Eager, dressed in their interview best, over 2,600 students and Northeastern alumni crowed the Mega Career Fair Feb. 5 searching for that perfect professional match.

And it wasn’t just would-be employees or co-ops holding out hope. Approximately 200 companies were eager to meet with Northeastern students, a crew considered by the Northeast Hospital Corporation to be the cream of the crop.

“Northeastern has a wonderful reputation, especially for nursing, physical therapy, pharmacy and nurse practitioners,” said Judith Neitzel, of the hospital’s human resources department. “The students here present themselves so well. We just have such a great relationship with the university.”

The career fair, one of two annual events sponsored by Career Services, drew computer science masters student Gunapal Sripal of Bangalore, India, to a line at EMC, Corp’s table in the Cabot Cage.

“I’ve heard such good things about EMC,” he said, “so I’m looking for internship and co-op opportunities.

He credited his courses here with helping him prepare for a future, which may lead to his own startup in India one day. “For people like us, hoping to start our own company one day, it is a great opportunity to work for an excellent company like EMC.”

Bloomberg was another corporation attracting long lines. Computer science masters student Xingham Cui of Beijing, China, said he was excited to have the opportunity to meet company representatives face-to-face. “Bloomberg is a fantastic company!” he said, adding that he was hoping to land a co-op position.

For Bloomberg, Northeastern University is a rich source of talent, said representative Tom Arcidiacono, in between handshakes with students and alumni. “We come to Northeastern because this is where the talent is,” he said.

Recent Northeastern grad Ashwin Shankar of India was also hopeful of gaining entry into Bloomberg with his masters in engineering degree.

“I just met with them and I think it went pretty well,” Shankar said.