u/Inevitable_Brush8544

Ever since I graduated, everyone keeps asking me if Northeastern was worth it. Honestly it's a loaded question for me personally because I'm heading back home for a family business, so my path looks different from most.

But I have cousins who are seriously considering NEU for the co-op program and before they commit I wanted to get a real pulse check from people who've lived it.

Would you make the same choice if you were deciding 4 years ago?

From what I've seen in my friend group, most don't have jobs lined up yet, but almost all of them are still glad they went. The exposure, the co-ops, the network it seems like it counts for something even when the job market is rough.

Not looking for a sales pitch either way, just genuine retrospectives. What would you tell your pre-frosh self?

I've been getting a lot of DMs and messages on LinkedIn from students and new grads asking about my internship-to-return-offer journey at Amazon, so I figured I'd just make a post here so everyone can benefit. Not taking DMs on this please ask in the comments so others can know too.

Quick background: CS student (graduating 2026), international student on F-1, non-target school. Went to a hackathon, met AWS representatives there, dropped my resume with them. They followed up with an email telling me to use a specific tag when applying did exactly that, applied cold through the portal with that tag, got the OA the following week, and the rest is history. No referral, no inside connection, just showing up to the right event and following through. Interned at AWS in the AMER region last summer as an SDE Intern and got converted to a full-time return offer. Here's the full timeline, down to the timestamps, for those who like the detail:

The Timeline

• Feb 18, 2025 — Applied
• Feb 23, 2025 — Online Assessment (the classic OA, you know the one)
• Feb 25, 2025 — Interview Prep Email (Amazon sends you resources, take this seriously)
• Feb 25, 2025 (same night!) — Official Interview Scheduling Email
• Mar 11, 2025 — Final Interview
• Mar 13, 2025 — Heard back post-interview
• Mar 14, 2025 — Signed the Intern Offer 🎉
• Sep 17, 2025 — "Incline" email (this is Amazon's internal signal that you performed well during the internship — if you get this, it's a very good sign)
• Jan 7, 2026 — Full-Time Offer received ✅

A few things I'd highlight for anyone going through this:

• The gap between the Incline email (Sep) and the actual FT offer (Jan) is real and it's nerve-wracking. Don't read into the silence too much, HC (Head Count) and offer processes just take time.
• The OA is straightforward if you've been grinding Leetcode at the Medium-Hard level consistently. Don't overthink it.
• The internship itself is essentially a ~12 week interview. Show ownership, ask good questions and don't just execute, communicate.
• The "Incline" email is not the offer. It's a signal. Still have to go through HC and internal matching after.