<p>"Plus, if you go to Northeastern, the school feels overshadowed by the many great schools in the New England area (not to mention Boston alone with Harvard, MIT, Tufts, BC, and BU). Northeastern is not reagarded as one of the better schools in the area, and does not command alot of respect among other college students."</p>
<p>What Measureyourself wrote is really important. I went to school in Boston, and also have friends who are professors at Boston College. In Boston, Harvard rules. Places as esteemed as MIT are considered second best. Boston College isn't respected that much. Places like Northeastern are considered as safety schools for students who aren't that bright.</p>
<p>Boston is one of the most snobbish and elitist places in the country, and many of the top people in Boston went to Harvard. Consequently, colleges that are very respected elsewhere don't get that much respect in Boston.</p>
<p>U of A is probably far more respected in its locality than Northeastern is in Boston. If you want respect, go to U of A.</p>
<p>Read thru this thread, and you'll see how many students advocate going for state school, not having the debt from private school, and advantages of staying closer to home:</p>
<p>Thinking of Northeastern as "awesome" is an emotional response.
Go to state, and put the savings towards a downpayment on graduate school or your first home.</p>
<p>At any big public you will find students who are very bright. You just may have to look harder to find them. Neither AZ school is "stupid." Some of the wisest students out there choose a large public because it means they can graduate debt free. Your college experience at any of the three will depend on what you put into it and if you were my kid and I was footing the bill you would be going to U of A. </p>
<p>Start working on what there is to love about either of the AZ schools by going to their websites and surfing. Check out the student activities pages and look for clubs that you would enjoy. Do an overnight. You owe it to yourself & your parents to not saddle yourself with enormous debt esp if grad school is in your future.</p>
<p>i don't know if UofA is considered crappy compared to Northeastern... I might even call it better... especially considering it's free. Boston's awesome but have you visited Northeastern's campus? It wasn't in my favorite part of boston. Does AZ get 'good neighbor' discounts in California? If so, why not check out some of the UCs in Northern California, if you want a cooler climate?</p>
<p>Living in Florida and knowing not much about either school, if I were asked to rate the schools, my knee jerk reaction would be to rate UA > NE.</p>
<p>I would take the money and run, ie UA. But a few things to consider, Northeastern has Coop, it's has cooler weather, probably different from the heat of UA. But it's really in a bad part of Boston area.</p>
<p>I think that there are more connections one can make while at Northeastern. Plus, the feel of Boston is completely different to the feel in Tucson- it's definitely more of a "city" feel and there's way more diversity. However, is living in Boston worth going broke for a not-amazing-but-still-OK education?</p>
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Neither AZ school is "stupid." Some of the wisest students out there choose a large public because it means they can graduate debt free. Your college experience at any of the three will depend on what you put into it. . . .
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<p>Agreed, but then again, you have to admit that ASU and U of A have not so great reputations of being party schools for a reason. I've met a lot of the people that go to ASU and some people honestly don't deserve Bachelor's degrees, let alone Master's degrees. There's a general feeling of "let's get drunk at 2 in the morning" when you arrive at the campus and it's difficult to avoid if you live in the dorms there. </p>
<p>Of course, my sister did go to ASU and she is very smart (graduated 11/~500 in high school). However, even she sees some of the flaws with the school. You of course can meet tons of intelligent people, but it's just kind difficult considering the huge mass of kids that aren't very motivated to do their work.</p>
<p>Look, BOSTON IS AWESOME. I just got accepted to northeastern today, also as a mech engineering major :). I'm stoked, and i think ill end up going there (because of scholarships) even if i get into Villanova or Lafayette. Boston is an awesome city, the CO OP program will gain you money and you dont have to pay tuition while on it. And talking about job opportunities, you're in Boston! there are plenty there.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses, guys. I'd like to clarify some things:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I used the phrases "awesome" and "crappy" in order to describe the schools' surrounding environments. I have lived in Boston and visited Tucson several times, and I think pretty much anyone will agree that Boston has opportunities that Tucson can't match.</p></li>
<li><p>Yikes, thanks for that comparison that Northeastern would cost 23K a year more, and that both schools are ranked equally. That really puts some perspective on things.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I guess my question now is- Is UofA <em>really</em> that bad? I consider myself an outdoors person who doesn't get easily bored, and I'm confident in my ability to make the best of any situation. The way I see it, with that many kids my age around, how bad could it be? </p>
<p>Also, does anyone have opinions regarding the Honors program at UofA? Is it worth it?</p>
<p>...well, as a guy that went to school in Boston (well, Cambridge), I wouldn't exactly call the "surrounding environment" around Northeastern "awesome". Boston/Cambridge as a whole, yes. The area around Northeastern, not so much.</p>
<p>Still, Northeastern has some solid engineering programs.</p>
<p>i would go with Arizona. Northeastern is barely if at all above UA. also arizona has top athletics, warm weather (if you're into those things) boston is a great city but still</p>
<p>Atrophicwhisper, show me a major state uni without a well established party scene. Yes you can party at almost any college or uni that doesn't mean you will and the beauty of a large school is that you can always find alcohol free activities if that is what you are into.</p>
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Atrophicwhisper, show me a major state uni without a well established party scene. Yes you can party at almost any college or uni that doesn't mean you will and the beauty of a large school is that you can always find alcohol free activities if that is what you are into.
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<p>But it's especially true of ASU. Let's compare ASU to UMich. At UMich, the party scene is definitely there, but it's more of a weekend thing. At ASU, you could potentially go out and drink every night.</p>
<p>And I never said that you couldn't find alcohol-free environments- it's just that a lot of people choose the other option.</p>
<p>Probably the state school. Do well there and then transfer. Northeastern isn't that much better and probably wouldn't be worth it. Your call though!</p>
<p>Arizona isn't bad at all. Last year's validictorian @ my high school goes there and LOVES it. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>They have a really nice honors program. Definitely worth it. </p></li>
<li><p>Yes, there are parties. But guess what? This is college. Almost all schools are party schools. Teenagers will be teenagers. And within the honors college, most students will be very well-rounded. </p></li>
<li><p>Arizona's academic reputation is strong. It's not Harvard, but it's definitely well respected. U of A is even world renowned in several fields - such anthropology and astrophysics/astronomy.</p></li>
</ol>