Northeastern University Top Questions

Now, I am a international student in Global pathway program. I don't have many professional course. This program is offer to help international students meet the English proficiency. Teachers are very kindbut sometimes too strict to students. As a student who is majored in electrical engineering, I think professors in my field are not very authority. Boston University, for example, hires many professors who graduated from top university in USA like MIT, Sanford and are members of IEEE. However, the professors are quite young at Northeastern, so in the next decades Northeastern will have more improvement.

Northeastern is a very diverse school with international students, jocks, hipsters, artists… we have it all… we aren’t very school spirited unfortunately. Our best sports team is hockey. Most people know Northeastern for our co-op, or internship program, making us a 5 year school. We are definitely a party school. Work hard, but play harder… There is a stereotype that Boston is the worst dressed city (not necessarily solely Northeastern) because of girls wearing Uggs and sweatpants all the time. This is very true, but definitely does not define our college stereotype.

very good. most professors are really good but its always worth it to check rate my professor. strong corriculum for business.

The academic experience at Northeastern is generally very good. Professors are extremely intelligent and dedicated, class rooms are state of the art (at least for the Business, Health Sciences, and Engineering programes). Students are extremely intelligent and driven, you will never feel like you are the smartest person in the room, which I think is an extremely good thing. Northeastern places a huge amount of emphasis on getting real world experience, all students are required to complete between 1 and 3 coops in order to graduate. A coop is a 6 month period during which the student works full time. Students do not pay tuition for coops, and some coops within Business, Computer Science, and Engineering programes will pay upwards of 25 dollars/hour. The coop program is fantastic, as it allows you to explore many fields of interest, and build your resume/network at the same time. Professors are always willing to help out after class, some professors are even likely to hang out with you at Connor Larkins (the local dive bar) for pitchers after classes. The atmosphere is excellent, and there is a real sense of communication and idea sharing between both students and professors, and between students.

As an architecture student my academic experience may be very different from other majors. We work hard all day (and often all night). Our classes are all small, with the exception of a few lectures, and all my professors know my name. Studio class is the best/most unique where you work on all of your design projects. Since we work on our projects so very much a camaraderie among the architecture students definitely develops. Though some of us are certainly competitive, we are generally supportive of each other. I am often impressed by the credentials of our teachers. I would say most of my teachers received Ivy League educations and most if not all had advanced degrees. Since we're a smaller major you really get to know your professors well which is great come time for needing recommendations.

Like many schools, Northeastern has a range in the quality of its professors. My regulatory cell biology professor and functional human neuroanatomy professor have been so fantastic that they've basically confirmed my choice to go to medical school for neurology. On the other hand, I've had a couple teachers that I thought were doing their lectures on prehistoric animals from first-hand experience. In general, the classes will definitely challenge you. You can know that when you leave here, you will have a handle on whatever discipline you were in. As I currently look for research jobs in the neuroscience field, I feel confident in my knowledge level. But if you sit in the back of the class and doze off all the time, then maybe you won't. Professor's do care and are willing to help, but not if you're not willing to put in the effort.

The focus at Northeastern is on real world experiences, so naturally the level of academic rigor is not comparable to other universities in the area. That being said, the course work is by no means easy. Professor quality varies greatly program and major, but most are very willing to help students out.

Academics at Northeastern are what one would probably expect at a typical college. They're nothing out of the ordinary. There are sooo many majors to choose from. Because of the career-oriented top majors (Business, Engineering, Nursing, Pharmacy, etc.) and the co-op program it often feels like everyone is on a set track and knows where they are going, which can leave those, like myself, who would rather explore their academic interests and try different majors feeling like time-wasting outcasts. When you really get to know people; however, you find that most people more or less on the same page. College Writing, the required freshman course, is seminar style and will likely be most students' (myself not included) least favorite class but a lot of people look back on the intimate experience fondly. I entered the school as a psychology major but took Shakespeare fall of my third year and was so inspired and impressed that I changed my major. The English department is arguably the BEST at the school. Being a fairly small major with a number of amazing professors makes for an enjoyable niche.

Professors here have an ultra modern take on education in comparison to other schools. Most of them are pretty understanding and helpful. The architecture professors here are crazy. They all come from very impressive backgrounds and have very firm beliefs in what they love. They are typically unforgiving and cut throat but you're always learning. Don't be surprised if most of your classmates are "addied up" all night just to get that final presentation PERFECT. The students in turn are very aggressive and competitive (because the competition for COOP jobs)- don't even think about asking your peers for help.

Classes can be hit and miss. I'm now pre-med and compared to other schools I think we have it easy...I know BU has like 5 hours bio labs every week which is not the case here. Social science classes have mostly been a joke and ridiculously easy whereas science classes are more difficult but not even that hard to get an A. People are not really competitive even where you would think they would be (majors like pre-med/pharmacy or honors classes). Most competition comes when you apply for co-op jobs. Best class so far has been psychobiology..prof. is an asshole but a veryy good lecturer. I can't really say that I've had any other AMAZING classes, just good ones and then some mediocore ones.