I recently got accepted into Northeastern (1 year Oakland + 3 years Boston). Zero aid, so it’ll cost $88,000 / year, however, with AP credits and 2 co-op semesters, it looks like it’ll be roughly $65,000 / year. Case Western with scholarship is roughly $64,000 / year. Planning Mechanical Engineering at both.
I’d be more than happy to go to either school, but the fact that they’ll be close in price with everything considered forces me to pick between them. I don’t have time to visit as I ED2ed to case western (guaranteed admision from EA) so I have to either withdraw my case western application for neu or wait to get accepted from case western and be required to attend.
Note: family can pay the $88k price tag for NEU if need be, but I was still planning on picking CWRU over it because of the costs until I realized that co-ops will bring down the cost of NEU considerably.
NEU pros:
boston: great metropolitan city, lots of internship opportunities, want to live on east coast post gradution
mandatory co-ops: easy to get paid opportunities / co-ops and lots of support for these
good social scene (from what i’ve heard) with lots of popular clubs and social events
higher minimum wage jobs around campus / in boston
NEU cons:
$88k/year without taking into account co-op and ap credit savings
lack of campus? not sure how it is compared to nyu / bu but i’ve still heard many complaints
first year in oakland instead of boston
oakland doesn’t have mech engineering, so I’ll have to take cs for a year before switching (not sure how much of an impact this’ll be)
CWRU pros:
amazing engineering building (thinkbox) for personal projects (not sure how neu facilities compare)
easy to do double majors / minors with curriculum
actually has a campus with 4 years guaranteed housing
$23k scholarship brings down cost to $64k/year
CWRU cons:
bland / lack of social life (heard mixed things, but i’d like to attend some parties)
cleveland: midwest, not much to do, school offers more than the city, isolated
only 25-30% of mech engineering students do co-op, which is very low compared to neu
If you are admitted ED to NEU, you promised to attend if affordable. If NEU admission is not ED, than you can wait until you get the CWRU result (which you promised to attend if admitted and it is affordable).
Looks like NEU is more expensive by $24k per academic year in school.
Another vote for CWRU. So many more opportunities to bloom when you are securely planted - study abroad, research, true campus in lovely part of town close to Little Italy and museum district.
I can still withdraw my ED2 application to Case Western as the decision hasn’t come out yet (but I’ve been guaranteed admission) and once it comes back, I have no other option but to attend. EA for Northeastern released yesterday.
Northeastern will be $24k / year more, but taking co-ops and early graduation into account, they’re about the same price in the end - which is why I’m contemplating which option would be better. With AP credits, it seems I’ll be able to cut off 1-2 semesters and summer semesters are also discounted compared to Fall and Spring.
If you do co-ops while at CWRU, then that will reduce the cost by a similar amount. I.e. comparing apples to apples, CWRU should cost less.
Have you gone through the curriculum at each school and what subject credit and advanced placement each gives for AP credit to see if you can actually graduate with fewer semesters of school than the usual number?
Sounds like you said you have not visited Case, but you think there’s nothing to do because it’s in the Midwest? You do realize there is a LOT of the US that’s midwest, including some great cities. Case is in a wonderful part of the city, and being in the same place for all 4 years (instead of 2 different campuses plus of-campus coops) can provide a better social life, which you care about.
Case is a great school. I’m not in the business of putting down other schools, but NEU has played a lot of ratings games to get that low acceptance rate that gets people excited. Case has put in the work to provide an incredible education.
I have, Case will give considerably less credit for the APs I have taken so it looks like I’ll still have to take 8 semesters as opposed to 6-7. The merit aid is enticing though as I’ll get more of an education for the same cost.
You should look at the major requirements for MechE at NEU. If you can’t take your MechE courses your first year at NEU, how many semesters will it take you to get them done? Typically APs clear out first year courses, like some math or physics pre reqs. If APs clear out some lower level classes for you, will there still be enough other required classes at the Oakland campus? If the classes don’t help make progress to your major, you may still have to take so many in Boston that you can’t graduate early.
This is confusing. If you were guaranteed admission from EA, why did you apply ED2?
My vote would also be for Case Western. Four years at a great school in your major would be preferred to 1 year in Oakland studying something different and then switching majors in Boston.
Case Western games the system by deferring or waitlisting many people from EA and guaranteeing admission only if they switch to ED2. It’s tied with NEU as my top choice and I was provided merit aid on acceptance, so I chose to switch to ED2 in order to guarantee my acceptance. However, I can still withdraw before the official decision comes out.
I am definitely leaning towards Case because I’ll be there for all 4 years, but I’ve heard from friends at Oakland that they were able to make strong connections that carried onto Boston as everyone was required to transfer for their second year.
Around 2/3s of students do internships at Case, which is quite a lot more than Co-ops (I assume it’s due to being able to take courses while doing internships, whereas Co-ops require you to take a semester off of school)
Are you getting NU at $65K because you are using your co op earnings to pay it down? Don’t forget, you’ll pay taxes.
At Northeastern, you start at an alternate campus? Are you ok with that? You can intern or co op at CWRU too. Northeastern is not the only school with co op - most every has.
So that makes CWRU cheaper – even if you just summer interned.
I think you created cons without true knowledge - Cleveland is an incredible city - with the Rock Hall, great sports, a national park just south, and little Italy practically next to campus. It’s not Boston but it’s not bland.
As for 25-30% do co op, that’s a choice - most likely intern - but that doesn’t preclude you from co oping - which is likely easier to get than an internship.
If it were me, four years on campus with the proper classes first year and knowing your major classmates vs. sliding in for year two (not sure if you get that in Oakland), this is a no brainer.
I’m not sure you’d be bringing it down as much as you think you will. Housing in Boston is expensive and internships often end up costing more than you think they will (housing, transportation, etc).