FAQ

If you don't care about your grades and want to get the most out of your time and money for your education, this is your guide. Courses, labs, resources, and professors at Northeastern. Think of this as 'How To Northeastern CS 101'

For CS 2500/CS 2000 (Fundamentals of CS), read How to Design Programs. For CS 3100 (Program Design), work through the CS 3500 OOD Course Materials. This is the old curriculum and people complain it's not resilient to AI, but the point was never the syntax. It's about how to think like an engineer even when you're using AI to write the code.

AI Engineer / Full Stack

Building AI-powered products end-to-end: LLM APIs, RAG pipelines, and full-stack apps.

Courses

CS 5800 - AlgorithmsCS 1800 - Discrete StructuresCS 3100 - Program DesignDS 4400 or CS 6140 - Machine LearningCS 4130 - Engineering LLM-Integrated Systems

Labs

Resources

Professors

Machine Learning Engineer

Training, fine-tuning, and deploying ML models at scale.

Courses

CS 5800 - AlgorithmsCS 1800 - Discrete StructuresDS 4400 or CS 6140 - Machine LearningDS 4420 - Machine Learning and Data Mining 2CS 4120 - Natural Language ProcessingCS 4130 - Engineering LLM-Integrated SystemsEECE 5668 - Large Language ModelsMATH 7243 - ML and Statistical Learning Theory 1MATH 7339 - ML and Statistical Learning Theory 2MATH 4571 - Advanced Linear AlgebraMATH 4581 - Statistics and Stochastic Processes

Labs

Resources

Professors

Quant

Quantitative finance, trading systems, and statistical modeling.

Courses

CS 5800 - AlgorithmsCS 1800 - Discrete StructuresMATH 5101 - Analysis 1MATH 5102 - Analysis 2MATH 4571 - Advanced Linear AlgebraMATH 4581 - Statistics and Stochastic ProcessesMATH 1465 - Intensive Mathematical ReasoningMATH 3533 - Combinatorial MathematicsMATH 3545 - Introduction to Graph TheoryECON 2350 - Financial Economics

Labs

Resources

Professors

Product Engineer

Full-cycle product development: design, ship, iterate, and own the outcome.

Courses

IS 4300 - Human-Computer InteractionDS 4200 - Information Presentation and VisualizationCS 4530 - Fundamentals of Software EngineeringCS 6240 - Large-Scale Parallel Data Processing

Labs

Resources

Professors

Infrastructure & Systems

Distributed systems, networking, containerization, and the infrastructure behind ML serving and training.

Courses

CS 5800 - AlgorithmsCS 1800 - Discrete StructuresCS 3650 - Computer SystemsCS 7610 - Foundations of Distributed SystemsCS 4730 - Distributed SystemsCY 4740 - Network SecurityCY 6740 - Network SecurityMATH 3545 - Introduction to Graph Theory

Labs

Resources

Professors

Robotics

Autonomous systems, ROS, control theory, and hardware-software integration.

Courses

CS 1800 - Discrete StructuresCS 4610 - Robotic Science & SystemsEECE 5554 - Robotics Sensing & NavigationMATH 4571 - Advanced Linear AlgebraMATH 3545 - Introduction to Graph Theory

Labs

Resources

Professors

HPC / Computer Architecture

GPU programming, computer architecture, high-performance computing, and systems-level optimization.

Courses

CS 5800 - AlgorithmsCS 1800 - Discrete StructuresCS 3650 - Computer SystemsEECE 7352 - Computer ArchitectureEECE 5640 - High-Performance ComputingEECE 5360 - Combinatorial OptimizationEECE 5645 - Parallel Processing for Data AnalyticsEECE 5653 - Introduction to Quantum EngineeringCS 7610 - Foundations of Distributed SystemsCS 4730 - Distributed SystemsMATH 4571 - Advanced Linear AlgebraMATH 3533 - Combinatorial Mathematics

Labs

Resources

Professors

Compilers

Compiler design, code generation, optimization passes, and language runtimes.

Courses

CS 5800 - AlgorithmsCS 1800 - Discrete StructuresCS 4410 - CompilersCS 4400 - Programming LanguagesCS 2500 - Fundamentals of CSMATH 3533 - Combinatorial Mathematics

Labs

Resources

Professors

Programming Languages

Programming language theory, type systems, semantics, and formal methods.

Courses

CS 5800 - AlgorithmsCS 1800 - Discrete StructuresCS 4400 - Programming LanguagesCS 7400 - Intensive Principles of Programming LanguagesCS 2800 - Logic & Computation

Labs

Resources

Professors

Research & Fellowships

Do this only if you want to suffer. Target becoming a primary author and try to get publications at PhD-level conferences.

Courses

CS 4545 - Research Apprenticeship, new Fall 2026CS 4950 - CS Research SeminarCS 4991 - ResearchCS 4970/4971 - Junior/Senior Honors ProjectMATH 4020 - Research CapstoneMATH 3090 - Exploration of Modern MathematicsMATH 4991 - ResearchMATH 4970/4971 - Math Honors ProjectEECE 2949 - Introductory Directed Research in ECEEECE 4991 - Research

Labs

Resources

Professors

Student Orgs

RevCommunity of builders, founders, and researchers. Hacker culture from SF to Boston.
ACM @ NortheasternKhoury's chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery. Tech talks, socials, project nights, and a direct line to industry recruiters.
Northeastern Electric RacingBuild an all-electric formula racecar. Embedded C++, PCB design, telemetry.
GenerateStudent-run product studio. Real software and hardware products for clients.
Husky Startup ChallengeSemester-long venture incubator. Bootcamps, mentorship, Demo Day with up to $6,000 in prizes.
IDEA Venture AcceleratorStudent-led accelerator. Mentorship, funding, structured program. Alumni raised over $900M.

How to Get Courses

Prerequisite Override (Khoury)

Talk to the professor teaching the course and get their written approval. Submit a prerequisite override petition through Khoury Advising (academic petitions). Email your advisor to confirm it went through.

Graduate Courses (5000-6000 level)

Talk to Jessica Biron (Associate Director of Undergraduate Programs). Reach out through Khoury Advising or email Khoury-undergrad@northeastern.edu.

PhD Courses (7000+ level)

Email the professor and get their written approval. Forward it to your advisor. Submit a curriculum petition (substitution) as a PDF. Explain why the course is relevant to your degree.

College of Science / Math

For MATH courses, email Prof. Solomon Jekel. He's the math department faculty advisor. COS Advising

College of Engineering / EECE

Undergraduate: COEAdvising@northeastern.edu. Graduate (ECE): coe-ece-gradadvising@northeastern.edu. COE Advising Team