Northeastern vs. UMass Amherst for Master's Engineering ME (out of state)

[bnouri]

I received and acceptance to UMass Amherst Master's MechE program and am waiting Northeastern. Normally I would have chosen UMass for the lower tuition as I plan on pursuing an MBA afterwords.

Since I'm out of state it seems like there isn't much of a difference in cost of attendance, or at least not enough for me to dismiss NEU because of the it.

My question is how are the two schools received on the east coast? I've been in CA my entire life and am wondering if employers prefer graduates from one school? Anyone know what the academic culture is like?

I was emailed by the NEU Gordon Eng Leadership program outreach and the coordinator encouraged me to apply to that program as well. I'm very interested in it and am wondering if there are any Gordon Fellows out there? Does anyone know how much employers value this certificate?

On that note the coordinator was speaking to me as if I was already enrolled but I haven't heard from NEU yet. anyone else with a similar experience? (hopefully with a positive result )