Home to 35 colleges, universities and community colleges, Boston is a scholarly hotspot — not just a college town, but a college city. With such a dense student population, there’s bound to be healthy rivalry between bordering institutions.
Insight from three of Northeastern’s closest neighbors reveal how the university is perceived from the outside.
Berklee College of Music
“You guys are basic, I guess, but cool,” said Maxwell Pauls, a second-year commercial dance major at Berklee College of Music, located on Boylston Street. “I think very much of VSCO girls and lacrosse boys.”
Established in 1945, Berklee’s Latin motto, “Esse quam videri,” translates as, “To be, rather than to seem.” With this, Berklee emphasizes an appreciation for music history. At the same time, it encourages students to take stock of artists today and take part in the making of contemporary music history. Comparatively, in the eyes of some Berklee students, Northeastern lacks creativity.
“I kind of get a little bit of tech bro or tech gal vibes,” said Salem Pace, a fourth-year performance and composition major at Berklee. “Maybe a bit more of the quote-en-quote ‘normie’ vibe.”
Berklee is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Northeastern is a research institution home to a more STEM-oriented crowd, with the College of Arts, Media and Design being the smallest college under the university’s umbrella.
“One of the images I have is, like, tech, business — wearing a suit and tie on a normal day,” said Liz Meier, a third-year music production and engineering major at Berklee.
The Berklee perspective isn’t entirely bleak — Northeastern does have one thing going for it.
“I love Wollaston’s,” Meier said. “You guys have great sandwiches, and therefore, you are great.”
Wentworth Institute of Technology
Meanwhile, down the road on Huntington Avenue, Wentworth Institute of Technology students balanced admiration with cynicism.
“What I’ve heard a lot is that people come to Wentworth because they were rejected or waitlisted from Northeastern,” said Macey Perez, a first-year architecture major.
A friend of Perez echoed the same tongue-in-cheek sentiment.
“It’s, like, the Northeastern rejects — me included,” said Pamely Saldana, a first-year architecture major.
Northeastern’s exclusivity is a point of contention.
“I’ve heard that people think Northeastern students think they’re so much better than us because they’re not a part of the Colleges of [the] Fenway,” Saldana said. “They’re like, ‘Yeah, Northeastern didn’t want to be a part of it.’”
The Colleges of the Fenway, or COF, is a consortium of five Boston institutions that share resources such as dining halls, research and medical facilities. Schools in the consortium also give students the opportunity to take up to two courses per semester at any other COF for equal credit. Members include Emmanuel College, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Simmons University and Wentworth Institute of Technology. It is unclear whether Northeastern was ever invited to join the consortium, which formed in 1996.
“I feel like it’s something to brag about. Like, ‘Oh, I go to Northeastern,’” Perez said. “Northeastern is a whole different world.”
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Founded in 1873, Massachusetts College of Art and Design is one of the nation’s oldest art schools. As the creatives on Huntington Avenue, MassArt students skewed more toward the Berklee perception of Northeastern.
“Whenever I’m on your campus, I feel like I’m out of the bubble that MassArt provides for our students because MassArt just has such a highly queer population,” said Katelyn Pimenta, a fourth-year illustration major. “I’d say students are a lot less focused on self-expression [at Northeastern]. The career we’re going towards is intrinsically related to self-expression because we’re artists, and a lot of students at Northeastern just don’t have that same connection between their career and how they express themselves.”
Co-op, however, was a major selling point.
“I think [at MassArt], there’s a dense bubble of art students who aren’t thinking about what they’re doing after graduation — kind of including me,” said Genie McDonough, a third-year studio for interrelated media major. “Northeastern seems a lot more career-focused.”
With 97% of Northeastern students employed or in graduate school within nine months of graduation, MassArt students feel their futures are more uncertain.
“There’s a finite goal in mind, whereas here, it’s like, ‘I’m gonna find a job…one day,’” said Gracie Plaza, a third-year dual major in sculpture and studio for interrelated media.
Pimenta agreed on the advantages that Northeastern’s long-term opportunities present.
“I know that co-op is, like, a five-year program, and I think that’s really interesting. A lot of Northeastern internship and co-op models are things I envy about your school — how network-oriented it is,” Pimenta said.
While some Northeastern students remain in school for five years due to co-op, it’s possible to graduate in the typical four.
Regardless of graduation timeline, some Northeastern students find themselves anxious in the face of professional pressure early on.
In Plaza’s personal life, the career-driven nature of the university breeds a certain kind of tunnel vision. Plaza pointed to her ex-boyfriend, a student at Northeastern, as an example.
In the midst of their breakup, “he said I wasn’t instrumental to his success,” Plaza said.
In the eyes of MassArt students, ambition at Northeastern also extends to the ice.
Beyond the co-op program, “A lot of what I see from Northeastern is, just, like, emphasis on hockey and sports,” McDonough said.
“I’ve been to a few games. None of which you guys have won,” Pimenta said. “The Beanpot was really brutal.”
While Pimenta exaggerated in her remark, the men’s hockey team’s performance has declined in comparison to the 2023-24 season, with decreases in overall records and conference records, as well as scoring averages.
To its closest neighbors, Northeastern has earned the reputation of a land of normies in business casual. What the university lacks in 2025 men’s Beanpot titles, it makes up for in sandwiches, career readiness and perceived prestige.
