Comparing Northeastern (Nu.in) [$90k] to other choices [$38-60k]

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My kid was accepted to Northeastern (Nu.in – 1st semester abroad) for School of Science for Marine Bio with no merit ($90k). We like the school a lot and can pay the cost, but we also have a lot of other good, and significantly less expensive, options. We have seen only a handful of these schools, so we are trying to prioritize the visits. Which of the schools from the list below would you put high on the list, and why? Are there schools you would eliminate, and why?

About the kid:

  • interested in marine bio/marine science, but I want a school with other strengths in case kid wants to pivot.
  • Leans more to science than humanities, especially earth-related sciences
  • smart but not academically intense/competitive. Prefers experiential over book learning.
  • socially easy going with multiple friend groups. Some greek life is ok, but not overly greek-centered culture
  • open to different locations and campus types, with a preference for schools with an identifiable campus
  • has some reservations about going to a super large school but still willing to consider

Pitt (OOS) - Arts and Sciences, Undeclared ($60k, no merit)

Union - Undeclared ($60k w/merit)

Rutgers (OOS) - School of Biological and Environment Science and School of Arts and Science ($55k, no merit)

Drexel - Exploratory ($50k w/merit)

UNH (OOS)- College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, Marine, Estuarine, and Freshwater Biology ($50k w/merit)

UDel (OOS)- College of the Earth, Ocean, and Environment, Marine Science ($50k w/merit)

UVM (OOS) - Rubenstein School of Environment & Natural Resources, Undeclared ($50k w/merit)

URI (OOS)- College of the Environment and Life Sciences, Marine Biology ($45k w/merit)

Gettysburg - undeclared ($38k w/merit)

Awaiting: BU, Lehigh, F&M, UConn (OOS), and Conn College

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First off – congrats! Some great options and hopefully more to come.

Agree that you have other less expensive and very strong options already in hand. I’m not sure if the lower cost would be meaningful to your family – ex. if the lower priced options could help you pay for grad school (if desired) that may be part of the discussion.

I would first try to try to narrow down the type of school they prefer (you have acceptances ranging from LAC to public flagships), location (urban, college town, etc.) and make some cuts that way.

Is there something about Northeastern that particularly speaks to your student? Do they love the co-op model? Are they OK not starting on campus?

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Congratulations! As someone who had a passionate marine biologist (pivoted in college) I would say that the program and location are really important. Access to water and solid research opportunities are paramount. Additionally, grad school is likely in their future so may need to add to budget. I am not familiar with most of those schools. However, as you pointed out it’s important to be at a school with lots of offerings if marine science interest changes.

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UDel, URI, and UNH would all have the upper hand - I assume that with the merit there’s admission to the Honors college (if one doesn’t, it’s a possible reason to cross out?)
If the co-op model is of special importance, Drexel would seem like a very strong contender too.

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I probably should have made more clear in my post that even though we can pay for NEU, the cost difference is very meaningful to us and will impact how much help we can give for grad school or other future support. As for what about NEU appeals to my kid – I think it’s the combination of the general strength of the school, the strength of their marine science program, being in Boston yet having a definable campus, the coop program (and its post-grad outcomes) and the relative reputation/prestige (this was a high reach school for my kid). My kid is also intrigued by the NU.in program. But is it $30K+/year better for my kid than the other choices? We are not yet sure of that.

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I would budget with the idea in mind that a master’s degree is a real possibility. This implies that you might want to budget for six years of university.

One daughter was at one time interested in marine biology, but pivoted a bit and graduated with a degree in biology (not specifically marine), with quite a bit of experience in micro- or cellular biology (I am not sure that I fully understand the difference between the two). Thus we have at least a bit of experience in a related topic. She is currently getting a PhD which is, like most STEM PhD’s, fully funded. Thus this is not a significant expense for us, and does not need to cost us parents anything at all. However, when she was applying to PhD programs, at one point it looked quite likely that if she had not gotten into a PhD program then she would most likely have been admitted for a master’s instead, and that would not have been funded.

The other thing that I have noticed is that the various other students in biology-related graduate programs come from a huge range of different universities. NEU is a very good university. However, your daughter can do well with a degree from any of the schools that you mentioned in your original post.

I did not think that UVM had marine biology as a major. It does have a good biology program, with many strong students including premed students, and also including some very strong pre-vet students (UVM is very good for pre-vet, so is UNH). My other daughter was pre-vet at UVM and liked it quite a bit (and is a veterinarian now). I think that it would be possible to get a bachelor’s in general biology, with a few courses in oceanography or marine science, and then go on to graduate work in marine biology. If my goal was marine biology, I am not sure that I would start at a university that does not have the major. Perhaps whether to pick UVM might depend upon how strongly your daughter feels about the “marine” part.

I would expect the classes required to major in marine biology, or any type of biology, to overlap significantly with premed classes. Some of these will be tough at any school on your list. However, given your daughter’s excellent list of acceptances and merit aid it looks very likely that your daughter will rise to the challenge and do well.

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I would prioritize visiting UDel. Being close to Delaware beaches is an advantage for that field of study. The campus is beautiful and R1 research and plenty of other majors if you child decides to change paths.

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My kids looked at a lot of these schools, but very different majors (but I have a relative looking pre-vet at a lot of these schools with a bio major so have been talking a bit about this lately:).

Honestly, not sure NEU is worth the extra money for your kiddo if the money difference is meaningful for you and grad school is in near future. UNH/URI have decently big marine programs/focus (didn’t UNH just announce a new big program too?) and pretty campuses. I don’t think UNH, in particular, is very greek, and a very nice campus, easy access to lots of nice things (Boston, Portsmouth, Maine, etc). I know nothing about U Del but I hear great things. URI you can end up living pracrically ON the ocean as an upper classman, which is kind of amazing.

I really love UVM, and Rubenstein is cool, but less oceany maybe? Lovely campus and college town though. Has a lot of what you are describing.

NEU is very pre-professional, lots of business/engineering types. Obviously has a HUGE range of majors, but definitely has a large cohort of that. I think UNH/UVm would have less of that vibe honeslty. I think neu will also be more competitive.

I think Union may be a bit more fratty…turned us off for that. pretty campus though IMO. Felt less experiential to me, but we didn’t look that hard. Drexel seems a slightly more chill NEU, so that could make sense if wants a very urban campus, but sounds like would rather a more campusy campus.

Anyway, my 2 cents. My 27 will apply to NEU, but not sure it will be worth the 90k to us either..we shall see their options in the end!

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Given it’s a hard field to break into , low paying and it will impact future giving (grad school very possible), heck no.

Go to URI and visit Boston. Or better yet UNH and take the campus train to Boston. You can go every weekend.

Look at NU career outcomes and see where they are placing and how much they’re getting paid.

They don’t have enough data from 2024 to show salaries but if u use the max filter 2016-24 it shows most under $40k and most in grad school so you are risking the future. I am on the phone but maybe on a pc u can pick 2 or 3 years and get more recent data since they can’t give one year salary data it’s likely a small program.

You have to have disposable income to pick NU here Love your kid but this is not the right choice - IMHO.

You also have to think about what if your finances take a hit - job or assets wise - never stretch that much.

Ps doesn’t want large. NU is the largest of these - didn’t check Drexel but overall student population.

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Then I think it’s hard to justify paying an additional $120–160k for NEU when he has several other excellent and well-respected options.

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I’m playing around on the laptop - and looked at MY23. This is Masters….Bachelor has no data for 23 or 24 at NU. That you’d be stretched or couldn’t help later is reason enough - but outcomes are not going to be good. Again, as you look at these, they are Masters salaries as they don’t have Bachelor data. It’s probably very niche for them. My guess is - but can’t tell - given the #s - there’s likely only 8 students in this data.

I’m hesitant on schools that don’t have what she wants - does Gettysburg or UVM - as she is specific to Marine. In some ways, I question the list for Marine Science/bio - but UNH and URI would both be solid - with UNH giving easy Boston access.

UNH has half the undergrad population of NU with 11,250. URI is 15K. UDel is 19K undergrad.

I think even if money wasn’t an option - when I first heard NU and Marine Bio…it didn’t fit.

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Agree. I would pick UDel and then URI or UNH over NEU for marine bio and also for the type of campus you described. They have excellent programs and the fact that they are all significantly less expensive is a bonus.

I think the coop programs is oversold in some majors. All of the above schools have connections to great opportunities. An NEU internship will probably be in a lab, so if that’s not not what she is looking for, she may be disappointed. All of the other schools will have plenty of lab opportunities.

UDel has its own campus in Lewes just for Marine Bio.

It sounds like your daughter got caught up in the competitiveness and prestige but UNE is not what she is looking for in the long run. UDel, UNH and URI all offer great study abroad opportunities. The benefit of not having to be forced to do one your first semester are that you get used to being on campus and you are not as restricted in the classes that you can take. You can check the course listing for each school, but she could probably take some classes in marine biology right away and see if she truly does want to go in that direction. If she does, she might even be able to do a study aboard her junior year that is focused more on her major (whatever it ends up being).

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It’s hard to escape the allure of college rankings and reputation. My college list for my daughter to look at has several top schools we can’t afford - because I want only the best for her, but also because I want her to learn to make good decisions. But the effects of reputation apply more to the hyper-competitive career fields. It sounds like your child wants field experience, so I think they need to look at the schools and their major coursework and opportunities for research. Find the program where they have three courses titled “Playing in the Swamp”.

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Getting an acceptance to a school you can’t afford or don’t want to afford will potentially cause torment. A better decision, in my mind, is to know you can’t apply because you’ve set a budget and it can’t make budget. I set $50k. If there was no aid possible, mine couldn’t apply. If the admittance didn’t come in at $50k it came off.

Getting an acceptance you can’t afford without an advanced understanding just makes zero sense.

The entire ranking thing is overblown. NU has a low acceptance rate for Boston. I’m not sure nationally it’s seen at the level that people who attend see it bcuz so many have applied.

But go to any flagship from Alabama (likely the most) to Oklahoma to Wyoming, you have NMFs everywhere. And Ivy caliber kids too.

A better lesson might be not applying to where you can’t afford.

You are assuming you can’t get a superior, top notch education at non brand name or lower ranked schools - and it’s simply not true.

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I am not understanding the wide array of schoools they chose to apply to if they were looking for Marine Bio? I did not even know NE had Marine Bio. I have several close friends and relatives either applying next year or currently attending universities for Marine Bio. From what I have discussed with them that are also on your list I would prioritize URI followed by U Del.

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Agreed - but it’s clear the student has a preference for the NE and not the South or West. I’d have looked at schools like UNCW, Coastal Carolina, U Tampa and Eckerd but there are highly rated schools not on the coast in the major too. So obviously it can be studied in many places.

Hopefully they attend a school where they can study specifically what they desire. I see some schools without the major. They’d be easy eliminates for me.

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If rankings matter to OP, then as per USNews rankings, Rutgers is a few slots above Northeastern.

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I am a Northeastern alum and my child is a recent graduate. One positive about the school is it’s easy to change majors, relative to some other colleges. My child did the “Explore program” as an undecided student, and liked his advisor very much. In my opinion, if you would like to find out more about Northeastern you can join the Northeastern Parents Facebook group (those parents are a wealth of information) or your child can talk to current students (Husky Ambassadors) and get some better information about the program, co-ops and job outcomes than you can get from College Confidential. NU has a “PlusOne program” where I believe you can get a master’s degree in less time than if you did two different colleges for undergrad and grad. You might want to check that for marine science.

One of my child’s friends got a BS from U Del in Marine Sciences and a MS in marine conservation and policy from Stony Brook. He had a full-ride scholarship to U Del, and liked the school. He was in the Honor’s College and said that came with a lot of perks, like being able to register for your classes sooner.

My child’s top college choices were NU and our state flagship. Our neighbor’s child who went to the state school struggled finding a job post-grad whereas my child is working in their chosen field and is well-paid. (I don’t know how marine sciences pay.) Good luck with your decision!

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My opinion is that Northeastern is a perfectly good school, but it has gamed the admissions statistics to make it appear to be more selective, and therefore more prestigious, than it otherwise would be. I do not think it is more prestigious than some of your other options.

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Agree. And if other of the more affordable schools have his desired marine bio major, it would be prudent to select one of those other fine schools. Students change their minds and their majors and their career paths frequently, and schools’ outcome data has a number of limitations, so IMO if you are inclined to consider that info, that rabbit hole is not worth going down. Congrats on so many fine and reasonable priced choices. NE is not the best choice here.

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