Good Because of Co-Op

Introduction
If you are considering NU, make sure you really get a good understanding of your major and its department. NU is excellent for certain majors, and not as good for others. If you are undecided, though, you should be fine because NU has a ridiculous variety of majors to choose from. Just make sure that if you come here, you are open to meeting people right away. People get very cliquish early on, so make many different groups of friends. It's just a better way. Cliques are really stupid.

Campus Life and Social Life
Dorms are generally pretty loose in terms of policy/rules, but they're getting more strict. Parties usually tend to be off-campus. If you get a good RA, it can be really sweet and you can have a great time. If your RA sucks, you could be so miserable you would want to transfer. Life in general is good here, though. Each year, you get a better set of options as to where to live. Most upperclassmen move off campus, just because they're tired of swiping people in and dealing with RAs. Off-campus is cheaper too. Academics
Academics: I can only speak for Computer Science from firsthand experience. Some of the professors are excellent, some are terrible. It's based on the luck of the draw as to who you get. The TAs are usually useless: they just do bitch work (e.g. grade quizzes, etc.). The workload is tough. If Computer Science ("CS") isn't for you, just try something else. Lots of drops in the 1st semester. Another thing to note about the department, first: most of the CS professors and TAs have foreign accents. You will get used to this, but sometime it can hinder your success. Just speak up about it though, don't take crap.

Student Body
Most people are rich bastards. Lots of jocks (which pisses me off). A lot of people smoke too. You will soon die of lung cancer and I will be happier.

In Closing...
This is a big school, so don't let people (departments, offices, etc.) push you around. Fight for what you want and beware of the NU Shuffle.