Northeastern University

Northeastern University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts, with its main campus situated along Huntington Avenue and Columbus Avenue near the Fenway-Kenmore and Roxbury neighborhoods. Founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male institute, it was incorporated as Northeastern College in 1916 and gained university status in 1922. With more than 38,000 students, Northeastern is the largest university in Massachusetts by enrollment. The institution is nationally recognized for its signature cooperative education (co-op) program, which integrates full-time professional work experience with academic study, and for its growing network of satellite campuses across the United States and internationally.

History and Founding

In May 1896, directors of the Boston Young Men's Christian Association — the first YMCA in the United States — established an Evening Institute for Younger Men, to merge, coordinate, and improve its classes that had evolved over the past 40 years. The school began teaching classes out of the YMCA of Greater Boston on Huntington Avenue. The School of Law was also formally established in 1898, with an advisory committee that included James Barr Ames, dean of the Harvard Law School; Samuel Bennett, dean of the Boston University School of Law; and Judge James R. Dunbar.

In 1903, the first Automobile Engineering School in the country was established at Northeastern, followed by a Polytechnic School in 1904 and a School of Commerce and Finance in 1907. Day classes began in 1909. The school was renamed Northeastern College in 1916 and Northeastern University in 1922.

The institution's first president was Frank Palmer Speare, after whom Speare Hall — a first-year residence hall that used to be home to the Boston Opera House — was later named.

In the postwar era, the university underwent significant expansion. Facing a postwar educational boom, the university broadened undergraduate offerings, increased graduate offerings, modernized administrative and faculty structures, created a Faculty Senate, and launched its first capital campaign. New colleges were established, including the College of Education (1953), University College (1960) — now called the College of Professional Studies — and the colleges of Pharmacy and Nursing (1964). The College of Criminal Justice was created in 1967, followed by the Khoury College of Computer Sciences in 1982, the first college in the United States dedicated to the field of computer science.

The university adopted coeducation in 1943. In the early 1960s, with financial assistance from the Ford Foundation in the form of scholarships and co-ops to Black high school students, Northeastern began actively recruiting Black students.

Campus

Northeastern University's 73-acre campus is located in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts. While the university occupies an urban environment, the campus features green spaces including the Centennial Common, Krentzman Quad, and Snell Library Quad, where students can relax, study, and socialize. The campus showcases a mix of architectural styles, ranging from historic buildings to contemporary structures. Notable buildings include the Snell Engineering Center, the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC), and the Curry Student Center.

Originally known as West Building, Richards Hall borders Krentzman Quadrangle and was the first building constructed on campus, completed in October 1938. Its light gray brick and vertical window strip design was the work of alumnus Herman Voss and was replicated in surrounding buildings. Richards Hall was named for Boston industrialist James Lorin Richards, a former board trustee.

On February 21, 2014, Northeastern held its groundbreaking ceremony for the new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC) on Columbus Avenue. Completed in 2017, the 220,000-square-foot building provides research and educational space for students and faculty from the College of Science, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, College of Engineering, and Khoury College of Computer Sciences.

More than 125 years after its founding, the Boston campus occupies 67 acres of land, and has expanded in recent years onto Columbus Avenue with the construction of the ISEC and the EXP building. EXP is Northeastern's newest building on the Boston campus. It opened in late 2023 and houses a makerspace, classrooms, the Faculty Club restaurant, and study spaces.

Northeastern's location in Boston offers students a vibrant city life with easy access to cultural, dining, and entertainment options. The campus is well connected with two subway stops, making it convenient to explore the city.

Cooperative Education

One of Northeastern's most distinctive features is its cooperative education program, which has defined the university's identity since the early twentieth century. The cooperative education program at Northeastern began in 1909. The co-op program was initially established exclusively for engineering students by Northeastern's first president, Frank Palmer Speare, at the Evening Institute of the Boston YMCA.

The experiential learning program, which began as a partnership between the university and four New England-based companies, now hosts a global network of more than 3,800 employers across all seven continents. The cooperative program — the second of its kind in the United States after one in Cincinnati, Ohio — was eventually adopted by all departments.

In the 1950s, the co-op philosophy shifted toward the modern version of the program. The department was renamed from the Department of Cooperative Work to the Department of Cooperative Education, and its first dean, Roy L. Wooldridge, was appointed in 1958. The university then changed the slogan from "earning while learning" to "learning while earning," placing emphasis on the educational value of co-op experiences.

Most students opt for at least one stint of employment through the co-op program; students are able to complete one, two, or three employment placements prior to graduation. When pursuing two or three placements, students alternate periods of academic study with periods of professional employment, usually paid, related to their major. If students complete three co-op employment placements, they will take five years to graduate. If they complete one or two, they may graduate in four years.

As of 2024, 95% of undergraduate students participate in at least one co-op experience. U.S. News ranked Northeastern as the best institution in the nation in the category of co-ops and internships.

Academic Profile

Northeastern is home to nine colleges and schools conferring undergraduate degrees in over 90 academic majors. The university offers 329 undergraduate majors — 199 of which are combined majors — as well as 36 PhD programs and 264 other graduate programs at the graduate level.

Northeastern is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education and is a member of the Boston Consortium for Higher Education.

The Khoury College of Computer Sciences is the computer science school of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts; it was the first college in the United States dedicated to the field of computer science when it was founded in 1982. Nearly two-thirds of Khoury College's graduating students are offered full-time positions by the companies at which they worked a co-op, with participating employers ranging from small startups to large enterprises including Google, Microsoft, John Hancock, and Amazon.

In the 2026 edition of Best Colleges, Northeastern University is ranked No. 46 in National Universities and No. 5 in Most Innovative Schools by U.S. News & World Report. Six years after graduation, the median salary for Northeastern graduates is $78,413.

Northeastern's first-year retention rate is 97%. The student-to-faculty ratio at Northeastern University is 14:1, and 61.8 percent of classes have fewer than 20 students.

Global Expansion

While Boston remains Northeastern's flagship campus, the university has pursued an aggressive strategy of opening satellite campuses across North America and beyond. The university has launched a number of full-service remote network campuses in North America, including Charlotte, North Carolina (October 2011), Seattle (January 2013), San Jose, California (March 2015), Toronto (2016), and Vancouver, British Columbia (2019).

In January 2020, Northeastern announced it was opening the Roux Institute in Portland, Maine — a new research institute focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning in digital and life sciences — after the university was selected for a $100 million donation by David Roux, in hopes of turning the city into a new tech hub.

In 2019, Northeastern purchased the New College of the Humanities, establishing an additional campus in London, England. The university subsequently expanded its world-leading Network Science Institute to the London campus, establishing a new European hub in the fast-growing research field of network science.

Northeastern University's network of 14 global campuses offers students an opportunity to engage with the university and the world through a number of different pathways. Skyrocketing application rates to Northeastern — which rose almost 50% in four years — resulted in a record number of undergraduate applications to the university for fall 2023.

Athletics

The university's sports teams, the Northeastern Huskies, compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) in 18 varsity sports. The men's and women's hockey teams compete in Hockey East, while the men's and women's rowing teams compete in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC) and Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges (EAWRC), respectively. The school colors are red and black with white trim.

Northeastern is a founding member of the Hockey East athletic conference, which the team joined in 1984. The Huskies had their greatest hockey success in the 1980s, when the men's team won the prestigious Beanpot tournament four times (1980, 1984, 1985, and 1988) and was the runner-up twice (1983 and 1987). The Huskies also managed to win back-to-back Beanpot tournaments in 2018 and 2019, ending a 30-year-long title drought.

Northeastern also boasts more than 25 intramural and 64 club teams for students across its Boston, Oakland, and London campuses.