I’m deciding between Northeastern and UVA, and I’d love advice! Im debating between Northeastern’s CS/IS school and UVA’s Systems ENG/CS major. I would want to minor in statistics and economics because I’m heading towards data science. UVA is a little bit more expensive for me, but they’re ultimately very similarly priced. I’ve heard that UVA’s “brand” carries more weight, but I don’t know how much that matters in the long run. Any input is greatly appreciated!
Especially in the CS/IT world, name is not going to matter - depending on where you go after graduation, one school will have the better name than the other.
I’m a Northeastern CS student and I would highly recommend NEU, especially for Information Systems / Science / Data Science. Northeastern actually has one of the oldest specific CS/IS colleges in the country. If you’re looking to go specifically that route, NEU is going to offer a lot more extensive classes and attention to the degree than most schools.
Northeastern also recently just announced a Data Science degree, though I’m not 100% sure when that will be official - here’s the specimen and new classes:
http://www.northeastern.edu/rasala/data_science/
Both UVA and NEU are going to offer good business schools, probably with a slight edge to UVA in the end.
Northeastern is big on the co-op program - I’m assuming you’re familiar - it serves CS/IS very well, and there are a ton of jobs/co-ops in the financial market. If you like that, point NEU. If you don’t want co-op, UVA may be the better fit.
I’m not too familiar with UVA’s program, but I looked at their course offering just now and it seems they have a pretty extensive program and class offering compared to most schools - it looks like you’d do just fine at either.
One difference between the programs is that UVA’s program focuses a lot more on the mathematical side and theory while NEU has more of a CS integration.
I think in this case, it seems like both schools are going to offer what you want academically - what about social factors and fit? Have you visited both schools? What are you looking for in a school beyond academics?
Thank you for a comprehensive reply. Appreciate it. Does the COOP in anyway reduce the rigor of education? Where do CS/IS majors do COOP - is there a link to a list of companies? Does CS/IS assume a lot of experience with programming prior to coming to NEU?
Visited both schools; both have their plus and minus - Urban versus small-town setting; not much to do outside school at UVA [but probably not much time left]; also does COOP etc where people are going in and out of school, living off-campus hinder in developing network / friendships?
Visited both schools; both have their plus and minus - Urban versus small-town setting; not much to do outside school at UVA [but probably not much time left]; also does COOP etc where people are going in and out of school, living off-campus hinder in developing network / friendships?
Co-op in no way affects your class rigor or quality - you take the same number of classes and same classes, with or without co-op. The only difference is that you can do summer sessions with more offerings than most schools as many do. You take half a semester of classes in half the time - some actually find it to be a better experience for learning than your standard semester at most schools. It’s basically like a quarter at any quarter system school.
CS/IS majors do co-op at a ton of companies - listing them would be a rather long process. They range from the big names like Apple/Facebook/Amazon/Intuit/Google (I personally know someone working at all 5 on co-op in the past year alone) to tons of companies that are less known but will offer just as good of an experience. A good friend of mine does Data Analytics for Suffolk Construction currently and has gotten a ton of amazing projects.
No college will assume prior experience in CS/IS - NEU actually teaches a programming language that few have used for the first semester - it was actually created by the head of the department and is specifically designed for teaching, as well as other uses in its full-fledged form - here’s a great essay on it:
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/Thoughts/Growing_a_Programmer.html
As far as the social effect of co-op does, it isn’t nothing, but friendships usually last over co-op without any sort of problem. Your first 3 semesters, no one is going on co-op - by then, most usually have an established group. Many choose to do their first co-op in Boston, which means they are still around as friends even if they aren’t in classes. It also helps that everyone shares in co-op - people understand, it’s not like you disappeared for 6 months while everyone else was in classes - they are doing the same often enough.
People living off campus doesn’t have any noticeable effect in my experience - the city is very walkable and off campus doesn’t mean out of reach - some “off-campus” apartments to a particular dorm are closer than one dorm to another.
Personally, Boston was a big deal for me - I don’t think the idea that you should be on campus all the time and studying 24/7 is for me. For some, that’s exactly what they want.
The main social activities here for students utilize Boston - whether it’s going out and exploring the city or finding a fun and cheap place to eat. The academics here are plenty challenging, but like most college work, it’s quality over quantity. Having the work/life balance is important even when you’re in school, no matter where you go.
Hope all that helps!
It does! Thanks so much! Also, do you happen to know anything about the liberal arts side of NEU? I’m trying to see if I actually make a huge major change would I be better situated at NEU or UVA.
NEU is certainly more well known for STEM, but it’s a well-sized school - it’s going to offer decent programs in anything it does offer, and it offers a lot. I think it’s fair to say that UVA will offer the better liberal arts majors generally and NEU will offer the better technical options generally, but both are going to offer decent programs in each. And, as many mention here, it’s the students, not the colleges, that often makes the students successful - a school merely gives you the resources.
Personally, I’m actually getting an Ethics minor, so I know the Philosophy department. It’s a smaller department, but they have a lot of good classes offered and plenty of choices. I think a lot of NEU’s humanities are much better suited to offer minors than majors, but the class offerings are really nice - other fields I have looked at also offer plenty of options (psychology and sociology specifically).
Systems engineering at UVa is one of the more popular engineering majors at UVa and students are very well recruited. Internships during the summer are probably more common that co ops.