Which is better for major flexibility: Northeastern or Brandeis?

The biggest practical tradeoff is structure versus openness: Northeastern gives you a larger university with more programs and built-in flexibility through co-ops, while Brandeis tends to make academic exploration feel simpler because it is smaller and more centered on the liberal arts. At Northeastern, you have access to many majors across different colleges, but changing paths can sometimes mean navigating distinct school or program requirements. At Brandeis, there are fewer total programs, yet students often find it easier to move around academically because the campus is smaller and the curriculum is less segmented.

For pure major exploration, Brandeis has an advantage in day-to-day academic flexibility. Its liberal arts setup is designed for trying classes across fields before settling, and the smaller scale can make advising and course planning more straightforward when you are undecided. If your interests are spread across humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, or interdisciplinary areas, Brandeis often feels less bureaucratic.

Northeastern is very flexible in a different way. It offers more majors, more combined majors, and more opportunities to test an interest through work experience before fully committing. That can be especially useful if you are deciding among business, engineering, computer science, health fields, or other professionally oriented areas. The catch is that some switches can be more complicated if they involve moving into a highly structured program with sequential requirements.

If your main goal is to explore broadly without feeling boxed in early, Brandeis is probably the cleaner option. If you want the widest menu of majors and like the idea of using co-op to figure out your direction, Northeastern may give you more options overall, but it can require more planning to pivot.