Scathing Summary of Northeastern Admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are lies, damned lies and (Northeastern) statistics.

Any school that is so blatantly dishonest with simple CDS metrics deserves to be called out. It is nothing more than a cheap marketing tactic.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weird take — writer is upset that they LIE because they only give the main campus numbers and so many more are accepted to other programs, but goes on to say no one wants those other programs when they apply. Well, if applicants only want the main campus, then that 5% or whatever stat isn’t a lie, is it?

NP yeah, it is.

Using easy number, if 20,000 apply and 2000 are admitted to the main campus and 4000 are admitted to satellite campuses, their acceptance rate is 30% but they report it at 10%.

But the main campus is what people care about, so it's accurate to say that the main campus has a 10% acceptance rate.

In the case of NEU, even if you included all the side channels, you would get a total acceptance rate of around 10%, which is still very low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weird take — writer is upset that they LIE because they only give the main campus numbers and so many more are accepted to other programs, but goes on to say no one wants those other programs when they apply. Well, if applicants only want the main campus, then that 5% or whatever stat isn’t a lie, is it?

NP yeah, it is.

Using easy number, if 20,000 apply and 2000 are admitted to the main campus and 4000 are admitted to satellite campuses, their acceptance rate is 30% but they report it at 10%.

But the main campus is what people care about, so it's accurate to say that the main campus has a 10% acceptance rate.

In the case of NEU, even if you included all the side channels, you would get a total acceptance rate of around 10%, which is still very low.

No I don't think you understand. They're counting everyone in the denominator for their acceptance rate, even those that applied to any of their campuses (London, NYC, Seattle, Oakland etc.) but they're only counting the students that start on the Boston campus as the only students in the numerator. That artificially reduces the numerator while counting every single applicant to any campus in the denominator. And all those people who start out in satellite campuses with lower stats and lower ECs/recs eventually find themselves on the Boston campus and become the peer group. So you go to school with a big span of different students that reflects the different selectivity standards. It's odd enviro and also misleading to students and parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some people with a weird fetish for supplemental essays. The whole purpose of these essays is for schools to select highly qualified students who are the right fit. It’s not meant to make students’ lives more difficult.

Northeastern is already doing an excellent job in this regard, and its retention rate is top-notch as a result. It's up there with T20 schools.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/freshmen-least-most-likely-return

If a school picks the right students, they stay. Schools already have plenty of data and information to make these decisions; Northeastern doesn't need "dumb" supplemental essays to gather more information to pick the right candidates. No need to make lives of students unnecessarily more difficult.

+1. Having just gone through this process with my DC, the supplemental essays are probably the stupidest aspect. The main essay, teacher recs, and activities list should be enough for any school to make an admission decision. They shouldn’t need to ask, “Why do you love ME”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like or don't like, but Northeastern is getting more than 100,000 applicants per year. I went to college in Boston back in the day when Northeastern was a commuter school for kids in Revere that wanted to become cops. Northeastern has come a long way since then. Good for them. They seem to understand what students want these days. A lot of universities are envious.

They get 100K acceptances because it's FREE to apply to for most people (DS got a free waiver after touring) and there are no supplemental essays to write. You just need to fill in biographical data. Some kids have never heard of it, look at USNWR see it's top 50 and free with no essays, and bingo ... it's a no-brainer to apply to!

Three of my kids applied for the past 5 years. None was free.

Received waiver offers from UChicago and WashU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like or don't like, but Northeastern is getting more than 100,000 applicants per year. I went to college in Boston back in the day when Northeastern was a commuter school for kids in Revere that wanted to become cops. Northeastern has come a long way since then. Good for them. They seem to understand what students want these days. A lot of universities are envious.

They get 100K acceptances because it's FREE to apply to for most people (DS got a free waiver after touring) and there are no supplemental essays to write. You just need to fill in biographical data. Some kids have never heard of it, look at USNWR see it's top 50 and free with no essays, and bingo ... it's a no-brainer to apply to!

Three of my kids applied for the past 5 years. None was free.

Received waiver offers from UChicago and WashU.

Also, there are plenty of schools that are always free to apply to (no waiver) and have zero supplements who do not have 100k applicants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. If a kid applies to a school and he gets admitted (whether to the main or another alternative campus), the kid is admitted, period. You can't pretend he was rejected.

Which is why if you look at your kid’s Naviance or SCOIR, you’ll likely see a significantly higher admission rate than what Northeastern reports. Because of course if the kid is accepted, regardless of if it was Boston or Oakland or whatever, they report that they were accepted. I think our (public) high school’s acceptance rate to Northeastern is like 28%.

Exactly, on Scoir our private school's acceptance rate to NEU is 39%, not the 5% they report to USNWR!

(Note: I applied earlier to the wrong comment. This is what I meant to apply to.)

And the truth comes out. Bethesda Magazine publishes acceptances every year of about a half dozen high schools, and combined the acceptance rate to Northeastern was 32% last year. Looking at Boston College it was 13%, more in line with published rates. Very telling.

Self reported data isn't reliable.

It's reported by the schools. It's pretty much what the Scoir data is providing at other schools...approximately 30% acceptance rate. Very interesting spread from what NEU reports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. If a kid applies to a school and he gets admitted (whether to the main or another alternative campus), the kid is admitted, period. You can't pretend he was rejected.

Which is why if you look at your kid’s Naviance or SCOIR, you’ll likely see a significantly higher admission rate than what Northeastern reports. Because of course if the kid is accepted, regardless of if it was Boston or Oakland or whatever, they report that they were accepted. I think our (public) high school’s acceptance rate to Northeastern is like 28%.

Exactly, on Scoir our private school's acceptance rate to NEU is 39%, not the 5% they report to USNWR!

(Note: I applied earlier to the wrong comment. This is what I meant to apply to.)

And the truth comes out. Bethesda Magazine publishes acceptances every year of about a half dozen high schools, and combined the acceptance rate to Northeastern was 32% last year. Looking at Boston College it was 13%, more in line with published rates. Very telling.

Self reported data isn't reliable.

Data was provided by counselors who likely pulled it from Naviance. Naviance is relied upon by many people and is a strong representation of a particular school's student body acceptance rate. It isn't going to be 100%, but it seems to be more accurate than Northeastern's numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take it with an obvious grain of salt as this was an Instagram post from a college advisor and quasi-influencer, but I happen to agree with the substance:

Northeastern isn’t a bad school. They just LIE, a lot.

That 5% acceptance rate is completely manufactured. They only count students admitted to the Boston campus. Meanwhile thousands more get accepted into NUin, Global Scholars, London, Oakland, and now NYC. For the class of 2028 alone, only about 2,700 students were admitted to Boston, but over 3,300 more got in through those other programs that conveniently don’t show up in the number. If you count everyone they actually accept, the real rate is way higher than 5%. And be honest, who’s dreaming of spending their freshman year at Northeastern’s Oakland campus? Nobody applied to Northeastern for that.

They’ve rigged the front end too. No supplemental essays. Test optional. Applying to Northeastern is basically a one-click process through the Common App, which is exactly the point. The more unqualified applicants they attract, the lower that rate looks on paper.

Total cost of attendance at Northeastern runs around $90–94K a year. Harvard is about $87K with WAY more aid at Harvard. You’re paying more than Harvard for a degree that no one is that impressed by.

Now I already know the Northeastern crowd is gonna flood my comments bragging about their co-ops. A co-op is an internship. That’s it. The rest of us can apply for internships on our own, graduate on time, and we don’t have to pay $94,000 a year for the privilege.

Now is Northeastern worth going to sometimes? Yes. Of course. If it’s your LOWEST cost option. At least then you’re getting value for your money🤷‍♂️

Is this from @ivyroadmap ?! That guy really has a bone to pick with Northeastern.
The 2 kids I know at NE ended up with job offers at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan after doing their CoOps there. Their CoOp opens doors. I don’t care what anyone says.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. If a kid applies to a school and he gets admitted (whether to the main or another alternative campus), the kid is admitted, period. You can't pretend he was rejected.

Which is why if you look at your kid’s Naviance or SCOIR, you’ll likely see a significantly higher admission rate than what Northeastern reports. Because of course if the kid is accepted, regardless of if it was Boston or Oakland or whatever, they report that they were accepted. I think our (public) high school’s acceptance rate to Northeastern is like 28%.

Exactly, on Scoir our private school's acceptance rate to NEU is 39%, not the 5% they report to USNWR!

(Note: I applied earlier to the wrong comment. This is what I meant to apply to.)

And the truth comes out. Bethesda Magazine publishes acceptances every year of about a half dozen high schools, and combined the acceptance rate to Northeastern was 32% last year. Looking at Boston College it was 13%, more in line with published rates. Very telling.

Self reported data isn't reliable.

It's reported by the schools. It's pretty much what the Scoir data is providing at other schools...approximately 30% acceptance rate. Very interesting spread from what NEU reports.

Simple math immediately says that's bogus. 5% at Boston. Studetns starting at other campuses come to Boston after one semester or one year.
Get it? Looks like Scoir is very unreliable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weird take — writer is upset that they LIE because they only give the main campus numbers and so many more are accepted to other programs, but goes on to say no one wants those other programs when they apply. Well, if applicants only want the main campus, then that 5% or whatever stat isn’t a lie, is it?

NP yeah, it is.

Using easy number, if 20,000 apply and 2000 are admitted to the main campus and 4000 are admitted to satellite campuses, their acceptance rate is 30% but they report it at 10%.

But the main campus is what people care about, so it's accurate to say that the main campus has a 10% acceptance rate.

In the case of NEU, even if you included all the side channels, you would get a total acceptance rate of around 10%, which is still very low.

No I don't think you understand. They're counting everyone in the denominator for their acceptance rate, even those that applied to any of their campuses (London, NYC, Seattle, Oakland etc.) but they're only counting the students that start on the Boston campus as the only students in the numerator. That artificially reduces the numerator while counting every single applicant to any campus in the denominator. And all those people who start out in satellite campuses with lower stats and lower ECs/recs eventually find themselves on the Boston campus and become the peer group. So you go to school with a big span of different students that reflects the different selectivity standards. It's odd enviro and also misleading to students and parents.

Does every school with satellite campus and overseas starts pull those students out of their denominators? Penn State, Chapel Hill, W&M? How about UF who offers a fully online start? That check indicates you’re willing to consider an alternative start, but I would bet that the bulk of the students across all schools that offer alternative paths would choose the main campuses first, so I think all their denominators are likely real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. If a kid applies to a school and he gets admitted (whether to the main or another alternative campus), the kid is admitted, period. You can't pretend he was rejected.

Which is why if you look at your kid’s Naviance or SCOIR, you’ll likely see a significantly higher admission rate than what Northeastern reports. Because of course if the kid is accepted, regardless of if it was Boston or Oakland or whatever, they report that they were accepted. I think our (public) high school’s acceptance rate to Northeastern is like 28%.

Exactly, on Scoir our private school's acceptance rate to NEU is 39%, not the 5% they report to USNWR!

(Note: I applied earlier to the wrong comment. This is what I meant to apply to.)

And the truth comes out. Bethesda Magazine publishes acceptances every year of about a half dozen high schools, and combined the acceptance rate to Northeastern was 32% last year. Looking at Boston College it was 13%, more in line with published rates. Very telling.

Self reported data isn't reliable.

Data was provided by counselors who likely pulled it from Naviance. Naviance is relied upon by many people and is a strong representation of a particular school's student body acceptance rate. It isn't going to be 100%, but it seems to be more accurate than Northeastern's numbers.

It’s still self-reported.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weird take — writer is upset that they LIE because they only give the main campus numbers and so many more are accepted to other programs, but goes on to say no one wants those other programs when they apply. Well, if applicants only want the main campus, then that 5% or whatever stat isn’t a lie, is it?

NP yeah, it is.

Using easy number, if 20,000 apply and 2000 are admitted to the main campus and 4000 are admitted to satellite campuses, their acceptance rate is 30% but they report it at 10%.

But the main campus is what people care about, so it's accurate to say that the main campus has a 10% acceptance rate.

In the case of NEU, even if you included all the side channels, you would get a total acceptance rate of around 10%, which is still very low.

No I don't think you understand. They're counting everyone in the denominator for their acceptance rate, even those that applied to any of their campuses (London, NYC, Seattle, Oakland etc.) but they're only counting the students that start on the Boston campus as the only students in the numerator. That artificially reduces the numerator while counting every single applicant to any campus in the denominator. And all those people who start out in satellite campuses with lower stats and lower ECs/recs eventually find themselves on the Boston campus and become the peer group. So you go to school with a big span of different students that reflects the different selectivity standards. It's odd enviro and also misleading to students and parents.

Does every school with satellite campus and overseas starts pull those students out of their denominators? Penn State, Chapel Hill, W&M? How about UF who offers a fully online start? That check indicates you’re willing to consider an alternative start, but I would bet that the bulk of the students across all schools that offer alternative paths would choose the main campuses first, so I think all their denominators are likely real.

Also many schools admit transfer students especailly large public schools admit big number of transfer students, for example more than 5000 for UCBekeley at around 25% admit rate. Many of them comes from community colleges. Their stats are not included.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. If a kid applies to a school and he gets admitted (whether to the main or another alternative campus), the kid is admitted, period. You can't pretend he was rejected.

Which is why if you look at your kid’s Naviance or SCOIR, you’ll likely see a significantly higher admission rate than what Northeastern reports. Because of course if the kid is accepted, regardless of if it was Boston or Oakland or whatever, they report that they were accepted. I think our (public) high school’s acceptance rate to Northeastern is like 28%.

Exactly, on Scoir our private school's acceptance rate to NEU is 39%, not the 5% they report to USNWR!

(Note: I applied earlier to the wrong comment. This is what I meant to apply to.)

And the truth comes out. Bethesda Magazine publishes acceptances every year of about a half dozen high schools, and combined the acceptance rate to Northeastern was 32% last year. Looking at Boston College it was 13%, more in line with published rates. Very telling.

Self reported data isn't reliable.

It's reported by the schools. It's pretty much what the Scoir data is providing at other schools...approximately 30% acceptance rate. Very interesting spread from what NEU reports.

Simple math immediately says that's bogus. 5% at Boston. Studetns starting at other campuses come to Boston after one semester or one year.
Get it? Looks like Scoir is very unreliable.

So they simply subtract the students they ACCEPT to other campus from the numerator. Got it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weird take — writer is upset that they LIE because they only give the main campus numbers and so many more are accepted to other programs, but goes on to say no one wants those other programs when they apply. Well, if applicants only want the main campus, then that 5% or whatever stat isn’t a lie, is it?

NP yeah, it is.

Using easy number, if 20,000 apply and 2000 are admitted to the main campus and 4000 are admitted to satellite campuses, their acceptance rate is 30% but they report it at 10%.

But the main campus is what people care about, so it's accurate to say that the main campus has a 10% acceptance rate.

In the case of NEU, even if you included all the side channels, you would get a total acceptance rate of around 10%, which is still very low.

No I don't think you understand. They're counting everyone in the denominator for their acceptance rate, even those that applied to any of their campuses (London, NYC, Seattle, Oakland etc.) but they're only counting the students that start on the Boston campus as the only students in the numerator. That artificially reduces the numerator while counting every single applicant to any campus in the denominator. And all those people who start out in satellite campuses with lower stats and lower ECs/recs eventually find themselves on the Boston campus and become the peer group. So you go to school with a big span of different students that reflects the different selectivity standards. It's odd enviro and also misleading to students and parents.

Does every school with satellite campus and overseas starts pull those students out of their denominators? Penn State, Chapel Hill, W&M? How about UF who offers a fully online start? That check indicates you’re willing to consider an alternative start, but I would bet that the bulk of the students across all schools that offer alternative paths would choose the main campuses first, so I think all their denominators are likely real.

Also many schools admit transfer students especailly large public schools admit big number of transfer students, for example more than 5000 for UCBekeley at around 25% admit rate. Many of them comes from community colleges. Their stats are not included.

Way to justify the shady math.