<p>Co-op isn’t mandatory. There’s an “experiential learning” requirement that can be filled by senior-level courses like seminars or directed study. This really depends on your major… some majors require co-op, but a lot of them don’t.</p>
<p>Most people do co-op because co-op is awesome. Some people don’t think it’s for them but a lot of them change their minds later on and do at least one. I don’t know many people who have done straight 4 years.</p>
<p>Not having summer isn’t as bad as it sounds. You’ll have a summer after freshman year, but after that most of your hometown friends won’t be around much anyway–people move on and find other interests. If summer is important to you, there are ways to arrange your schedule so that you have a real vacation. Spending summer in boston is actually really fun, and summer classes are super laid back, so most of us are pretty happy to hang around.</p>