Concerns/Questions about Northeastern?

Emily2007
Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:14:36 +0000

Because I’m feeling nice, procrastinating work, and nothing is on TV. To be more specific, I’ll answer these questions… then this will be my go-to copy/paste for next time ;)

**Whats the social life like in such a big city and when everyone has different schedules due to co ops? **
Social life in a big city means you have the option to hang out around campus or go hang out in the city. Early on, “social life” for me included apartment parties or mission hill “house” parties, chilling in a friend’s dorm, movie night in with some girl friends, going out to a movie, going out to dinner, going to the north end. Once I was 21+ my social life was house parties, going out to casual bars (tons right in neu area), going “out-out” to nicer bars/clubs (also tons nearby), or again, just small get-togethers with friends.

Neu students also do the college hang out thing once they have apartments (you should luck out with a friend or two who has a place with a balcony, backyard, or rooftop). Summer comes around and it was all about barbeque, drinking beer on porches, or playing wiffle ball.

Co-op DOES NOT ruin social life (just to reiterate). During class semesters you go to class. In the afternoon you do extracurriculars or you hang out with friends or in your dorm. During co-op semesters you go to work, and after work you do extracurriculars/hang out with friends/lounge in your dorm. It’s exactly the same. We aren’t really all on “different schedules”. Some of us are in the office 9-5, some of us are in class/studying 9ish to 5ish. Afternoons and weekends are the same on both schedules.

are you doing 2 or 3 co ops?
I did 2 co-ops. Most of my friends did 3. I did 2 because I had to take a semester off in college.

** does it feel like there is much of a community at NE**
I think so, yes. But it’s a big school. It’s not a small liberal arts college. There are 15000 students. But I felt very at-home walking around campus. I could meet up with a friend for coffee between classes, stop at the dining hall with my roommates, go sit in the library with classmates to study (slash gossip and pretend to work). I liked sitting in Curry and people-watching or sitting on a bench in the quad. When it’s warm, everyone sits out on the grass with friends. This is what “community” feels like to me-- a nice place where people enjoy being and where you can hang out with your friends.

what is dorm life like and whats the party scene like?
As evidenced by this forum, the opinions on this vary. I was a dedicated student who also liked to party and made sure I had an active social life. As a freshman, there’s a definite transition that there might not be at another college, since it’s a city school without a huge greek life and without massive houses where people can throw massive parties.

If you DO want to party: it may take time to find a party group, but it’s there. I went to plenty of huge parties (the bigger, the more likely to get broken up, but whatever), both on columbus, on mass ave, and in mission hill-- where apartments tend to be a little more spacious than over in the symphony area. I promise the party scene is alive and well. But, the NEU party scene is more into small get togethers, there just isn’t space for 50 people and 6 kegs… try 20 people and a beer ball (it’s a boston thing, you’ll figure it out later). The good thing is once you’ve tapped the party scene, you can hop from apartment to apartment depending on your mood that night.

If you DON’T like to party, you can still find a good social life, but again everyone, it’s a big school and you have to find a niche. It takes time. I had plenty of nights when I didn’t party. I love staying home with a movie, junk food, and some good friends. I love going bowling (no, I actually hate it, but I’ll tag along), I love going out for dinner. I love going to concerts. I like going out for ice cream. People do those things as well. You live in a wonderful, lively city. Something is there for everyone.

** is it very easy to meet friends and are many students involved in clubs or intramurals? **
It’s not “easy” like it was in high school. Making friends takes effort. Connecting with people and getting to know them takes effort. You won’t be sitting in a classroom with the same 30 people for 5hrs a day, 5 days a week. You need to be social, be friendly, and meet as many people as you can. If you do this, yes, you’ll easily make friends! Joining clubs, intramurals, etc is a good way to meet people, but you also need to put in the effort to get to know them and hang out with them OUTSIDE of the activity as well.

I found clubs/activities/groups/sports to be reasonably popular. There are tons of groups to get involved with and many of them are well attended by other students.

how academics challenging do you think NE is?
Depends on how smart you are and what sort of classes you take.

** whats the overall vibe of the school like, is it mostly rich preppy city kids?**
I can’t comment on this anymore. I’ve graduated and the school is DRASTICALLY different than it was even 5 years ago. The students you meet are not the students I knew. I do still know a good number of 2nd and 3rd year students, and they’re cool. They’re also a teeny tiny percentage of the student body. But they’re smart and fun people, and if the rest of the student body is similar, then great.

Rich and preppy? It’s a school in boston that costs a good chunk of change. I’d say rich and preppy makes up a good quarter of the population. The other 75% are going to be a wide variety of peopl.

** do students at MIT BC BU and HAHVAHD all party together>**
As far as I know, no. If you have a friend at those schools, means more opportunities to go out in boston. Otherwise, there aren’t like massive boston student parties or anything.

Ok. My work here is done.