mfrydenb@cvbnet.UUCP (Mark Frydenberg, x MS 4-1) (04/09/90)
From article <709@sagpd1.UUCP>, by eprice@sagpd1.UUCP (Eric Price): > > Howdee Netlanders, > > Can anyone out there in netland give my some information about > Northeastern University. (rest deleted) > Northeastern is not a Christian Scientist school. It's a private, non-denominational school. It happens to be located a few blocks from the Christian Science Church and headquarters on Huntington Avenue (if you end up at Northeastern, make sure you visit the Church to see the map-arium one day, but that's another adventure ...). I got my MS in CS from there two years ago; the CE dept. is relatively new as well. I'm not sure how you'd be able to integrate co-op with a master's program (though it should be possible, or you might be able to get a part-time 'computer- engineering-related' job since most graduate courses are offered in the evening . As for graduate housing on campus, the university owns a couple of bldgs on huntington - - I lived in grad housing for the two years that I was there. You have one "roommate" in an apartment which has two "rooms" - a kitchen, and a room for everything else (2 beds, 2 dressers, 2 desks.) It was livable on the assistantship I had. The exterminators came in once a month to do the basement, (where the laundry and trash are), and some apartments signed up for visits. Except for an occasional small rat or roach, we didn't have much of a problem. It's convenient. If you end up with an apartment in the front of the building, the good news is that you have a nice view of the "campus" quadrangle, the bad news is that the subway and traffic are out there too. Apartments in the back of the buildings have views of the brick wall of the adjacent building. You're right across the street from almost everything. Parking is sparse. My first year, I had the same roommate for the entire year. My second year, I had a different roommate each quarter. It all depends on how lucky you are, I guess. The point is, people come and go. There are a number of private apartments available within the area. You'd probably want to share one, but on a trip to NU a few weeks before hand you will probably find a number of 'roommate wanted' signs, and you can always post on the net that you're looking for one should you end up there. Northeastern people get news. If you don't mind taking the subway every day, you could always live a bit further out (Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville, for example.) As for student life, you have to make it happen. In the College of Computer Science, it took almost 6 months before they got all 10 of us ta's and ra's together at the same time in the same room. Since then, I'm told it's gotten better, though. If you visit before you accept to go (and I recommend STRONGLY that you do) call the CE department and ask them to arrange for you a grad student to give a "tour" of their facilities for you -- the campus tour that the university runs for undergrads shows undergraduate housing, the burger king in the cafeteria, and the pool, among its highlights. If you're interested in those things, you'll probably find them anyway. Ask if they can find you a grad student or two to show you around the Engineering Building. Chances are if you give them enough notice (or none at all, as was the case with me once -- a potential student came by, wanted to see the College of CS, and I happened to have some time that day, so showed him around - we since became good friends) they'll find somebody - a teaching or research ass't - who can show you what you want to see, and tell you more about what they're doing. It'll also be a name of a person you can "already know" once you get there. If they can't muster up someone for you for a half hour, that may answer (1) your questions about how friendly some of the students in that department are, and (2) how much effort the department is willing to exert to "welcome" new potential students. As for how "hard" it is, it wasn't always easy. I had my fair share of work to do. And if you pester them enough, the professors will make themselves available to answer your questions outside of class. Overall, Northeastern was a good place for me to be. So is Boston. I'm still here.... Let me know if I can answer anything else for you... Mark Frydenberg mfrydenb@server1.prime.com