by Dave Best – Galin Education College Counselor
Located in Boston, MA, Northeastern University is a private national university focused on experiential learning to deliver innovation. Northeastern is a leader in integrating classroom and real world experiences to make its education more responsive to the needs of the 21st century economy.
Academic
Northeastern offers 150 undergraduate majors across eight undergraduate colleges. Additionally there are 24 PlusOne programs which enable a Bachelors and Masters degree within five years.
Co-op is the cornerstone of a Northeastern education. A co-op is a sophisticated form of internship, where students alternate classroom work with full-time work for six months. The majority of students participate in co-op, and there are some colleges that require co-op as part of the program (College of Engineering for example). For the class of 2016, 96% of graduates participated in at least one co-op, 78% participated in two or more co-ops. Undergraduates who choose not to pursue co-op are required to fulfill Northeastern’s experiential learning requirements by participating in at least one of the following: research, service learning, or study abroad programs.
Experiential learning integrates the classroom and the real world. Northeastern programs engage students with the world through professional work, research, and service on seven continents. They learn how to transform ideas into impact and become global citizens.
The most popular majors at Northeastern include business, nursing, psychology, mechanical engineering, communications and biological sciences
Social Life
Northeastern students come from approximately 48 states and 126 countries. There are more than 250,000 college students in Boston including 46,000 international students. About half of Northeastern students live on campus, and with the popularity of the co-op program, many students can be off-campus in a given semester.
Athletically the Huskies compete at the Division I level in the Colonial Athletic Association which includes College of Charleston, Delaware, Drexel, Elon, Hofstra, James Madison, UNC Wilmington, Towson and William & Mary.
Environment
Northeastern has a 73 acre campus in the heart of Boston and is part of the Fenway Cultural District. This compact campus is urban yet filled with trees and flowers. There are many colleges in Boston and nearby schools include Boston University, MIT, Harvard, Emerson as well as the Boston Conservatory / Berklee College of Music.
And one more thing…
Northeastern has emerged from its commuter school roots not long ago to become an internationally-recognized university. NEU has shot up in the US News rankings of National Universities. In 2003, NEU was ranked 127, was at #98 in 2007 and in the most recent year it now is #39. That is a tremendous rise and has seen a huge increase in applications (now more than 50,000), as well as selectivity which now is below a 30% admit rate. The standardized test scores have also risen significantly, but one should note that Northeastern does not report scores on a large percentage of the class as International students (19%) do not submit SAT / ACT and 600-700 freshman start in the N.U.in program abroad.
By the Numbers
Undergraduate Population: 17,506
Acceptance Rate: 28%
Average ACT / SAT scores: SAT 1340-1510, ACT 31-34 (Internationals no SAT/ACT)
Student-faculty ratio:14:1
4-year graduation rate: not reported
US News Ranking: 39 National Universities (2017)
Tuition: $47,655 (2016-17)
