Northeastern University Student Panel

Ask current Northeastern students questions about academics, campus life, dorm living, and more. Livestream viewers will get to vote on questions and ask their own!

Meet the panelists: Isabelle, Shaylee, Delaney

Isabelle is a junior from Palo Alto, California in the College of Science at Northeastern University. She was a transfer student her Sophomore year. She is majoring in Psychology with a minor in Health Science and a concentration in Human Resource Management and Business. Isabelle is a member of the Kappa Delta Sorority. Outside of school she enjoys working out, spending time with friends and family, exploring Boston, and loves traveling.

Shaylee (Shay) is a junior from Portland, Oregon in the Northeastern College of Science. She is pursuing a BS in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice. Shay is an active member of Northeastern Club Softball Team and the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. Outside of school, Shay enjoys running, writing, and hiking.

Delaney is a third year from Sarasota, Florida in the College of Engineering. She is pursuing a Bachelor’s in Bioengineering with a concentration in Cell and Tissue Engineering. Delaney is an active member of Husky Ambassadors and Kappa Kappa Gamma. Outside of school, she enjoys spending her time running and spending time with her friends.

Video Transcript:

Kristen 0:00

A couple of seconds here for people to filter in, test out their chat. So hold tight, and we'll be with you in just a moment. Okay, great. Looks like everything's working on my end, feel free to let us know if you're having any trouble with audio visual, but we're going to go ahead and get started.

Kristen 0:30

So again, this is Northeastern, and we are excited to spend the next hour with three lovely panelists discussing the ins and outs of the college experience at Northeastern in particular, here's a quick overview of how the event is going to work. First, we will have our panelists introduce themselves. And then we will jump into two kickoff questions. So those will be voted on by all of you at home watching live. I will launch that poll here momentarily and you can pick which questions are most on top of your mind. And then after that, we will go to live questions. So that's why it's important to check out the chat there and make sure everything's working. We will get through as many questions as we can from all of you at home, wondering everything that you want to know about college admissions and the experience here at Northeastern. So the poll should be popping up here for you soon. And in the meantime, I will go ahead and kick off our introductions.

Kristen 1:26

My name is Kristen, I will be hosting and moderating today. I am from Montana, went to undergrad at the University of Montana but then went to grad school in Boston, not at Northeastern but at BU and I'm still in the New England area. So first up we will start with Delaney. She is panelist number one. Delaney. Can you tell us a little bit about where you're from what your major is what your you are in school, and then your favorite thing to do in Boston?

Delaney 1:54

Yeah, hi, guys. I'm Delaney. I'm a third year at Northeastern and I'm from Sarasota, Florida. I'm a bioengineering major with a minor in psychology. And my favorite thing to do in Boston has to be running and go running almost every day. And there's so many great green faces to run through Boston, even though we are in the city. So I really like having that little bit of nature around me.

Kristen 2:17

Yeah, I totally agree so many green spaces, the Esplanade down by the Charles River, you can run you can sit you can sit on the dock. It's awesome. Thank you, Delaney. Next we have Isa.

Isa 2:27

Hi, I'm Isa. I am a third year psychology major with a minor in health science. I am from Palo Alto, California. And my favorite thing to do in Boston is probably hang out by the Charles I did that a lot this summer with my friends. And it's just like a nice little escape because you're like, you can see the city but it's also very nature.

Kristen 2:51

Sorry to steal your thunder on that one about the Charles, okay, and last but not least Shay.

Shay 2:58

I guys, I'm Shay. I'm from Portland, Oregon. I am a third year psych major as well. And I hate to be a bandwagon. But I also love to run along the Esplanade and just around the campus because it's super pretty and like along the river. And being from Oregon, I really like to be in nature and what not. So it's kind of nice having that mix of the city, but also like having the river and trees and all that stuff. So, yeah.

Kristen 3:27

Perfect. Thank you. So on behalf of myself, and CollegeVine, we welcome all three panelists and everyone watching at home. I know that you found us here on CollegeVine. But if you're unfamiliar with some of the broader things that we have going on, it's a totally free website that is here to help you all in the admissions process, especially in years like this, where it's harder to get to the places in person. So we hope that you find this event and all of our content helpful and it will always be free for you. So we'll talk a little bit more about other resources as the panel goes on. But first and foremost, we have our kickoff questions. What do you want to know first? 57% of viewers (that's quite a bit) wanted to know why our panelists decided to attend Northeastern. So we'll go in the same order. Delaney, if you can kick us off. What was the main thing that that made you commit?

Delaney 4:17

Yeah, that's a great question. I'm, like I said from Florida. So I was one of the students for my high school that actually went the furthest when looking at colleges. And it was a no brainer for me because I was born in Rhode Island. So I never got to live in New England. And I felt deprived in a way so it was kind of like, I was upset with my parents because I'd never seen snowfall before like actively from the sky. And that combined with the city of Boston and just loving it when I visited and then the thing that really sealed the deal with Northeastern specifically for me, because I was an early decision applicant. I really loved the co op program. And that was ultimately what drew me to Northeastern because it allows for us to graduate Northeastern with three work experiences in full time jobs in our field as well as a lot of the time. We wind up with full time job offers post grad. So it's a really great opportunity to start getting that return on your investment in your college education.

Kristen 5:07

Yeah, that's awesome. So I noticed that your graduation years are all five years out from your start date, right. So can you tell us a little bit more about how the co op works just off the bat since that is fairly unique to to Northeastern.

Delaney 5:22

Yeah, so I'm actually currently on Co Op, I'm coughing at a company called logic Biotherapeutics, which is out in Lexington. So I commute out to work each day. And I'm working in a lab. So it's been nice, because even with COVID, I've been able to go get that job experience still and have my full experience. But basically, students will take a complete break from taking their classes for six months in northeastern kind of runs year round. So you'll either be in Co Op from January until June or July through December. And then the other half of the year is split into basically a semester and a half, you have a full length semester, which is either your spring or fall semester. And then you also have a summer, one term or a summer two term, which is just a half length semester, May in June or July and August. And that kind of accounts for the fact that we are taking six months, six month gaps in our classes. And we don't pay any tuition during that time. So you're only paying for your cost of living. And about 98% of our co ops are paid, which is really great, because you're able to save some money during it.

Kristen 6:14

Wow, that's awesome. Thank you. We might have some questions in the chat about the coupon. But I was excited to learn about that. So what made you decide to attend Northeastern?

Isa 6:24

So I am from California, which everyone's like, why did you come to the east coast, but I actually came to my cousin's graduation from Northeastern when I was in seventh grade. And ever since that week, and I was like, that's where I'm going to go to school. Um, I just like love Boston, and like still living here. Absolutely love it. And I really like the balance, like for campus that how we have a campus where we're still like in the city. And one of my main things when I was looking for schools was for their physical therapy programs, which is what my major was when I came. Um, so it was majorly because of the physical therapy program, but being able to switch and having so many options, I don't feel like I've like lost any schooling or like, one programs better than the other, like the amount of programs and I also really liked, they have a huge emphasis on like, global experiences. So like a lot of people study abroad or Co Op abroad or there's dialogues, which is like the I think it's like a month where you take courses, um, abroad. So just all of that.

Kristen 7:36

Cool, a lot of different opportunities. Awesome. Shay, what about you what made you want to attend Northeastern?

Shay 7:42

so I'm actually a transfer student. So my freshman year I went to school in New York City. And I don't know my whole life in Oregon, I just really wanted to move out to the east coast and try it out and see what it was like. And New York wasn't quite the fit, like, you have to be the type of person to really like New York City, but I love the city. And so I was applying to all these different Boston schools trying out Boston seeing how it felt. And when I got to Boston, or when I got to Northeastern, I wasn't even like really considering it. I didn't I didn't know much about the co op program or anything. But just being on campus, I felt so welcomed. And I just love the Boston feel. And our area is like so it's like a perfect place for a college because it's right along the river. And we have all these different places like we're really close to Newberry and North End and all these really fun places. And just like the general vibe of everybody around me, like seems so happy and very inviting. And also, I really like their psych program, because psychology is so it's such like a broad major, you can really you don't really know what you want to do with that there's so many different things you can do. And with the co op, um, you basically have like three different tries to like, figure out what kind of job you want. And I think that's really unique. I'm currently on my first psych Co Op right now. And I love it. I think it's a great experience. And I've gotten a lot I've learned a lot about the different things that I can do with my major. And along with the psych major, we have these things called clusters. And it's basically we focus in and we take like three elected three or four electives on like a specific type of psychology. So right now I'm going into psychic counseling. And so I've been taking a lot of like mental health counseling classes and abnormal psych counseling, all these different classes and it's really, really cool. So I really appreciate that they allow us to kind of like focus in on one type of focus.

Kristen 9:55

Yeah, cool. Thank you. For those following at home who don't live in Boston, just a little heads up that Newberry is the shopping streets. And the north end is the Italian neighborhood which all you really need to know about that as Italian food. That's a favorite of mine that are coming up here. So Courtney wanted to know what the majoring in psych and minor Indian criminal justice program look like. So I'm really happy to say that you kind of like touched on that a little bit more and talked about the clusters. So maybe you can have more to respond to Courtney. But before that, we're going to move on to our second kickoff question here, which got 53% of the votes. So what did you write your college essays about? A lot of the viewers at home are deep in this process, I'm sure that they would love a little motivation, inspiration or just to kind of get a take on that. So Delaney, do you remember what you wrote your essay on a couple years ago?

Delaney 10:52

I do actually because it was a very odd topic for an engineering student and my when I met my college admissions counselor after getting to Northeastern because I am a tour guide now, so I actually got to meet her in person. And she remembered my essay because it was very, very different. I was super into photography in high school. So I actually had an internship with the local circus, at like in my hometown, and I did all of their photography all the way through high school. And in the summer of 2017, my junior year of high school, they asked me to go to the Smithsonian for the Folklife Festival with them as the Smithsonian social media intern for the duration of the festival. So I wrote my essay about photography is a diet or not, photography is a dying art, the circus is a dying art, and what is like to be a photographer being able to document that, because the circus has been fading out over time. So I kind of dug deep into how photography has shaped my interests, even though it's not quite so related to my actual major. And I submitted a photography portfolio along with that, despite not applying to anything art related when I applied to Northeastern.

Kristen 11:56

Wow, that's really cool. I feel like if I was on the admissions committee, I would see like circus, you know, are and that would be something that would be a breath of fresh air, right, which is always a good idea when you're writing an essay to get people's attention. Thank you.

Isa 12:09

Um, so I think my essay was related to physical therapy, because that was just literally my whole life. back then. I did a, I had a job as a camp counselor in Puerto Rico for a it's a clinic for like kids with disabilities. Um, so I touched on that. And also, I worked with a or did a research project was a nonprofit that helps cure clubfoot in third world countries. And I did was, um, I shadowed my physical therapist. So I think I just like tied all those things. And like, talked about, like my interest in physical therapy and how, like everything that I done, I'm related to that, basically, since I was applying to such like a structured program.

Kristen 13:04

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And it's good to give options out there and have those kind of diverse perspectives. If someone really focused in you know, Isa really focused in on what she wanted to do, and university and Delaney and just kind of had a little curveball out there. But got everyone's attention. So Shay, what about you? Are you going to get a tiebreaker here or something totally out of left field?

Shay 13:20

Well, mine was a little different than like regular, like for like, senior year college application, since I was a transfer. It was like, why did you Why do you want to transfer? Like, what what do you think is different at our school than the one that you're at right now. And so I talked a little bit more about how I, as much as I enjoyed being like individual at my other school, like I wanted to break out and just get to know more people and like, like, I don't know, I just kind of wanted to try something new. I just talked about, like, what I didn't didn't like and how I wanted to stay in the city, but also really take my take my major seriously and figure out what I wanted to do, and how I didn't feel like I didn't feel like I belonged at my other school. And so just talking about kind of restarting, and then I'm actually on my, on my Google Doc right now, like looking at the questions. I'm like, looking at my application right now. Um, the other one was like, what types of experience inside and outside of school? Do you expect if you come to Northeastern, which was great, because I really wanted to do some type of internship. And so I talked about wanting to work at different hospitals and do some research and working hands on with people and figuring out which one I liked more. So that's why I thought the co op would be really beneficial to me, so.

Kristen 14:46

Yeah, awesome. Thank you. So I know we touched on a little bit of you know, they kind of rehashing their bios here, but those are two kickoff questions. So we're going to start going into live questions from the audience. And if you want to refresh yourself on our three panelists biography, They are at the bottom of this live feed page. So you can you know, direct your questions at individuals like some transfer questions or you know, different majors if that's something that interests you and you want a little refresher. So we are going to launch into our live questions. And the first one that we have is from Yosh. So Camila and Stephanie, I apologize if I didn't get those names, pronunciations perfect, but also asked similar questions. And the three of them are asking about student life at Northeastern. So are there you know, a lot of parties do people go out a lot our friendships kind of close knit or things clicky? Can you give us a little bit of a breakdown of the social life and I think since diverse perspectives are probably good on this, we will ask all of you. So Delaney.

Delaney 15:51

Um, the first and foremost thing you should know about Northeastern students is that a general kind of view of all of us is that we tend to be way over involved in everything we do, we commit and we commit hard to clubs to activities, like most students, you'll find when they first got to campus, we have something called fall Fest, which is where every single club has a table across our entire campus and their cabling for their club, having people sign up. My freshman year when I went to it, I signed up for almost 20 clubs, obviously don't have time for that many. But that's a very common trend with Northeastern students, we see so many things we're interested in, and a lot of students are able to really branch out and find interests that aren't relating to their majors. So I think that's something that students are always happy to help other students discover interests that aren't what they traditionally would be able to do. But Student Life wise, everyone is very, very friendly. I found that every time I left my residence hall, my entire freshman, sophomore year, I would see probably at least three different people that I knew. So it was really nice, because despite being a very large school, you get to know a lot of people through the different clubs, activities and classes and things like that, that you go to. As far as like nightlife and things like that go, I know that you said Shay, and I are all friends. And we actually like to go explore different parts of Boston. So something we've been doing a lot lately, especially while the weather's nice, is we go to different restaurants and eat outside. So like last weekend, we got to go eat outside at the north end. And we literally got to sit in the street at this cute little table. So we really enjoyed just exploring Boston. But there's always as with any school and university, if you're looking for a party or something like that, you can find those things. It's just a matter of what students are interested in. And something that I really love about Northeastern is that there's not a lot of pressure like you might find at other schools. So students really are able to do what interests them.

Kristen 17:37

Great, thank you. Isa, Do you have a similar perspective? Anything to add?

Isa 17:41

Yeah, so as a transfer, I was very nervous about making friends, because I was like, everyone already has their groups, everyone already has their cliques, whatever. Northeastern I wouldn't say is clicky at all, like, obviously people have their friend groups will like people branch out and being joining Greek life helped a lot. I was kind of hesitant at first, just because of like, the stereotypes that you hear about sororities, but I think it's very different at Northeastern, like, Greek life, just like as a whole, like, I feel like everyone mingles and all that stuff, where it's not like sororities have like rivalries or anything, like we're all in, or they're in the same sorority, and I'm not and we all like hang out, we don't have like sorority housing or anything. So, um, you got to know a lot of people through that, which I thought was great. Um, and same as Delaney was saying that, like, everyone is involved in everything. And it's like, very spirited, which is awesome. And it's really cool to just meet people from like, so many different backgrounds experiences, all that stuff. So it's awesome.

Kristen 18:50

I'm glad you had that experience as a transfer. I know that not everyone does so good to know. Bonus points to the northeastern crew. Shay, I won't have you go last every time. I know. It's a little unfair, but I just want to concur with them or is there something that you would like to add to the social life scene?

Shay 19:06

No, I agree with every I agree with all of them. Um, I can relate to the college or to the the fall fest thing. I joined like, eight clubs maybe and I for a while I was like doing all of them. And I was like, This is oh my gosh, and I made so many friends so quickly. And I remember I made my first friend at my orient, like my transfer orientation and like, I'm still super close friends with them, like everybody there is so friendly and just like wants to be your friend and are not afraid to reach out to you. I also so I'm also in a sorority as they said and honestly it Yeah, I like to think that Northeastern Greek Life is a little different than like, I think the typical Greek life just because we are so Not we're so like focused on making relationships with other people and getting connected with people outside of Greek life and just getting to know everyone. And I also joined club softball, which was also a really great experience. And it was honestly nice, because then I got to travel to different states and see the scenery around there. And just get to resolve, you know, the New England area. And yeah, that's probably my, my unique experience in this group is joining club softball.

Kristen 20:34

Yeah, thanks. I feel like we got some bonus questions on there, a little bit of Greek life, a little bit of sports. So that's perfect. So I want to get through a couple questions here. So I'll just check these out. One of you unless you know, someone else has something to like, really, really chime in. So Talia is wondering how accessible the staff administrators and eight officials are, I might take this one to Delaney, since you do some tour stuff. And you might have a little bit more access or or be in contact with those people. What are your thoughts on their ability?

Delaney 21:01

I know, obviously, everyone's experience is different. So personally, I've never had an issue getting in touch with any staff or administrators, I've actually met our president quite a few times. He's very accessible, wanders around campus quite a bit just stops checks in with students. So I think that that is kind of like the true showing point of how accessible Northeastern likes to make these officials and those higher ups, because he literally will just walk around campus and walk up to you and ask you questions about like your major and what program you're in. So I think that that's kind of the approachable nature and anyone is just always an email or phone call away and they're always happy to respond.

Kristen 21:37

Perfect. That's, that's cool that you actually can put a face to the name. I know some people go through their whole four or five years and can never do that. So that's awesome. Okay, Isa, you have a question from Isabella. Is it hard to change majors?

Isa 21:52

Um, not at all. I, um, being in the Ph. D. program, it might have been like a little bit harder, because they were like, are you sure you want to change all this stuff said to be like, officially out of the program. But, um, they just told me like, do this, they transfer me to someone else? It was very, very easy. Okay, good to know.

Kristen 22:13

And then Isa and Shay, Shriya was wondering, similar question about the transfer process, was it you know, difficult, what is the application process look like I know, Shay told us a little bit about the essay being different and more focused on you know, what your other schools were lacking, or what you're looking for, particularly in northeastern but anything else to add for shriya on the transfer process.

Isa 22:33

Um, so I actually was not like a transfer from another school, I was a guaranteed transfer. So it was different for me, I didn't like I applied to Northeastern the first time and didn't have to apply again, I just had to go through a different process after.

Kristen 22:50

Okay, so that's easy, Shay, what about you?

Shay 22:54

Um, okay, the transfer process was a little a little like, definitely took a little extra work, for sure. It's just like getting all your paperwork in and making sure you have like, your high school transcript and your current transcript, your current transcript with whatever school you're going to and making sure all of that is sent off to Northeastern, but they make it super organized, like they have a checklist of everything that you need to send out or send to them. And like, there's people that you can access and talk to that will help you through the steps and they're super quick to respond which is very helpful. Another thing if you're on like a special, like a special program, like a 504 plan or something like that, you need to make sure to send those into what we call the DRC and northeastern it's just make sure that you have all of those in when you're first when you're also applying and make sure that it's very clear that you have that as well. Yeah, that's all I really have. Otherwise, it was pretty easy. Like it's it's very clear like what you need to do which is making sure you know how to get it.

Kristen 24:02

That makes sense and to circle back to Delaney's answer about staff being approachable. I totally agree that in those cases, you know, find a contact who you have their direct email or phone number and you can just kind of like ping a bunch of questions off them. That's that's super helpful. Um, Okay, next question. So I'm a new Sri is wondering how the dorms are and I believe Delaney is the only one of you three to live in the dorms. So let's pitch that one to you.

Delaney 24:28

Yeah, so transfer students actually aren't guaranteed housing at Northeastern, which is something useful to anyone in the audience who might be considering transferring. It is pretty easy to find housing around campus, but students who apply to Northeastern for their first year of undergraduate education are living on campus for their first two years or in University Housing. So I lived in East Village my freshman year, which is our honors student housing. I'm in the University Honors Program, but something that's very across the board for all first years is how you are housed. So you get to choose an interest based group called an LLC, which is a liberal Learning Community. And those are people who will have either the same interest or same major as you and you get to rank your top three before you come to Northeastern. And that's how Northeastern will decide what building you live in the building switch every year. But that's kind of to guarantee that when you get to school, even if you know not a single soul who goes to Northeastern, you'll have something in common with the people who live on your floor, so it makes it a little bit easier for you to take that step towards just knocking on a random door and trying to introduce yourself. So LLC has also been go do events together once a month so once a month, my LLC the foodies LLC would go out into Boston, we get to try different restaurants, and northeaster would pay for our meals. It was really nice. Back housing, it's really great. The first year housing is all sweet style or just double with bathrooms that are communal, and then second year is can get apartment style if they'd like.

Kristen 25:50

Okay, that's cool. I love that you're in the foodie LLC. I just like want that in my life. Salam and a couple other people are actually asking about the food Salam wants you to be totally honest. How's the food? Let's have Delaney talk a little bit about dorm food. And then if Isa and Shay want to chime in about, you know off campus food or I know Boston's big city and it has a lot of different places, but how you sort of feel in the area of campus the food options are.

Delaney 26:17

Yep, so I there are three dining halls on campus. And I actually liked the on campus dining food so much that I kept a meal plan for my second year, I kept like a smaller meal plan, even though I had a kitchen as well so I could cook which I love to do and I could still eat our dining hall food. I honestly found it to be very good. We have a pretty diverse selection. Again, it is college foods like it can be pretty. It's pretty generic, like it stays pretty consistent. But Northeastern does have specials of the week and things like that to kind of switch things up. But I never left the dining hall like disappointed. I feel like every college has this but like our chocolate chip cookies are, I think the best food I've ever had. Like straight up I still will sometimes go to the dining hall I have a couple leftover swipes from getting sent home in the spring and I will still go there and leave with like a coffee cup full of cookies. They're fantastic.

Kristen 27:02

Are they warm?

Delaney 27:03

Yes.

Kristen 27:04

warm, warm cookies are my kryptonite. So okay, that's that's awesome, Thank you. Shay, let's actually have you go first here. How do you feel the food scene is off campus around Northeastern?

Shay 27:15

food scene is great. It's honestly like unhealthy how bad I are how much I like go out and I don't even make my own food. Um, so that's awesome. My favorite place to go is this place called pokey station right down the street. It's incredible. I go like once a week. But another thing that's really nice is that there's like a Whole Foods basically on campus. And then there's also a lot of other like grocery stores as a target. A lot of very accessible places if you are big into like cooking or baking or something and you need supplies like that is very accessible. And then if possible, I kind of want to add one more thing about housing just for transfers. There's a site that I use called off campus housing search Northeastern, if you literally look up Northeastern off campus housing, like it'll send you to that. But you can make an account through your Northeastern account. And you can find houses nearby, or apartments nearby that are around the campus. But you can also look for other people who are looking for off campus housing. And you can message them and just like link up with them and stuff. And it's really nice and accessible. I found my my roommate coming in as transfer and she was incredible. And I loved living with her. And I just wanted to put that out there for anybody who thinks they might be transferring here.

Kristen 28:39

Totally thanks for that resource. And it is good to know going in Boston, you will be living in smaller apartments. It's very expensive. So probably with a couple other people. It is quite the housing market depending on where you're coming from. So thanks for that, that resource. So anything to add or do you just want to borrow our restaurants you

Isa 28:56

I was gonna actually add on to the housing because I'm living in a building across campus, that's all Northeastern students, um, which you can live in as a transfer and if you don't know anyone, like they'll put you in, and like Mashie with roommates. So it's like almost like dorm style. Um, so it was very easy to find housing, which was one thing that I was worried about, um, but yeah, and then same with like, there's so many great food places around and there's a whole foods and a Trader Joe's. So you definitely will never run out of food options.

Kristen 29:32

Awesome. Thank you. Okay, next question we're going to go to is from Emma, and I see in the chat a couple other people are wondering about this too, and then and others. So can you talk a little bit more about the co op program, I know that Delaney did a good job of explaining it, but Emma and that was asking if it's any different from a paid internship if Northeastern has both or if they're kind of overlapped into the same the same group and I'm wondering maybe as a specific way to answer this question if you can share what your Columbia Experience is shanny sour Delaney another one that might give us a little more concrete specifics of what kind of stuff you're doing. So let's start with Shay.

Shay 30:11

Okay, so for my co op, I'm a resident, I'm a recovery support specialist at this place called mental health or North Suffolk Mental Health Association. Um, and what I do is I live I work in residential home of nine, psychiatric psychiatric psychiatric pediatric patients. basically teach them life skills and how to live on their own eventually, and they live there. And so we go through like a daily process of just like, how to how to do things if you were to live on your own. Um, and I mean, I've never really done like a full internship. So I guess, maybe Delaney, you have a better perspective of it. But if you will do a co op, it's a, it's a full time job. And you are being put into positions that like, ideally, if you bought the job, you would be doing something really similar to it after college. And it gives a really good experience or like a little peek into, like what you would be doing if you think you want to do this job. And I think that's incredibly helpful. And it's, it helps a lot, especially like, if you're a little iffy about like what you want to do, it definitely steers you in either the right direction or a different direction for what you thought you wanted to do.

Kristen 31:28

Which is just good to know that it's something that you might not, yeah, want to do for your future career. So instead of getting into that career and realizing not a little bit too late, Isa, any comments about your co ops? And also are they do you know, if they're different from paid internship activities at Northeastern, or if there is a difference there?

Isa 31:49

I actually I'm not sure.

Delaney 31:52

I can touch on that in a minute what Isa is done?

Isa 31:54

Yeah, I haven't gone on Co Op yet since I switched majors, but I'm going to be looking in the spring.

Kristen 32:01

Cool. Yeah. Okay, Delaney?

Delaney 32:05

Yeah, so I part of my job, I'm a tour guide. And I also work part time in the admissions office when I'm in classes. So these are some of the more technical questions we sometimes get. The main difference between a paid internship and the co op experience is that Co Op is such an extended period of time, and it's sponsored by the university. So it's built very smoothly into our experience. So if you're looking for a paid internship, you can still totally do that while you're at Northeastern. But it would be more, we do have some resources for it. But it's not like our flagship program, like the co op is. Co Op is one of our four pillars of experiential learning that we offer at Northeastern. So it's really one of those things that we put a lot of time and resources into. And we have thousands of jobs that are listed online on a specific website just for students to use to find Co Op. And the biggest difference between them is like Shay said, We are working full time and we are working in those positions that people will be applying for full time. So like, right now I'm working, like I said, For logica therapeutics, and I'm on their in vivo team. So I'm a co op on their invivo team, but they're also hiring people right now who are going to do the exact same job that I'm doing. So it's not like I'm getting coffee for people or doing anything like that we really are doing exactly what we would do if we got hired by that company post grad. Like I am given a ridiculous amount of responsibility. It sometimes scares me. Today, it scared me a little bit, but it's okay. Um, but it's truly, I have never seen anything like it. Internships are really cool and a great opportunity to get those work experiences. But the co op program is really unparalleled in my eyes. My brother actually loved it so much that despite the fact that he didn't want to go to school in a city, he still chose the university that has a co op program. So it truly is something that kind of steps up your education and really makes sure that you're ready to go into the real world when you graduate. Okay, cool.

Kristen 33:45

Can I ask a follow up here? What's the process of applying for those? It sounds like you might have a big list of options. But do you choose which one you do? Is it an application process? How does that work?

Delaney 33:56

Shay, do you want to touch on it or do you want me to?

Shay 33:59

I'll do a little bit you'll probably you can like extend on it. But basically like so after you do a full year on campus. And just in classes you are put into a co op class, which is like a one credit course. And basically, you are put into a class with a bunch of people with you with the same major and there's a teacher who teaching who teaches you how to make like resumes and cover letters. And then once you're done with all that, Oh, you do mock interviews and stuff like that. Once you've gone through that process, you are given access to this thing called new careers. And it's this list of different jobs that companies are offering to co ops and it gives you a full description and what the requirements are to apply. And then normally, like you just send in your resume and maybe a little follow up questionnaire or something along the lines of that. And then you go on for interview and then it's like it's like applying for a job, basically.

Kristen 35:00

So is there like, this is of course going to be a rough guesstimate. But the number of people who get you know the first one they apply to or do people usually apply to multiple ones? How does that work? Maybe you can add to that, Delaney?

Delaney 35:12

Yeah, so your co op prep class that you have is run by your cop advisor. So you have an assigned person who is assigned to your majors specifically, and to the class, they're teaching for Co Op prep class. And their that entire class is Co Op advisor. So their entire job, they don't teach any classes, besides this Co Op class, and their entire job is to get you a co op, you do the work for it. But they're there as your support all the way through, they'll call employers to check in if you haven't heard back on an application, if it's what you really, really want, and you're very passionate about it, they can kind of call and see if they can get your application on another desk. But really, students are encouraged to apply to a decent number of CO Ops, I actually I got my top choice Co Op when I applied, I got very lucky because I also got hired about a week before everything got shut down from the pandemic, it was actually two days before I went home to Florida after classes went online. And, um, you apply to like, I would say, depends on the major for sure. But I know for bio engineers, we were recommended to apply to at least 20. I got to about 17, before I heard back from that top choice Co Op, and then I started my interview process with them. But the process truly is very individualized. And the key is to really just make sure you're being honest with yourself. And your skill set. Like my interview that I had for my co op, like Shea said was absolutely like a real job interview. And I was very honest with them. I said, I have zero lab experience, I really want to work in a lab. I'm excited to learn, I know that it's going to take a lot of training, but I'm very attentive, and I'm ready to work for it. And I beat out people who had experience in a lot because I was so honest about it. So I think that it's truly it comes down to being honest about where you're at, with the employer and with yourself.

Kristen 36:51

Yeah, that's really good advice. And also, this is annoying, but a true fact of life to that applying to 20 different jobs actually resembles the real worlds where you you know, do have to put out a ton of resumes and stick a stick at it for a while. So that's also good experience. Okay, let's change pace a little bit, we can come back to the co op if we have time. But I want to make sure we get to some other questions. So Shay, let's throw this one to us. Sydney is wondering if clubs sports are free, and if they're competitive, and so maybe if you can break down a little bit how club might be different from intramural and something along the sports line.

Shay 37:23

Um, so I actually, I tried out for two teams, I did club running, and I did club softball. Club softball, it's free to try out it's always free to try out. Um, but in regards to like, uniform that is like you do have to pay for that. But if you have your own equipment, or gear or whatever, like that is completely free. And you're never, you're never forced to pay for anything. Like if you are on a budget or you can't, you can't afford something that's totally like understandable and like, teams will work to man like to work around that. In regards to intermurals so that also comes back to like fall fest or I don't know, if we have I think we have like a Spring Fair too. But like intramural teams will also be there. And they kind of explained like, like, what their processes and if you have to pay for anything. I forget what was the other question?

Kristen 38:20

Are they super competitive to to make one of those teams?

Shay 38:25

Um, it kind of depends. I know some sports are more competitive than others club running a club running was also like 100%. Free. Like in regards Yeah, um, but I think it just really depends on the sport because like, so I know, club soccer was pretty competitive. It just kind of depends on how many people are in the league and how many people try out. Yeah, some sports are a lot more competitive than others. Okay.

Delaney 38:54

It also depends on the amount of travel like I do. I have friends on clubs on clubs are not top off. I do have a friend on club softball, Shay, but um, club soccer and club lacrosse. And those teams do travel across the country sometimes. So they do pay dues, but I believe their dues are under $50 a semester. And I know right now they're not paying dues, obviously. Because while they can technically practice, I believe they're not traveling anywhere anytime soon.

Kristen 39:18

Cool. Thank you. Next question. I know you say you haven't been there as long as the others but I'm wondering if you have a take on diversity a lot of people seem to be asking about that. Maybe a good question is how you experience diversity there. Is it regional? Is it racial? Is it national?

Isa 39:35

Um, I would say we have a very, fairly diverse campus. Um, I know our like international populations, like one third of the student body. Um, and I was like, very surprised last year when I went into my class and I was meeting like so many people from like, different countries. I swear there was like a week where I every person I talked to was from a different place, which was awesome. Um, um, so I would say like, yeah, we have a pretty diverse campus.

Kristen 40:07

Okay, thank you. And just as a reminder to right below this stream, we actually have some super easy links that goes straight to the Northeastern website and have some demographics and statistics, things like that, that are always good to look up. But I think it's also extra good to get that little personal take on it. So appreciate that and appreciate the questions. Next one is from Samantha, let's kick this to maybe Delaney and Shay to get a little bit of a different major perspective, would you say the majority of classes are lecture or discussion based, and it could be entirely dependent on your major, of course, but for our little sample here,

Delaney 40:42

I think I think something that's really cool about Northeastern is that despite the fact that we have 18,000, undergraduate students, some of them are on Co Op at a given time. So it's not that number in classes at once. But we also have an average class size of 24. And I believe it's about 70% of our classes are under 20. So we really do minimize those large lectures that you have. As an engineer, I did have some pretty generic classes like physics, one, things like that. And they were larger lectures. And by larger lectures, I mean, like I had 60 students in my physics class. But the really cool part about that is that with any major that Northeastern has, if you have a larger lecture that's larger than our average class size, they'll usually break it down into like an interactive learning seminar, which is a group based activity, usually do a quiz during it. And it's to break down the information you've learned that week during class, or lab or some sort of like breakout group, a recitation to Northeastern has been really good about making sure that even if you are in those larger classes, that you are able to understand the information. And professors who teach those largest classes usually tend to have more office hours as well to kind of counteract that all. And something that's also very nice is that, like I mentioned earlier, I'm in the University Honors Program, so I have access to some honors specific classes. So as an engineer, some of my more generic classes, I was able to take it as honors classes, which Yes, it did make it more difficult because we moved at a faster pace, but it also made my classes even smaller. My general chemistry class my freshman year, I had 12 people in it, which was really cool, because it was one of the most common classes for freshmen and stem to take.

Kristen 42:17

Okay, Shay, do you have a similar opinion?

Shay 42:20

Yeah, I mean, I won't add too much more to that. Um, but yeah, like my biggest class, I think was like 70. And it was actually with Delaney and Isa cognition. That was fun. But I like it, the class does seem a little big, like the professors do a really good job of making it very, like, very communal. And like everybody gets to talk and have discussions and for personally, for psych, like, a lot of my classes have been very discussion based, and like talking to like talking to the teacher, and they're very, I don't know, they're just very unlike, for lack of a better word, like they're very social, and they're just very like down to earth. And like, it's very, like casual conversation based rather than, like, super. The word is super formal, I guess. And just, I don't know, it just makes it easier. And it makes it easier to contribute to the conversation and make it seem more casual.

Kristen 43:19

Okay, thank you. All right, we're gonna do a rapid fire question here. Let's see if you all come up with the same answer. So Isa, who is the biggest rival of northeastern?

Isa 43:29

BU.

Kristen 43:33

Okay, is this mostly sports is this just because they're located pretty close to each other?

Isa 43:39

Yeah, just like sports and being close, like, I think it gets pretty competitive around like when Bean Pot is happening.

Delaney 43:49

They tend to think they're good at hockey, but we've won in the past three years in a row in the Bean Pot tournament. I think that results speak otherwise.

Kristen 43:57

That is a hockey tournament that sometimes takes place on Fenway other times in the TD Garden where the Celtics and Bruins play, so Okay, awesome. Just wanted to check in on that. Rumor had it that Isa was on BU's campus today, so she might be hanging out with enemies. Um, Okay, next question is from Sofia. And I'm actually gonna combine this a little bit with some questions from Salaam and Anushree for wondering about campus safety. And also just this, I think goes well with Northeastern location in the middle of downtown Boston. So Sofia was wondering how they make it, you know, have the campus feel in the middle of the city. So Delaney, do you want to tell us a little bit either one of those, whether it's safety, campus, feeling, whatever it comes out to you.

Delaney 44:42

I can touch a little bit more on the safety stuff because I know that that's not something that like, everyone knows about the full scope of the resources we have, but we do have a fair bit of resources available to us. Our first one is and uwpd which is our Northeastern University Police Department. So it could have right on Columbus Avenue and it's literally right next to campus. So those Police officers can get dressed very quickly if you do call them or you need help. We also do have a library that's open 24 seven, usually not during the pandemic, but traditionally it is open all hours of the day. And with that being said, a lot of students will find themselves in that library pretty late at night. So we have something called the red eye shuttle that runs from right outside of the library to anywhere up to two miles away from campus. So even if you live off campus, you can use it for free and it's a shuttle that will take you directly to your doorstop to Northeastern doesn't ever want you to feel uncomfortable getting home safely, especially in the middle of the night. So that runs from dusk until dawn every single night. It's still running, even with the pandemic and everything. And if you happen to live 2.1 miles off campus, they're still going to get you there. And if you do live further than that, you can also call me up and they're more than happy to drive you home. So I think that's something that definitely helps students. And then we also have our Safe Zone app, which is used to check in and out of buildings, and you check in somewhere and you don't check out or check back in at your home within a certain amount of time. And you PD will give you a call and just make sure you're okay. You know, answer your call, like one of my friends did my freshman year, spring during finals week, when she fell asleep in the library from studying a little too much, they will come check on you. So she woke up to a police officer tapping her on the shoulder to make sure she was okay. And that's really working. It's a really great resource for students. With that being said, I think that I've never truly felt unsafe in the city even running. I'm very aware of my surroundings. And I think it just comes with making sure you are aware, and you're completely fine. But we do have a lot of resources to help back that up as well.

Kristen 46:29

Awesome, thank you. Isa, how do you feel about being in the middle of a city on campus.

Isa 46:33

So um, I was like a little bit worried about living in a city just because of like stuff that I'd heard. And I come from like a small suburb where it's like, very safe. And I honestly can't tell you a time that I've felt unsafe, even walking like alone at night, which I don't try to do. But there are also so many kids walking around all the time. Like, it can be like 10 o'clock at night, I'll be walking back to the library and I will see people and like I live right next door to the police station. And they're, like, always out and about, um, so and I know that like I have resources, so I never really felt unsafe like walking through around campus.

Kristen 47:21

Thank you and then Shay, what's your favorite part of campus? This may be a little bit of a different take on this question.

Shay 47:27

My favorite part of campus, um, that's a tough one. I honestly I love snow library. I am there like all the time. That's like where it used to Delaney and I hung out probably the most second semester, I feel like we were there more than we were at our apartments. Um, but yeah, just like, like the accessibility of different places that you can go and study it or just like very peaceful but also like you're always around people, and you'll always see someone that you know, like studying or maybe you can join them and I don't know, I just really like the comfort of the libraries and the different like study areas.

Kristen 48:09

And that's really good to hear just like people are weighing Boston area schools be you your your arch nemesis, there, their libraries sort of jail like so I think you guys might win the box in that comparison. Okay, next question. We're getting quite a few about these. But people are asking Delaney specifically about bioengineering. So I think a good way to kind of go about this is if you could tell us Delaney, your favorite part or something unique or surprising about the bio engineering program. And then I might ask easson Shea to do something similar for psych just so we cover all those boundaries.

Delaney 48:45

I'll try not to get too caught up in it because I do love it a lot. And going on Co Op, I'm on my first Co Op right now it's going on Co Op has definitely strengthened that love for it. Because I think every student kind of feels some uncertainty with their major until they realize like exactly what they're doing. And that's something that Co Op has deeply reinforced for me. So I'm actually in the cell and tissue engineering concentration of bio engineering. So it's four different concentrations you can go into, I think my favorite part about the program is how different each concentration is, even though we are one major or not a super large major. One of the most common concentrations to go into bio engineering is biomedical devices. So I learned a lot about the physics behind how the body works, despite that not being what I need to do the jobs that I am doing. So I really like how I've been able to obtain this extra information because it's the more common route with that major, if that makes sense. Like I took a biomechanics class this summer, and I feel like I just have learned so much about the broader scope of the field. So I think that it makes things very applicable to other areas of the field. And overall, it's just I love the program. It's also brand new we are I believe we just finished getting accredited for our bioengineering program. So it's a very exciting time. I'm actually in our plus one program, so I'll graduate in five years with two co ops and my master's With just one extra year of school.

Kristen 50:02

Cool, yeah. And if you haven't picked us up yet Boston has so many different variety of places that you can do a lot of these co ops and just generally, like, kind of, you know, whether it's medical fields or engineering fields, I know Cambridge has a lot of those sort of firms. So, okay, so we are, you know, coming up on the time when we're gonna end live questions, but he said, shade, you have a favorite part of the same program that you could add to this.

Isa 50:25

Um, I think I mean, I'm gonna kind of new to it, but I like the like variety that you can pick from like Shay was talking about with the clusters. So I was like, I really like psych, but I don't see myself going into like therapy or anything. And I'm doing a concentration, Human Resource Management in business. So it's like, very different. You wouldn't think of that when you think psych, but, um, I think just the variety of things that you can do with it.

Kristen 50:58

I saw that in your bio. I think that that's fascinating. And yeah, so cool. Okay, Shay.

Shay 51:03

Um, so I saw a question earlier about, like, if you're double majoring or something like that, and I thought it'd be Delaney, you can probably touch on this a little bit better. But I know that Northeastern has this like combinate, like a, like a major combination program where you can take like, part of like the credits of one major and part of the credits, but other one to kind of combine it and make your own type of major. As long as you hit the certain the credits for both both ends. Delaney, I don't know if you want to touch a little bit more on that a little bit more.

Delaney 51:36

Yeah. So Co Op for I see the question from Elizabeth. Co Ops for students who plan to double major, we actually we do offer double majors in a traditional sense, where you take 100% of the classes for each major, and you graduate with two different majors. But Northeastern also has a program with about I believe, read about 60 combined majors, which are classes that are or majors that are not traditionally combined, and majors that are traditionally combined. And we take about two thirds of the classes from each and we combine them into a traditional degree. So it's the same number of credits as if you were to take a single major, but we make sure that you have the proper overlap in the proper classes to have sufficient education in both areas. So if you do a combined major, it doesn't affect your co op cycles whatsoever, because you're taking the same number of credit hours as someone in single major. But if you do choose to double major, where you're taking 100% of each class, if they're not related or not an established, combined major because we do have those pre established, then it could impact your co op cycle. But your academic advisor and your co op advisor would be kind of a case by case basis. And it would definitely depend on how many transfer credits you bring in from AP classes or IB classes, anything like that.

Kristen 52:43

Awesome. I feel like I'm learning so much. I can't imagine what all the students at home are feeling too. And you ladies have also given pretty glowing reviews about Northeastern and Boston. So we are going to end the live portion of our chats and question answer period today. I want to thank everyone that chimed in for that. And hopefully you learned a lot as well. But for our last question to make our panelists think a little bit here is what is your least favorite part of attending Northeastern this could also have to do with the city of Boston or however you really want to take this if it's something that you think and you could improve upon. And so let's start with it looks like Delaney is thinking so let's start with Shay. Go reverse order on this one.

Shay 53:23

Okay, um, honestly, I think, Okay, well, like in comparison to where I last went, like I really don't have a lot to complain about, like this school. I really, truly love it here. I've This is the happiest I've ever since I've moved here. Um, I would say the campus can be a, this might just be because I'm like directionally challenged. But like the campus can be a little confusing sometimes. Especially because like some buildings look like regular buildings, just like in Boston. Um, but the good thing about that is we have an app, I can't remember what it's called right now. But it has like it like it's like a map of all the different buildings and it'll literally go to your Google Maps and like, tell you where to go. So like, that was my best friend all of first semester in college. But yeah, I would just say like, how confusing like the locations can be sometimes.

Kristen 54:14

Yeah, that's fair. And streets on Boston are not on a grid. They were literally a lot of them made by cattle cow trails back in the day. So that's, that's a fair assessment.

Isa 54:25

Um, I honestly don't have a lot to complain about either. I think one of the things for me is like being so far from home is like, I don't mind it. But a lot of my friends are like from the east coast. They're like, Oh, I'm just gonna like drive home for the weekend. I'm like, Oh, I can't do that. And then I think the other thing is just like, with CO Ops, like obviously the beauty of it is like people can go wherever or like study abroad or do it wherever they want. But then it also means that like a lot of people are gone or a lot of people decide to like study abroad. And it's kind of sad. But like, obviously, that's great. So

Kristen 55:08

there's a ton of other people. There's so many universities.

Isa 55:11

Yeah, exactly.

Kristen 55:12

Expand your friend circle, maybe meet some new people and new experiences. So awesome. Delaney.

Delaney 55:19

I think that I mean, this isn't necessarily a least favorite thing for me, because for me, like choosing Northeastern was a no brainer. And I have no regrets about it. Like I said, like I'm a tour guide, I love nothing more than to talk about the things I love about Northeastern. I think one of the things that as a prospective student is definitely something to consider because we are a very different university with the co op program. And you do like to be completely honest, you do give up your summers to classes and to co op. So like, I know right now, I haven't been home since the end of June. And my family luckily is up north right now with COVID. They're not in Florida. They're living up in Maine. But I do know for a fact that like, I will only go home to Florida about once a year. Just sometimes if they're my family's in Florida for the fall holidays, I'll be able to go home more often. But with the pandemic right now that earliest I'm going home is next summer. So it is something that is definitely for students to consider. If a school that runs year round, you're not in classes year round because you will be in Co Op and not taking classes or paying tuition. But it is definitely something to consider if that's the right experience for you. For me, it was a no brainer, because I really loved the idea of the work experience. And I've always been okay with kind of like not seeing my family as often because we're really good at keeping in touch with each other. But it is one of those things that definitely is important to take into consideration qith this school in particular.

Kristen 56:34

I think all of those are really good things to bring up and to raise for our students prospective students listening at home. So thank you, I know that that was a little bit difficult. And since you guys have given such glowing reviews, I'm going to put a little bit of a challenge to you again, since we are also running short on time, and I want to make sure if people have other panels that they can get to them. So the question I want to leave you with is if you had to describe Northeastern in three words, I haven't warned them about this one. So what would your three words be and whoever thinks of them first can go first. Otherwise, I'll start calling on people.

Delaney 57:08

Okay, I can go I'm unique, involved, and passionate.

Isa 57:12

You stole one of my words!

Unknown Speaker 57:15

Sorry

Kristen 57:16

You can repeat one that's okay.

Shay 57:21

Inviting, unique, and I would say like determined. Everybody that goes to school there or goes to school here is so focused on what they want to do and they're so motivated, actually no motivated, not determined. Everybody, they're just like, has a goal and they know what they want to do. And they and even if they don't want to know what they want to do they like, want to figure it out.

Kristen 57:48

Awesome. Last but not least, we have you unique words for this unique school.

Isa 57:54

Different. Um, what's my other word? Oh, hard working. And it's fun.

Kristen 58:04

You can say fun, it sounds like you ladies have a lot of fun. I'm sure other people, you know, at least at the school do too is this is just one sample. But Okay, awesome. So that wraps up the questions. And thank you so much to our lovely panelists and everyone who tuned in today, I just want to point out a couple other resources. Since we're here, as I mentioned, right below this video stream, you can get Northeastern specific links. At the bottom of this webpage. We also have our top 10 videos on CollegeVine, how to write an essay, some particular ones on financial aid and things like that. Those are recorded because this week is our students panel fair. So that is happening live all week. If you say click on Steve o schedule or the college fair button up at the top of the menu, you can get our access or access to all the other live events happening. And then we will resume more general live events next week. And then if you particularly enjoyed this session, I know I did this live feed will go to a recorded broadcast that you can share the link with friends, family, anyone that you might want to continue this conversation with later. So on behalf of CollegeVine and myself, thank you very much panelists. Thank you livestream. Have a great night.