter - undecided - leaning towards math/econ - loves to read/write (editor in chef of her HS paper this year) - loves to learn (I think she is the only senior in her school still doing the assigned homework 4th marking period). I think the allure of living in Boston with a campus (as you said) and also getting real experience (being undecided about a career makes career exploration more important) will be the deciding factor. I think I will be sending NEU a deposit this afternoon!</p>
<p>kiddie that is very funny. I just picked him up from school as he had his last final today. He misses it already-had a great year-couldn’t have worked out better really.</p>
<p>I had thought being undecided would make a coop school a bad choice but after talking to some people who had been through the program or had family members go through it I heard a few stories of how the coop had been an eye-opener and the student had changed their major because of it.</p>
<p>Yesterday we paid her Northeastern deposit - so she will be a husky. My daughter read Pepper’s post and even she felt that Pepper’s son sounded just like her. When people ask why she chose - she is going to tell everybody she could not resist going to a school with an Au Bon Pan on campus!</p>