My D was accepted to the honors and EXPLORE programs, and loves what we know about NU, but it definitely had a STEM/biz vibe to me. If you are a liberal arts major (she’s still undecided but could go english, psychology, political science, economics, etc), do you think it’s still a great place to learn? Still top professors, good co-ops etc?
FYI, she is also contemplating Fordham, Emerson (probably too limiting), Syracuse and UMass Amherst. Got into BU honors but it’s too expensive, and still waiting on GW, American and Brown (expecting denial). Any info would be much appreciated. I didn’t think she’d get in so we didn’t do enough research…I am thrilled and hope she chooses it so I want to assure her she doesn’t have to be a Bio or CS major to be successful here!
You’re absolutely right that STEM/Business is big here. That said, there are obviously a ton of programs here beyond those areas. The ones you picked out also actually tend to be some of the better “liberal arts” subjects here (PolySci, Psychology, Economics). There are still good co-op’s for those majors, but they do tend to pay a bit less. For the very liberal arts type subjects like English/Art History (a bit stereotypical sorry), there’s simply a smaller population here. That said, the one English major I know got a co-op reading and screening scripts for movies which is pretty neat if you ask me
I’ve got a philosophy/ethics minors and the professors have been amazing in my experience in that department and all of my friends in non-STEM areas have found most/all of their professors to be great as well. I think the differences come in a few areas: the practical bend of the departments, a bit less pay for co-op and slightly fewer co-ops due to fewer students, and simply smaller departments, meaning that you may not have a ton of high-level electives.
A good thing to try is reaching out to a particular subject and asking for what co-op’s students get in their department so you get an idea.
In summary: smaller department, still great professors, still meaningful co-op’s though they may pay slightly less. This varies by specific department, as some are still a pretty extensive.
@PengsPhils…SO helpful. Thank you! Frankly I wish she would minor in something like you have and major in something a bit more “practical” for lack of a better word. I seem to offend people all the time in my posts and I don’t mean to!! But as a mom, I hope the goal is really a J.O.B., not just an MD or PhD! Maybe it would be great for her to be exposed to lots of people working in business and science fields and see how her liberal arts gifts could weave together and enhance a future career making more than a poet! Ha! (again…don’t mean to offend!!)
That co-op sounds AMAZING! She actually applied to Emerson for their writing/publishing program because her dream job would be “reading all the books and deciding what gets published”. However, in light of the fact that their other majors are super artsy, she was afraid to commit there in case she changes her mind.
Northeastern sounds like such a great school. Good luck to you!!!
For what it’s worth, I only majored in a “practical” field because I happened to like it. I also happened to like philosophy just as much, so when it came time to pick a major, the choice was obvious yet still not sacrificing my own happiness/enjoyment of major. For someone who doesn’t have truly equal interest in both, I think the decision is much harder. My general advice is to follow your interest/passion to the fullest extent you can while still being practically aware. While I get where you’re coming from, I wouldn’t try to force your daughter into any major but rather just advocate that whatever major she chooses she has a practical plan to apply it with in terms of her life after college. For that mindset, I think Northeastern serves the humanities very well.
My daughter (class of 2016 finished in 4 years with 2 co-ops) started Northeastern in the undeclared program. She honestly had no idea what she wanted to do. The program did a great job of helping her to decide and also to keep her on track. She declared her second semester and graduated with a BS in Math/Econ (joint major) and a minor in History. She had great co-ops (in terms of prestige and pay). Her first was at John Hancock and her second was for Amazon in Seattle. As an Econ major she was eligible for many of the business co-ops (and turned down co-op offers from Eaton Vance and Wellington).
Most of her friends were engineer/computer science majors and co-oped at great places like Hasbro, Intel, Hubspot, etc. Her friends with more liberal arts degrees also had great co-ops and landed great jobs after graduation - including a deaf studies/ASL major who is working at a school for the blind, an international affairs major who traveled through asia for co-ops and now is studying under a fullbright scholarship, a polysci/econ joint major who is working as an analyst at Wayfair, etc.
Northeastern is not just for business and stem and the undeclared program will help you with any interest you have.
I will chime in too that my older D studied poli sci and had a great experience. She co-oped with a very prominent Senator in DC, co-oped in an embassy in South America with the state dept (that was a lot of her own doing bc you had to follow the state depts process), traveled abroad with a few dialogues to study various history and political issues, and ultimately stayed and did her plus one year and got a masters essentially in climate change policy issues. She also interned with the a couple MA women’s political groups (some for credit, some for fun) and the MA AG office. She did all this in 5 years total and is now working in DC. Another friend studying psychology has had great coops working in organizational development companies and has found her calling. Another is majoring in the newer major in Philosphy, Politics and Economics and is looking into various coop,options now. Lastly, another friend is studying Public Art History and has had amazing experiences cooping in Boston with the MFA, abroad and other city institutions. My younger D is in architecture so it’s its own program, is challenging and she just got her first coop starting in July. I would agree that not all coops (even some research STEM coops pay or pay well) but the experience is invaluable on so many fronts.
“I’ve got a philosophy/ethics minors and the professors have been amazing in my experience in that department and all of my friends in non-STEM areas have found most/all of their professors to be great as well.”
I can confirm that the philosophy program is excellent based on current friends experience.
Your daughter should look into the combined majors. It’s a very well done program and let’s kids focus on the core of each major they like.
