By Esther Chou

The decision to attend Northeastern University for freshman Caity O’Brien didn’t come lightly. Racked by the decision of attending Boston University or Northeastern University, O’Brien’s final verdict was based on location. “Boston is just an awesome city, O’Brien explained, “and Northeastern has a great campus that’s so close to everything.” For the 2003-2004 school year, Boston University came in at number 64 in U.S. News ‘ World Report’s list of the top universities in the country. Though not officially assigned a numerical rank, an official request was sent to the magazine by the university, and it was determined that the university placed at 127 — one slot shy of the second tier. Although the information was available to this year’s freshman and NU’s ranking was much lower than BU’s rank, O’Brien said that although Northeastern’s ranking was much lower than BU’s ranking, it played no role in her decision. “I figured that most general undergraduate education is all the same, and the fact that Northeastern has such a great co-op program made up for it,” O’Brien said. Other freshman, like Camille Hayden, made their decisions by the scholarships and financial aid awards offered by Northeastern that were not available at higher ranked schools like Syracuse University and the University of Connecticut. “This is the school that I got the most money from,” said Hayden, who received nearly $20,000 in grants. Shane Lloyd, a freshman, chose Northeastern solely for it’s co-op program, which ranked number one in U.S. News ‘ World Report this year and last year. “I wanted to experience the co-op system,” Lloyd said.