I actually feel like I’m a stronger part of the CS community than I am the group of students in my own major. There’s NU Hacks, ACM, Hackbeanpot (that was my first hackathon and I had a fantastic time), and I keep seeing posters for speakers, tutorial sessions to learn a new language, etc., most that I inevitably never make it to. Especially honors CS kids have a lot of their first classes together, which I think helps make some connections. It’s these extracurricular activities that really help establish relationships across years. Like anything once you get out of high school, there’s generally a higher effort threshold to get involved and build a network, but there definitely is a solid CS community.
I know students who have done their first coops at places like Google and other top names, but I think the point is don’t count on it, because the competition is tough, especially if you’re up against someone on a third co-op.
(A side note as a TA for the class - if your partner is really terrible in Fundies, sell your TA and we can switch partners. That’s what they keep us around for.)
As a CS freshman at NEU I tend to agree with @nanotechnology
I have had an amazing experience with NEU CS and would gladly take any questions, as many others on here probably would as well (I swear most of the NEU posters on this board are CS).
I think it would be unfair to assume that NEU students can’t get top jobs or don’t attract talented programmers. I worked two industry jobs in high school and have now 3-4 years of programming experience as a freshman. think it is more that companies at NEU like Apple and Google can pick the more seasoned of the crop, and those naturally tend to be the older students on their second or third co-op. Point being, there’s plenty of opportunity at NEU. Then again, maybe you are right and from my perspective I am seeing the new wave that is representative of the rising program.
As far as opening class partners, if you live in the CS LLC (I don’t) you can get to know people and choose partners as described at Rice. Same goes for Honors with the smaller section. I have been lucky I guess to have good partners so far (6 for 6 as of now) but I don’t think that appears to be too much of a problem.
Overall the department has really blown me away. The department is growing quickly in stride with the growth of CS but even the intro classes stay under 50-60 students per section and first year classes have dozens of tutors available. The support network is A+. Their approach, size, and accessibility is incredible and I would suspect that rankings will begin to reflect this soon along with the universities rising ranks.
I would agree that academically Rice is probably stronger, but I don’t think its THAT clear cut.
Just wanted to add my two cents on the CS department, hope that helps!
I think you should “follow the money” We have had several posters this year complaining about not getting merit money from NEU and on those threads most say then go where you got the money. Here with the reverse and an invite to scholars, I think you should go to NEU.
Trying to address some of the issues that have been brought up by posters. My daughter is not a CS major but all of her friends are - they formed a group freshman year and now are still a solid friend group in their third year. Going on co-op in Boston or away, studying abroad, commuting from home, etc. have not stopped them from keeping in touch and being solid friends (right now one is in China and my daughter has still managed to message with her to keep in touch).
Co-ops are competitive, first co-ops are not as good as second and third simply because companies will take the best they can get (my daughter has experienced this even with econ co-ops). Her CS friends have had first co-ops at Intel, Paypal, Roomba, etc. Some have gone the start-up small company route (an interesting alternative). They are making good money on these co-ops (top salaries are in CS and engineering co-ops).
There are many clubs on campus (tech and not) and you need to decide how you want to spend your time. My daughter loves the clubs she belongs to and it had helped her meet more people. Two of these clubs have nothing to do with her major and I think that is a good way of finding new people.
My daughter is not a University Scholar but rooms with three girls who are. They seem to be a mixed lot - some are intellectual snobs (will tell you how they turned down an IVY for this elite program which makes them so much better than you) and some are not. I think these girls do take full advantage of scholars and honors perks.
I will add that most of my daughter’s friends are on full tuition (NMS when they used to award full tuition to them), and they are very appreciative of the opportunity NEU has given them since they could not afford tuition any other way.
Also, NEU has the top career services in the country and your CS major will find a great job when they graduate.
I would just like to add that I completely disagree with the statement about Northeastern not being a community. I’m a freshman and I have at least a dozen upperclassmen I’m good friends with. The best way to make upperclassmen friends is to join clubs, though; you won’t meet them in your intro-level classes. My particular club has allowed me to get to know second, third, fourth, fifth years really well and even a decent amount of faculty/advisors. I don’t feel like the co-op culture is an issue, either; when someone is away for co-op, we Skype them regularly and miss them a lot and talk about them to new members who haven’t met them yet. If you do anything besides sit in your room and watch Netflix, it’s really easy to meet and befriend upperclassmen. As for community within my class, my hallway of my dorm is like a mini-family. We all call each other neighbors, and hang out in the common room all the time to do homework, watch sports (our floor is super into soccer), work on group projects, whatever. I’m already so bummed to all split up next year and not have all these kids just 10 feet and a door knock away.
For what it’s worth, too, one of my friends is a second year student currently on her first co-op working on the Apple Watch out in California. She’s computer engineering, so a little different, but the opportunities are there if you want to work.
As a Scholar, too, they definitely do throw money at the students, almost literally. Free dialogues (mini study abroads), meeting speakers and scholars, grants for research, premium housing and other opportunities, whatever you want. I’ve only had issues with a few Scholars who kind of get a big head once they realize Northeastern is more or less at their mercy (or the kids that never shut up about turning down an Ivy for NU); the majority are humble, kind, and incredible people.
The CS program has a top notch cyber-security program, if that is of interest. They are one of six universities in the USA with an official program with the NSA and they just built a multi million dollar Center for Homeland Security.
If you had full scholarships to both I would say go to Rice. But though Rice is an excellent school I don’t think it is worth an extra $40,000 a year. NEU is an excellent school and getting better every year. It is in a prime location as Boston is the ultimate college town. And the co-op opportunities can’t be beat. My friend’s son has had two great co-op experiences already. My D chose to go elsewhere, but our financial package was abysmal. If you had a chance to go to NEU for free, why wouldn’t you?
To those who just say “follow the money” I understand that feeling because it is agonizing to throw away a full tuition scholarship. Me and my husband cannot afford sending my son to Yale (or Cornell or Tufts) without much sacrifice and refinancing our home, loans, etc. But, when I think about how hard he’s worked and how much he wanted the school and then was accepted, I sort of throw my hands up and can’t decide. Yale has prestige that NEU does not, even with the Scholars and I doubt anyone here is going to be able to disagree. Also, my son plays the violin and wants a music program at college that he can get excited about. Admittedly, NEU’s music program is not as good as Yale’s. So, the question for us boils down to 1) which is the better fit and 2) whether the Yale degree is worth giving up a full tuition scholarship. NEU has many pros aside from the tuition. The coop is a great idea and I like the mentorship program as well. My son would get more personalized attention at NEU as opposed to being just another bright kid at Yale. Also, after visiting the school, he liked the atmosphere and said he could see himself there.
It all depends on how painful the financial sacrifice will be and how important it is to those making that sacrifice. Though we are considered full pay on paper, we sat down and painfully faced the numbers and our priorities and where we were spending our money and our financial position and came to the conclusion that paying anything over $35K really hit some money veins. It really hurt to face this. I would still have been tempted and maybe have gone with a HPYS. tp be honest. Not likely any other schools. Our kids saved us the agonizing as they did not get into any of those schools and didn’t bat an eye taking off the table schools that cost too much. Out of sight and mind in a flash. Again, I don’t know what I’d have done had one of them really been emotionally invested in a school over what we had indicated we could uncomfortably pay.
On the other hand, we let the kids have total free reign among choices that were below the threhhold that we said we could afford. And two of them picked schools that took every penny (and more, things always come up , so yes, we ended up spending more anyways) of the budget laid out, even when they had some full rides and other mouth watering discounts. But we went with their choices though we offered to give them the differentials. No go there.
I share your emotions on the matter @violinmomnj. I feel that as parents we want what is best for our children, including the best education that they can get. And if they worked their butts off to get into a very prestigious school then we owe it to them to let them go there if we can afford it. That is the emotional part of the equation.
The more objective view is that for most, it doesn’t matter so much where you attend college, but more what you make of where you go and taking advantage of the opportunities that you get. The exception being for “black students, Latino students, low-income students and students whose parents did not graduate from college,” where going to an Ivy League, or other top ranked university, will give them opportunities that they may not otherwise have.
There have been several studies done on the subject and the article below makes reference to them. I don’t know what your situation is, but if you are not in one of the underprivileged categories mentioned, I don’t know that it will make that much of a difference aside from the prestige of going to an Ivy League.
@Violinmomnj only you can determine the amount of financial sacrifice you are willing to endure to send your son to Yale. It is the biggest investment you’ll make (aside from your house) so it is a huge decision, and I understand as a parent that we all want the best for our kids. But you also have to be realistic and take care of your long term needs as well. Don’t mortgage your future just to send your kid to an ivy league school. If he’s bright and engaged he will be successful anywhere, and NU Scholars is a great program with ivy-league caliber kids all around him.
And, if you think you can reasonably get him to Yale (with sacrifice of course, but not fatal sacrifice), and that’s where he really wants to go, then you should do that too. Fortunately for you, there is no wrong choice, as your son will immerse himself wherever he goes and likely forget about all of this drama by the end of Freshman year because he will have settled in and made friends.
I think there are also outside opportunities at NEU to study at the NE Conservatory (down the block), so maybe he can exercise his musical passion off campus. Berklee is also down the street.
Good luck on your difficult decision, I understand your angst!
For me it is
NEU Scholars vs Ivy League/Stanford/MIT full pay -> tough choice, depends on individual circumstances.
NEU Scholars vs anything else full pay -> NEU Scholars
Are you saying that your daughter chose NEU Scholars over Ivy League/Stanford/MIT @rgosula? You’re in the same situation where you’re just “rich” enough that you don’t qualify for any financial aid?
No, I am not saying that. I am saying you have a tough choice ahead of you.
Luckily? my daughter did not get into Ivy League/Stanford/MIT. So I did not have to make the choice.
She got into better schools than NEU, but not better enough to discard the Scholars thing.
We were at a local University yesterday @rgosula, where the CS professors know my son and one of them was congratulating us on getting into Rice. Got a very different reaction though when I mentioned NEU to him.
Well I had another thread going but find this one interesting also because of the difficult choices we all have to make for ourselves and our kids, and the angst our kids probably are going through too. My son would have a $30000 a year scholarship at NEU or pay full oos tuition at Georgia Tech. He is wait listed at Rice.I know that Rice is super selective but I think one reason he didn’t get in is because we did not visit the campus.However, it is a big time and money investment to travel to Houston! He is also CS and I’m not sure why he didn’t get into the honors program at Northeastern when he is a National merit finalist and they say that they get priority… Does any one have a suggestion about that? Anyway, we liked both schools but I think my son is leaning towards Tech because of CS reputation among other things and he’s not sure about how the co op would/would not disrupt college experience.He is still deciding.Of course it’s hard to think of losing the scholarship and It’s very frustrating but the CC community has been great! If any of you have more advice for me that would be great.
It is a total mystery how colleges make their decisions @jerseymomof4.
I don’t want to confuse you any more as Georgia Tech is a very highly regarded CS school and a degree from there will open doors, but we didn’t consider it, or any other OOS public school for that matter. We had some specific concerns with Georgia Tech and it isn’t for everyone. It is a tough school because it is very competive and the kids have to teach themselves as the professors don’t have time for the undergrads. The 4 year graduation rate is 31% due to overcrowding and underfunding. Check the write-up in Fiske and the graduation rate at ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■.