Northeastern v. William & Mary

shawnspencer
Mon, 06 Apr 2015 05:49:54 +0000

It’s really funny, because when I was making my decision for colleges it came down to those exact two schools. Completely different, I know, but they both had various qualities that appealed to me. I have visited both at least twice and have friends at each. To me, it really depends on what your student wants out of a college experience more. It also depends on possibly what she wants to go into. A co-op from Northeastern may be much more beneficial in some more pre-professional fields (business, compsci), but W&M may have better alumni or a stronger department in an area that NEU might lack (ex: IR, government)

Northeastern has the co-op thing, which appeals to many students and provides great job experiences for a resume, but what katliamom‌ points out is true as well. To some, it may be sacrificing part of the college experience by having them work part time and also having your friends coming in and out of your life as they go complete their own co-ops. Due to its preprofessional nature, there may be less flexibility in major changes because you declare as you go in compared to W&M where you don’t declare until you reached a certain amount of credits. Boston is also an awesome city to explore, there are many things to do for young people, but socially speaking it might be more difficult for someone strapped for cash to delve into all that Boston has to offer. The more competitive co-ops do pay, which may help defray the costs, and compared to W&M Northeastern seems to have a more global perspective by having alumni do things all over the country. Co-op is definitely a highlight of the Northeastern experience. In terms of food and facilities, Northeastern just has so many different options, but W&M has more “green space.”

W&M is a public school that really highlights small class sizes and interaction with professors. There is also the component of research that you can really delve into it if you want to. I am only in my first year here, but this semester all my class sizes have been 35 students or less. I am also doing a geocoding internship over the summer through W&M, so co-ops are not the only way to get jobs and valuable work experience. Compared to Boston, Williamsburg is much more of a quaint town but still many tourists and outside visitors, but not for someone who really desires a city. The best part is the community because many people are on campus and there is plenty to do on that front. It has a interdisciplinary liberal arts curriculum, which causes students to take courses in many different subjects, compared to Northeastern which emphasizes the strong focus in developing one subject area.

Obviously I am biased towards W&M, but I strongly believe that both are amazing schools and you can’t go wrong with either. Go take a visit to both and let us know what you decide.