NorthEastern University in Boston - weirded out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PS - for many families, having a strong educational option that is commutable makes college accessible and affordable. This is the same diss thrown at George Mason by so many haters.

FWIW - everyone I met from Northeastern while I was in school and everyone I know of now is not a commuter.

NU is always going to feel inferior with all the big hitters in Boston, that's just the way it is.

It WAS a commuter school. It isn't one now and hasn't been for years.

Everyone I knew there in late 80's were NOT commuters either, though....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think top 20 is well out of Reach for Northeastern but it's a good school regardless and has made strides.

Seems more like a house of cards.

People on this listserve have a weird need to tear people/things down. You'll see all sorts of strange posts on here wear people rail against UVA, UMichigan, U Chicago..."lesser" Ivies, all SLACs, basically, every school except HYPSM. Northeastern is a fine school. What makes it a "house of cards"? It has strong (and by all indications very happy) students, great facilities, and a high caliber faculty. Their finances are in good shape and their graduate school and job placements are very good.

Seriously!

Northeastern University is a great school. DH had an amazing experience there. I don't want to give away why because it may identify him.

People on here talk up so many random privates here that frankly, I never heard of, and most people never heard of and could give 2 S--ts about. Like bobo brand schools.

Er... you could say the exact same thing about Northeastern. Excessively overrated.

It's a national university. Everybody has heard of it.

And what are these other “random privates” that you’re railing against and that are supposedly sooo inferior to Northeastern, the 8th best school in greater Boston?

I never judged a university by it's neighbors. Does that mean that, based on Georgetown's ranking, George Washington University, American University, and University of Maryland are all dung? I guess by DCUM methodology they are. Who knew.

Never said that. What you DID do was rail against other “random privates” so, again, tell me: what schools are you talking about that are supposedly so inferior to NEU?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think top 20 is well out of Reach for Northeastern but it's a good school regardless and has made strides.

Seems more like a house of cards.

People on this listserve have a weird need to tear people/things down. You'll see all sorts of strange posts on here wear people rail against UVA, UMichigan, U Chicago..."lesser" Ivies, all SLACs, basically, every school except HYPSM. Northeastern is a fine school. What makes it a "house of cards"? It has strong (and by all indications very happy) students, great facilities, and a high caliber faculty. Their finances are in good shape and their graduate school and job placements are very good.

Seriously!

Northeastern University is a great school. DH had an amazing experience there. I don't want to give away why because it may identify him.

People on here talk up so many random privates here that frankly, I never heard of, and most people never heard of and could give 2 S--ts about. Like bobo brand schools.

Er... you could say the exact same thing about Northeastern. Excessively overrated.

It's a national university. Everybody has heard of it.

Don’t be delusional. Everybody certainly hasn’t heard of it, and it’s not as impressive as you’re trying to hawk it off as. Sure, it’s a “national university” in the same way that, what, 1,000 other schools in this country are?

[Anonymous]

I grew up in the Boston area in an affluent area where many Harvard, MIT, BU, NE, Brandeis etc., professors lived. To describe NE as a community college equivalent in the 80’s and 90’s is such snobbish BS. We toured NE and were very impressed. Every NE grad we’ve bumped into in the DC area or on vacation this summer loved it. They were all employed or attending grad school. Our kid has the grades, SATs (scored about 1550 on SATs), and activities to apply as a serious candidate to top 10 schools for those of you obsessed with rankings. The thing is they really paid attention to whether the students seemed happy at various schools. Were the kids tense. Did they compete with one another or were they supportive. Our kid genuinely likes to learn and will work hard in a pass fail class or an “easy” elective. They like working collaboratively with others. Their impression was that Nae was a place they could be happy, work with others, and get valuable work experience all while living in Boston on a real campus in the city.

I look at the price tag per year of these other school and consider NE and its coop and international opportunities, I can’t help but think that NE is a great option for my kid. Our kid has been struck by how happy the students are and the ones we’ve met have done really impressive coops. Our child prefers NE over some Ivys and other well known, highly ranked schools. Don’t trash the school. It has a lot to offer and their coop program allows kids to gain real experience, make money, and figure out what work really appeals to them. As an attorney who knows a significant number of “recovering” attorneys from top tier law schools who left the law after spending $150,000 to $200,000, having the opportunity to actually work in a field before you’ve invested 4 years tuition is valuable. If it’s not for your kid, don’t apply. But don’t trash something just because it’s not for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the Boston area in an affluent area where many Harvard, MIT, BU, NE, Brandeis etc., professors lived. To describe NE as a community college equivalent in the 80’s and 90’s is such snobbish BS. We toured NE and were very impressed. Every NE grad we’ve bumped into in the DC area or on vacation this summer loved it. They were all employed or attending grad school. Our kid has the grades, SATs (scored about 1550 on SATs), and activities to apply as a serious candidate to top 10 schools for those of you obsessed with rankings. The thing is they really paid attention to whether the students seemed happy at various schools. Were the kids tense. Did they compete with one another or were they supportive. Our kid genuinely likes to learn and will work hard in a pass fail class or an “easy” elective. They like working collaboratively with others. Their impression was that Nae was a place they could be happy, work with others, and get valuable work experience all while living in Boston on a real campus in the city.

I look at the price tag per year of these other school and consider NE and its coop and international opportunities, I can’t help but think that NE is a great option for my kid. Our kid has been struck by how happy the students are and the ones we’ve met have done really impressive coops. Our child prefers NE over some Ivys and other well known, highly ranked schools. Don’t trash the school. It has a lot to offer and their coop program allows kids to gain real experience, make money, and figure out what work really appeals to them. As an attorney who knows a significant number of “recovering” attorneys from top tier law schools who left the law after spending $150,000 to $200,000, having the opportunity to actually work in a field before you’ve invested 4 years tuition is valuable. If it’s not for your kid, don’t apply. But don’t trash something just because it’s not for you.

+1000
This was our impression 100 percent. Super bright students who raved about their professors, co-ops, and classes in general. I know several kids who toured all the Boston schools (because they have the stats to get into all of them) and left with NE as their top choice (or among their top choices.) My DD didn’t want to a school quite that big but we left the tour liking it much better than Tufts or BU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was basically a commuter school when I lived in Boston many years ago. They’ve admitted that they purposefully spent enormous resources to game the rankings and voila, it worked.

This. Our kid is not applying because we don't think the quality of the education is remotely in line with the rankings (dual academic family here.) The co-op approach is great for some kids/majors/professions, but it's a VERY mixed bag. And everyone we know who has sent a kid there has wound up spending freshman year in Europe. It's a con game - much better to aim for any of the other highly ranked Boston schools (not just Harvard/MIT but Tufts, BC, BU or Brandeis are all far superior to Northeastern.)

This is exactly how we felt after our tour a few years ago. The big focus on the co-op was a huge turn off. And they were going over the top with "selling" the school. My DS ended up going to an actual top 20.

[Anonymous]

My son felt that the campus didn't feel like a real college campus. Didn't like the focus on co-op. It's probably a fine school, just wasn't for him. I do think it is comical, though, that people here thinking it is a contender for top 20 ranking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the Boston area in an affluent area where many Harvard, MIT, BU, NE, Brandeis etc., professors lived. To describe NE as a community college equivalent in the 80’s and 90’s is such snobbish BS. We toured NE and were very impressed. Every NE grad we’ve bumped into in the DC area or on vacation this summer loved it. They were all employed or attending grad school. Our kid has the grades, SATs (scored about 1550 on SATs), and activities to apply as a serious candidate to top 10 schools for those of you obsessed with rankings. The thing is they really paid attention to whether the students seemed happy at various schools. Were the kids tense. Did they compete with one another or were they supportive. Our kid genuinely likes to learn and will work hard in a pass fail class or an “easy” elective. They like working collaboratively with others. Their impression was that Nae was a place they could be happy, work with others, and get valuable work experience all while living in Boston on a real campus in the city.

I look at the price tag per year of these other school and consider NE and its coop and international opportunities, I can’t help but think that NE is a great option for my kid. Our kid has been struck by how happy the students are and the ones we’ve met have done really impressive coops. Our child prefers NE over some Ivys and other well known, highly ranked schools. Don’t trash the school. It has a lot to offer and their coop program allows kids to gain real experience, make money, and figure out what work really appeals to them. As an attorney who knows a significant number of “recovering” attorneys from top tier law schools who left the law after spending $150,000 to $200,000, having the opportunity to actually work in a field before you’ve invested 4 years tuition is valuable. If it’s not for your kid, don’t apply. But don’t trash something just because it’s not for you.

+1000
This was our impression 100 percent. Super bright students who raved about their professors, co-ops, and classes in general. I know several kids who toured all the Boston schools (because they have the stats to get into all of them) and left with NE as their top choice (or among their top choices.) My DD didn’t want to a school quite that big but we left the tour liking it much better than Tufts or BU.

To be fair, BU is a huge school and Tufts is a completely different vibe. Both great schools, but it is easy to understand why someone who likes Northeaster wouldn't like Tufts, for example. That is why kids should look at different types of schools and see where they think they "feel it" rather than just applying to names. Someone who like Haverford wouldn't like Michigan. Both great schools, but very different.

[Anonymous]

If you get more kids to apply by gaming the system, it doesn't mean they are a great school because they turn away 80% of the kids. It means, they were smart with gaming the system. They are not a top 20 school, nor will they ever be. And as for the co-op program, students complain that it makes it really hard to have consistent friendships on campus. Furthermore, every school, at least every school I've visited, have amazing internship programs and often pay the kids for them, So... I'm not sure what the appeal of the co-op is....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you get more kids to apply by gaming the system, it doesn't mean they are a great school because they turn away 80% of the kids. It means, they were smart with gaming the system. They are not a top 20 school, nor will they ever be. And as for the co-op program, students complain that it makes it really hard to have consistent friendships on campus. Furthermore, every school, at least every school I've visited, have amazing internship programs and often pay the kids for them, So... I'm not sure what the appeal of the co-op is....

Some schools get a lot of kids to apply to them by having a great football team.
A lot of "great schools" with great rankings have those rankings because of their "elite" reputation--despite the fact that students will be taught by graduate students the entire time they are there and may never get in to the classes they want to take.
Literally, every colleges raves about their "internships" and "study abroad programs" and "opportunities for undergraduate research" and "student relationships with professors" and "small class sizes"....but most schools have maybe one or two of those things that they do really well. For NE, it's the co-op. It may not be important for all kids, but for some kids, it's really appealing. Just like for some kids, an urban school is really appealing (I don't get it but it's a real thing).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think top 20 is well out of Reach for Northeastern but it's a good school regardless and has made strides.

Seems more like a house of cards.

People on this listserve have a weird need to tear people/things down. You'll see all sorts of strange posts on here wear people rail against UVA, UMichigan, U Chicago..."lesser" Ivies, all SLACs, basically, every school except HYPSM. Northeastern is a fine school. What makes it a "house of cards"? It has strong (and by all indications very happy) students, great facilities, and a high caliber faculty. Their finances are in good shape and their graduate school and job placements are very good.

Seriously!

Northeastern University is a great school. DH had an amazing experience there. I don't want to give away why because it may identify him.

People on here talk up so many random privates here that frankly, I never heard of, and most people never heard of and could give 2 S--ts about. Like bobo brand schools.

Er... you could say the exact same thing about Northeastern. Excessively overrated.

It's a national university. Everybody has heard of it.

And what are these other “random privates” that you’re railing against and that are supposedly sooo inferior to Northeastern, the 8th best school in greater Boston?

I never judged a university by it's neighbors. Does that mean that, based on Georgetown's ranking, George Washington University, American University, and University of Maryland are all dung? I guess by DCUM methodology they are. Who knew.

Kindof

[Anonymous]

I’m from the West Coast, never heard of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m from the West Coast, never heard of it.

From the Midwest, lived in CA before going to going to college in NY and didn't hear about Northeastern until after I graduated college.

[Anonymous]

Knew three kids who graduated from NEU, and they all came away saying they wished they had chosen a more traditional college experience. Not all students do co-op, and a vast majority of co-op positions are sort of back-office, not very good positions, even if they are at big-name companies (which most of them are not).

[Anonymous]

It’s at the very least the seventh best school in Boston.