Northeastern University

Date: Apr 26 2010
Major: Sociology (This Major's Salary over time)
Ever since touring Northeastern's award-winning campus several years ago, I've thought of the school as a place of "mediums." In essence, with an undergraduate student body of about 15,000 students I felt the school was large enough that I'd not only meet a diverse range of students but also find it small enough that my voice would be heard and I would be more than a number. At 73 acres I feel that the campus is large enough to accomodate the large number of students that use it but small enough to foster a sense of place and community crucial to enhancing the quality of life for its users. Although we are labeled as an urban university, I feel like our location and urban environment makes accessing the best Boston has to offer all the more pleasant and easy to do, yet we are also situated in a unique place that we don't have to endure the "sounds of the city" one might expect in an urban setting.

I feel like one of Northeastern's greatest strengths is that it has done an exceptional job creating an environment of diversity and encouraging students to interact with a broad range of others with different backgrounds than their own. Since joining Northeastern I've made friends from all around the United states, had neighbors from countries in Scandinavia and Southeast Asia, and even a couple roommates from the Middle East. I've met some students who can afford to go to college because of their parents' trust fund(s) and others that are National Merit recipients and worked their butts off to receive financial aid to go here.

Between Northeastern's signature co-op program and the amount of financial aid the school offers to students, paying for college is less of a hassle than it has proven to be at other schools. Since you can earn up to a year and a half worth of disposable income from a co-op job, that money can be used to pay off student loan debt or invest in on/off campus housing.

The best advice I ever got about picking a college was that I had to first see if their academic program(s) were compatible with my interests, then evaluate whether my high school record was comparable to current students' recoreds, and then (most importantly) VISIT THE SCHOOL!!! I cannot stress how important it is to visit the school; it is when you do a campus tour that you get the best idea of whether or not a school is good for you. You need to stand in the middle of the quad, breathe in the air around you, observe the students or activities going on, and then ask yourself,

Can I see myself here in 2-3 years?

It is not where you choose to go to college that matters… it's ultimately what you decide to do when you get there that really counts, and between the opportunities Northeastern presents to you both inside the classroom and outside in the real world there is no limit to what you can accomplish during your time here.