<p>NU will be my first choice if I get their national merit scholarship. It's a great fit for me, but I keep hearing all this stuff about NU's "commuter school" status and "mediocre academics".</p>
<p>To me, NU's a great school and rankings don't reflect the education that you get anywhere. Most colleges are basically the same for undergrad, but I think the reputation of the school matters when you're applying for jobs and grad school.</p>
<p>So I'm wondering what you guys think about NU being "on the rise" in its reputation with its increase in the rankings, new president, etc. It seems like the school is going through a pretty major overhaul and they're trying to make sure a NU degree is worth more when you graduate than when you enroll. I'm just curious about how obvious these changes are to the public and what they feel like on campus (is anyone seeing any drawbacks to this?).</p>
<p>Thanks a lot :)</p>
<p>P.S: I saw a youtube video where they interviewed NU kids who said that the atmosphere was really cutthroat and competitive and basically full of a bunch of snotty rich kids. This isn't true right? The students on CC all seem nice...</p>
<p>As for snotty, it’s New England. So I personally think there are more rich snotty people here than back home, but I’m not from New England. But when you compare it to some other schools (most people use BC as the example), we are insanely chill.</p>
<p>ditto neuchimie. About the snotty rich kid thing, sure, this is a private New England school and less laid back than my hometown in the west. But there are sooo many normal, down-to-earth, and very not-snobby-or-rich kids here. Especially compared to other boston/area schools.</p>
<p>NEU is on the rise in reputation/quality, and my degree is absolutely “worth” more than it was when I started here in 2006. Northeastern will set you up just fine for the real world/grad school. I was actually joking with some senior friends last night that we have “Northeastern Syndrome”. We all are looking for jobs and applying to graduate school, and we realized that we’ve become picky snobs about where to apply, like “Look at my sick work experience! That job isn’t good enough for me!” That’s a pretty awesome position to be in considering the economy right now–not only are we able to find jobs, we’re able to be selective in the kind of jobs we apply for. For me, that’s why NEU has been a good investment (and also because I’ve had a lot of fun in my 5 years. hard to beat boston).</p>
<p>I laughed pretty hard when I read the above comment on being selective, because it’s totally true. My co-op advisor talked me out of applying to several jobs that were “below me” because I had already done a co-op (and I’m very very glad she did). When I graduate next year, there is no way I’ll take a job lower than an analyst or a developer… For example, I did my first co-op at an investment firm on the team with the developers doing the SAME work they do, whereas most people who start off in the company are like 4 steps behind developers… doing pretty much data entry and database management (even with college degrees). So when my boss offered me a job after graduation, I made sure he meant on the developer team, NOT where everyone else starts off.</p>
<p>Just want to be clear that I def. don’t consider NU to be a commuter school or mediocre. I’ve just heard other people call it that. I think anyone who looks into the school can see that neither of those things are true.</p>
<p>Do you guys see that more people tend to look for jobs straight out of NU or go on to grad school? Or does it vary by field? jw</p>
<p>parent here, but commuter school ? really ? not in a long. long time…I am more convinced than ever , after my D wrapped upo her first co-op and they still are keeping her on part time for her next semester , that this was absolutely the best school for her ! Are there rich snobby kids, well there are at most private schools , but that doesn’t impact the quality of anything in terms of her education and experiences at NEU.</p>
<p>So happy she made the decision to enroll , even against more prestigeous schools he was accepted to</p>
<p>lje62-- if you don’t mind–where did your D work in her first co-op or what kind of work did she do? Was the money she earned substantial, meaning was it competitive or minimum wage. Just asking these questions to get a better idea of what opportunities students get. </p>
<p>Very interested in hearing that your D elected to go to NEU “even against more prestigious schools.” My D is waiting to hear from a bunch of schools before deciding (was accepted into NEU honors program EA). But I personally hope she goes to NEU (unless, I guess, she gets way more fin aid).</p>
<p>Co-ops vary greatly between fields and majors. Obviously art majors get paid a lot less than finance majors. I remember last year for my first co-op, these were the ranges of what most of my friends were getting (definitely not officially, just what I noticed).</p>
<p>CAS- 8 to 15
Engineering- 10 to 20
CS- 14 to 25
Business- Pretty ranged, but like finance and accounting can go from 13 to even 28 for first coops
Bouve- don’t know</p>
<p>The pay was never really something people considered though. You take a job because they offer you one, and unless you get three calls in the same day most people panic and except their first offer (just like in normal jobs). You can BARELY live off of coop pay in the city though, so do NOT think coop will help go towards tuition next semester. Even the best coops can’t really do that enough to matter.</p>
<p>As for work, again totally depends on the job. From what I’ve found though, if you are good at your job and you ask a lot of questions and you are a hard worker (aka your boss doesn’t come over three times a day to find you on facebook), they will end up giving you a pretty substantial amount of responsibility. There are a few employers who are famous for giving a LOT of responsibility (ex: Wellington) whereas it’s pretty obvious in some job descriptions that you’ll never ever do anything but file papers. It is really important to read job descriptions before applying and to ask questions during an interview. Most of the stories you hear about people hating their coops are because they didn’t bother to find out what they’d be doing. I do a lot of paperwork at my current job, but I knew about it from the interview and I still decided to say yes- so I don’t mind at all.</p>
<p>Another parent here — The Bouve network for co-op employment is excellent for any health science majors. DS has had three pharmacy co-ops (two hospital and one independent retail pharmacy). Two of the employers offered part time work during the academic semesters after he completed the coop. Although the tuition is steep, we think that NU is worth the investment as long as he stays there and graduates. The NAPLEX (national licensing exam) pass rates are very high for NU graduates. I’m pretty sure that would be the same for any of the majors that require licensure.</p>
<p>I’m a Cal grad and don’t know much about the East Coast perception of universities, but we’ve found that NU has a very good reputation out here on the West Coast.</p>
<p>Pharm majors do every single hospital in the area, big and small. MassGen and Brigham’s are tough to get, as are the other top hospitals. But I have pharm friends in smaller places like out in Beverly (sp?) too. And of course Boston is THE best place to be if you want to work in a hospital.</p>
<p>It’s just a huge advantage that NEU is located in a place where “going on co-op at a nearby hospital” means you’ll get experience at some of the country’s best hospitals–Massgen, Boston children’s, Brigham’s.</p>
<p>My nursing major roommate is applying for jobs and is looking at top children’s hospitals in the country. And she’s actually competitive for these jobs because she’s done both boston children’s and massgen. I’m also looking for jobs and have Brigham on my resume–which in the science world is synonymous with Harvard. So I essentially am applying for jobs and already have research out of the best research institution in the country… it puts me in competition with recent grads from MIT/Stanford/Harvard/Johns Hopkins.</p>
<p>This was comforting to know that co-op will indeed be very useful. Thanks emily and neuchimie. I am a pharm major and I am hoping to find myself in this situation also, “Look at my sick work experience! That job isn’t good enough for me!”</p>