I am a rising high school senior looking for engineering schools to apply to. I can’t decide if I should apply to Northeastern or Northwestern. Any other college suggestions would be useful. For context my stats are as follows:
GPA: 4.72 - Valedictorian
Test Scores: 1520 out of 1600 New SAT and 33 ACT composite
Main ECs: Patents, entrepreneurship, and scientific research
Income: <$30k
I have heard great things about both Northwestern and Northeastern; they are both very distinct schools. I want to become the CEO of a Fortune 500 industrial company and am looking into which colleges are best for undergrad. Financial aid whether need based or merit is a major consideration.
The advantages of Northeastern include the exceptional Co-Op program, large engineering program with great research opportunities, startup incubator, location in Boston, and T50 ranking. It is also much easier to get accepted into than Northwestern and would most likely be less competitive. I have heard that Northeastern classes are easy and this may be very useful when applying to grad school at places such as Harvard Business School.
The advantages of Northwestern include the school being more prestigious being a T20 school, NUVention, certain research opportunities, and nearby Kellogg business school. I am not sure how much better going to Boston for undergrad would be compared to Chicago.
Thoughts?
Northwestern is the far better school, especially if you’re even remotely undecided–literally every department is top notch, something Northeastern can’t realistically claim. I’m not slamming Northeastern, either–it’s a fine, fine school in many ways, and its co-op program is pretty cool.
I’m the mother of a Northeastern grad – and I agree with the above that Northwestern is by far the bigger name (and with good reason.) Northeastern can hook you up with superb internships around Boston; Northwestern can do the same (and get you a job) nationwide.
Northwestern’s co-op is very well-established. The participation rate is 55% but if you exclude the freshmen population (because they have near zero participation rate by default), the rate is more like 80%.
http://www.nap.edu/read/18184/chapter/14
While the pay-rate is all over the map depending on the employers for NEU (unpaid is allowed though probably more for non-engineering type), Northwestern gives out guidelines to employers on their co-op website (60% of entry-level FT engineer to start and 80-85% by the 4th work period).
http://ceed.asee.org/coop_past_winners.html shows past winners of co-op student of the year and Northwestern has 2 winners in the past (tied for most with GA Tech).
Northwestern is obviously way better… the question is if you will get in?
Northwestern is still a reach for you(they reject valedictorians with perfect SAT scores even!), so why not apply to both schools?
How do you know you’re valedictorian already? What about UMich, GTech, Olin, or the dozens of other awesome engineering schools?
First, have you found safeties with your major that you will be admitted to and be able to afford? If not, see http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ , and http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/ if you have National Merit status.
Second, check the net price calculator on both to see if they are affordable to you.
Third, what prevents you from applying to both and deciding later?