I’ve been accepted to both UT Austin and Northeastern for Civil Engineering for Fall 2015. They are both my top choice universities, so I’m having trouble deciding which university I should I attend. I am an international student with no scholarships or grants, so they’re both equally as expensive. UT Austin is higher ranked than Northeastern in Civil Engineering, but Northeastern tops UT Austin for smaller classes and of course the Co-Op program. I’m from a country with hot weather all year round so going to Boston would be a huge change since it gets very cold in the winter. I’ve visited Boston and toured Northeastern’s campus, but I haven’t visited Austin yet. Can anyone please help me? Thank you!
This may not be very helpful, but I know people who’ve attended each program - they are both great, so you can’t go wrong either way. I do think you should visit both and try to talk to students there. Congrats on having 2 excellent choices!
I know both, daughter had same top choices. Northeastern is a great city campus . Students are very focused on their career path even as freshmen. Classes are small and professors are very available. Not a party school (though there are parties if you want them). Not a lot of visible school spirit or traditions. Fantastic co-op program with many companies in all fields in the Boston area and beyond participating. Not sure how being international affects your co-op opportunities, but there are many many international students there so I’m sure someone on the NEU board could speak to that. Weather is a challenge for Someone used to hot and humid, especially THIS winter. But it can be fun too to experience winter. Name recognition for Northeastern outside the Northeast U.S. is more limited, but growing. They are very focused on growing their brand, and are attracting many students who are very dynamic, focused and motivated. Many of your classmates come from very competitive public and private high schools in the northeast U.S. and are very prepared for college level work (a shock for a top grad of a public high school in TX).
UT Austin is a much bigger campus. Feels less city-like to me, probably because of the campus size, and population density in Austin is lower than Boston. A great city with terrific opportunities. Lots of school spirit, sports, and Greek life, but plenty of focused students as well, particularly in majors like engineering. Class size will be very big freshman year, but smaller as you go on. Engineering program is very highly ranked nationally. Most of your classmates will be Texans who have aspired to be Longhorns their whole lives and wouldn’t dream of being elsewhere, but Texas is a surprisingly international and diverse state. Austin will be a bit harder to get to from most countries. It does have an international airport but you will most likely connect through Houston or Dallas. Once you are there, you can survive just fine without a car as long as you stay in the city.
Both are great schools, but the ‘feel’ of each is very different. If you can visit, do it!
Thank you both for your replies, I’ll try to best to visit them before I decide, but that’s probably not going to happen. I’m going to have to research more on each univerisites and read students reviews. @beyondtx @Austinwannabe
I’m going to pipe in here as someone who is currently trying to transfer OUT of Northeastern to UT. I completed three semesters and am now on leave and applying elsewhere because I couldn’t stand it there anymore. Granted, my circumstances are a little different. I am a video production major of sorts (there isn’t actually an official video production major there, just a Media & Screen studies program where you can sort of focus on production) hopefully I will be accepted to UT because their Radio-Television-Film major is far superior.
Northeastern preparing students for a career is mostly an illusion. Northeastern will give you lines of a resume but that doesn’t necessarily mean you know anything. I felt that Northeastern says their students work hard when in reality the vast majority of the student body is not particularly bright or ambitious. Many, many students openly admit that their co-op experiences were a joke (I never got the chance to go on co-op before leaving, so I can’t personally comment, this is only hearsay). Of course, this all depends on the major and it is true that the engineering program is excellent. The majority of my friends were actually engineering majors and they all had some complaints but were still happy.
I would warn you to stay away from Northeastern if you have any doubts about what particular path you are taking in engineering and may decide to switch from one engineering major to another (i.e. civil engineering to mechanical). I switched my major while there, and it was the worst pain in the ass ever. And it never even fully worked out because I’m transferring. I was literally in some advisor’s office at least twice a week for an entire semester before anything finally got done. The focus on career there means that you had better f*ckn know EXACTLY what career you are pursuing before you get there. There is no room to explore the nuances of your field, you have to have your mind made up.
I’m sorry is this is so negative. I truly believe Northeastern has positive attributes or I wouldn’t have chosen it in the first place. I just changed a lot and it is no longer a good fit for me.
If you have any other questions about anything at Northeastern feel totally free to ask.
My two cents are UT (since you asked for an answer). To me the choice is:
- UT is higher ranked in engineering, and also CS, Business, etc. So not only is your major higher ranked, but in case you want to switch majors you are covered too;
- Although in Austin, I don’t consider UT a “city campus”. There is a lot of green spaces and its very nice. Northeastern is a city campus, some of the buildings are even on Comm Ave. However there is still a lot of do in Austin just blocks south of campus
- The big college experience is much better. Big time sports, greek system, etc. Basically anything you want to do you can find.
No, Northeastern is a mile away from Comm Ave. You are thinking about Boston University.
If you do not like city living you will not like either school.
Oops you are right, it was BU. I lived 2 miles from there and now I can’t remember anything. Having said that, to me UT Austin does not feel like a city school when you are on the campus. Its a much different feel from the city schools i have been at.
@camgard That was a particularly nasty comment. It says more about you than it does about Northeastern students.
Thank you so much @texansfan1 and @TomSrOfBoston for giving me all this information! Honestly, as of now I’m leaning more towards UT Austin and think there’s a very very high chance I am going to attend there this fall!
LOL. In its entirety, that comment was constructive. I’m just trying to give a prospective student some advice they wouldn’t learn on the college tour, as someone who actually lived in the Northeastern community for a year and a half. I’m assuming you’re upset because you’re an NU student/alum? Ok, well as long as you know you worked hard in your time there it shouldn’t upset you. If you’re denying that there are toxic elements in the student and administrative community there then you’re being willfully blind.
@dashtiy I hope my comment didn’t upset you. All schools have their bad side, and NU’s wasn’t particularly horrible, it just was too much for me personally. Northeastern is a good school and its reputation is getting better by the day. Probably a great school for engineering majors as you can get up to 18 months of hands-on experience in the field, which I imagine matters a lot more in engineering than in other majors. Know that it is a good school with respectable academics, but that the school itself obviously isn’t showing you the entire picture. You might want to search for the article by Boston Magazine about how the school manipulates statistics to raise their ranking, it is fascinating. Like I said though, don’t plan on going to NU if you think you might end up changing your major.
@camgard, if you’ve spent much time on this forum, you must realize that internal major changes at UT, particularly in CS, Business and Engineering, are very competitive and difficult to secure. Not sure about RTF. Great for my son, who knows exactly what he wants (MechE), but when my daughter was making her decision two years ago, she chose Northeastern because they took her as an Undeclared Honors student. She spent the first year in the Undeclared program (which has its own advisors) exploring her options before declaring. Had no problems, and was supported the whole way through the process. She is happily on co-op this semester, in a job related to her major.
I’m sorry that Northeastern did not have the major you want and hope you are able to successfully transfer to somewhere that will better meet your needs.