<p>I have read and been told that this dept. is not that strong at NEU. It is part of the sociology dept. which is a strong dept. When we visited during accepted students day, we were told that it was being re-organized. Does anyone know if it is also being strengthened? My D has been admitted with an undeclared major and wants to study WGS as well as other subjects. Have also read that the co-ops available for the social sciences are not that available or end up being unpaid internships. </p>
<p>Feedback.....</p>
<p>I (think) I’ve already talked to you about this, and I don’t know anything about the women studies program, but I can comment on co-ops for social sciences.</p>
<p>There definitely are plenty of them! Ignoring business (which has its own college) and psychology (which I think Northeastern calls a science), we still have plenty of co-ops suitable for the other “social sciences”. Most of the ones for things like geography and environmental studies are at non-profits, but a hefty portion are still paid (just not very much). Economics has a lot, and we’re really well paid. History is entirely dependant on what you want to do- there are a lot of writing ones and analytical ones, but I don’t think I’ve seen that many co-ops that scream “job that a future historian would love”. Criminal justice has a lot of co-ops… So does international affairs and political science, and the pay for those is dependant on where you want to go. Communication… well I don’t really know anything about it, but my friends in communication have always gotten co-ops. And I think pre-law is technically a social science, although not a major, and there are plenty of co-ops at small to mid-sized law firms in Boston.</p>
<p>The famous “unpaid” co-ops are for the arts (music in particular) and for journalism. Yeah every single major has a few unpaid co-ops thrown in, but even if you do end up having to take one of them, Northeastern only requires you to work 20 hours a week at it so that you can get another (paid) job if you need to.</p>
<p>As for social sciences, obviously this doesn’t apply to all of them, but I’ve found that computer skills have always been the major decision-maker in co-ops I’ve interviewed for. You might not think law or international affairs or even sociology needs “computer skills”, but EVERYONE uses Excel even if its really simple tasks. And you’d be surprised how many people only know how to add two cells.</p>
<p>Thanks, yes you did PM me about the WGS program but since they told us it was being re-organized, I was hoping there might be some new info on it from people within the NEU community. </p>
<p>With the remainder of my D’s decisions coming out in the next 2 weeks, it is going to be very hard for her to decide- does NEU’s Boston location, co-op program, honors program (for what that’s worth) and good fin aid outweigh its small WGS program (as an undeclared she can still explore other majors she is interested in) and conventionality (a huge factor) or does she go to a (possibly) better fitting academic program at an unconventional school that’s not in Boston?</p>