Northeastern is presently at the top of DS list.
Would like to get a feel for how recent families/ students decided to choose Northeastern and are they happy with the decision?
Thanks for helping us figure this out.
I am a current first year at NEU. If I am being completely honest with how I chose Northeastern it was because I didn’t get into the schools that I really wanted to go to, ultimately because I wanted to be in the northeast (especially Boston), the education/co ops, and because when I went on a tour it was a lot less of the admissions process trying to sell me the school, rather just giving me the opportunity to see various aspects in a pretty fair view.
Originally my parents were hesitant, just as I was to accept the school. Where I came from Northeastern isn’t a big name school (I told people I was going to a school in Boston, not Northeastern because most people would have thought I meant Northwestern). In the end we all did a little bit of research and I put my deposit down at the end of April, to what I would say was more of “accepting” rather than “excited”.
Right now I am having a great time. I personally love to learn and be challenged. Although Im only a first year, I have had a lot of work, but nothing that was unreasonable or unfair by any means. I think that this is pretty consistent with all of my friends here, except notably the comp sci students get the worst of it (although I bet thats similar at most Universities). My peers here are extremely talented and extremely intelligent. If you want a job at a certain company, all the resources will be there for you, it is just about how much work you want to put in to get there. I have yet to meet anyone who has tried to pull me down in order to get a leg up, so for the most part I would say it has been a good environment to learn and grow. At the end of the day, we’re all going to get 6-18 months of work experience before we graduate, so there is a little bit of pressure taken off I think.
I certainly would not say that this school is a typical school by any means. The social life can be bad but the social life can be good, it depends mostly on what you prefer and what you want to do. You’re not going to be partying on campus like our neighbors at MIT, but you’re not going to be stuck inside like people I know at other schools-- This is Boston and there are 250,000 other college students here, you can find something to do regardless of what you want that to be. I think that with any city school you are going to feel a lack of school spirit at times. It isn’t as bad as some people in other cities/schools of course, but you’re not at a state school where the surrounding town revolves around the school. On top of that, we’re a co op school, so each semester feels like a new year almost with people coming back or leaving. Everyone here seems to be pretty career focused as well, so that should be something taken into consideration. But don’t think that that means you need to know what you want to do, that’s part of the reason why we have the option for three co ops in five years (you can do a mechanical engineering co op sophomore year, and end up working for PwC as an accountant still, and I have met plenty of people who have switched fields). I didn’t actually want to come to a city directly because I was afraid that there was not a lot of campus, but I am very surprised because the campus is definitely a lot bigger and more confined than I imagined. You’re not going to need to Uber from one end to the other, but it definitely feels like a campus and is apparently expanding out. There are a lot of things I like about Northeastern, there are plenty of things I don’t like about it, but in the end its not a bad place to be especially if you can figure things out independently, don’t mind a non traditional college experience, and can deal with the cold weather.
Thank you very much for your thoughtful, thorough and honest response. This is very helpful for a potential admit.
thank you for that detailed response.
My daughter is a current freshman. She chose it because it was comparable in cost to her state university options, lower than other private schools she got accepted to, but mainly because she wanted to go north (we are in Kentucky), wanted a challenge and was excited about coop and the overall ROI the school would provide. She absolutely loves it. I had always pictured Boston as the same size as Chicago, but it’s much smaller, so it’s pretty much the perfect big city. She found a great group of friends, loves her CS classes and loves Boston.
Also, she was in an early college program for high school, so all her junior and senior year classes were taken at one of our state universities and every credit transferred. She’ll only need five semesters to graduate from Northeastern, which fits perfectly with the time she’ll want to take for coops. She’s considering adding a minor.
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@Artist2233 My oldest son was a 2018 grad. We toured Northeastern which is far from us, on the recommendation of a friend. My son absolutely loved it-drawn to the location, kids, flexibility of majors and the NUin & DOC global programs. He started abroad in NUin, made strong friendships and returned to Boston last January. He pledged a fraternity which really surprised me, but it’s been good for him, he met more people and likes the parties. He did summer session 1 and liked staying in Boston for the 1st part of the summer. He is a current sophomore in the business school and on his first Co-op! Working a ton with 10 other NU students and really enjoys it and is making great money. He really loves the kids at Northeastern! Says they are all very motivated. He also likes skiing now that he has a little extra money from his Co-op.