Rationale for first semester/ first year study abroad programs?

[Anonymous]

Why are so many colleges doing this? DS has been waitlisted (Engineering) at both Mass Amherst and CU Boulder but offered a spot if he does the first semester abroad. A friend’s son spent first semester “at” Northeastern in London.

Do colleges “offer” this to deal with housing shortages? To have guaranteed students after first semester attrition? To not include waitlisted stats in their incoming class profiles? Other?

[Anonymous]

More revenue.....dorms open up in the spring semester bc so many study abroad. Need to fill those beds.
Plus any attrition (though that's usually minimal).

[Anonymous]

Also your SAT scores don't get included in official reporting so they can take a kid without it lowering their average.

[Anonymous]

Acceptance rate and stats of entering freshman class only include those starting in the fall on the home campus. That's how Northeastern has a 5.2% acceptance rate.

[Anonymous]

More money, smooth out housing vacancies caused by semester abroad programs and those that drop out. In the end the answer almost always comes down to the same thing, it’s all about the money. Your kid is viewed as a solid revenue stream.

[Anonymous]

A lot of school offer this admissions but 1st semester has to be off campus either at another location or abroad. It really takes away from their burden of housing everyone on campus in the fall as freshman but they can get full tuitions and more tuition.
They count on kids going abroad in Spring and more housing opens up for freshman that went abroad and they also have some fall out from kids not return in Spring semester. Basically a way for the schools to admit more students and make more money without having to house them on campus their first year. William and Mary does this waitlists kids and say you can go abroad or NOVA for fall and then join spring semester. Northeastern does it too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More revenue.....dorms open up in the spring semester bc so many study abroad. Need to fill those beds.
Plus any attrition (though that's usually minimal).

I hear this a lot — about open beds in spring because of study abroad. I don’t understand the math. Those abroad students come back the next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More revenue.....dorms open up in the spring semester bc so many study abroad. Need to fill those beds.
Plus any attrition (though that's usually minimal).

I hear this a lot — about open beds in spring because of study abroad. I don’t understand the math. Those abroad students come back the next year.

Most of the schools that do this don't have housing all 4 years so they don't worry about juniors/seniors returning from abroad in terms of dorm capacity.
I don't think it is an ideal start to college for most freshman but it can work for some.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More revenue.....dorms open up in the spring semester bc so many study abroad. Need to fill those beds.
Plus any attrition (though that's usually minimal).

I hear this a lot — about open beds in spring because of study abroad. I don’t understand the math. Those abroad students come back the next year.

Most of the schools that do this don't have housing all 4 years so they don't worry about juniors/seniors returning from abroad in terms of dorm capacity.
I don't think it is an ideal start to college for most freshman but it can work for some.

It’s also about retention rate. The strategy creates a curated set of ‘transfers’ while capturing the first year tuition that would be lost to traditional transfers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Acceptance rate and stats of entering freshman class only include those starting in the fall on the home campus. That's how Northeastern has a 5.2% acceptance rate.

Seeing this in action now at Northeastern and it's striking. DC has a friend who is a really great kid but just average stats, has not taken top rigor classes, etc. The friend got into Northeastern with an overseas start while not getting into schools with much much higher acceptance rates.

Happy for the kid but very telling for how Northeastern cooks their stats.

[Anonymous]

02:28 Did you not read what OP wrote? Many colleges do this, not just Northeastern. Over 105,000 kids applied this year (number has been going up for years), it's difficult to be accepted into the Boston campus, and yet people still want to attend.

Just stop the Northeastern bashing - it's not a good look, Northeastern is no longer a sleepy commuter school, and many families are buying what they are selling. Jus because you aren't interested, doesn't mean you should continue to bash the school

[Anonymous]

My son did the first semester overseas and it was tough coming back because a lot of people on campus had made their friends already. In hindsight I would advise not to do it if given the chance again.

[Anonymous]

Most of the schools that do this tend to be striver schools that try too hard (i.e. Northeastern). They are overthinking things. It sends up a big red flag for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:02:28 Did you not read what OP wrote? Many colleges do this, not just Northeastern. Over 105,000 kids applied this year (number has been going up for years), it's difficult to be accepted into the Boston campus, and yet people still want to attend.

Just stop the Northeastern bashing - it's not a good look, Northeastern is no longer a sleepy commuter school, and many families are buying what they are selling. Jus because you aren't interested, doesn't mean you should continue to bash the school

NP. Look, lots of schools do this but Northeastern more strategically than any other. It isn't just the junior year abroad kids for them, it's also the coop students. Northeastern has a lot of moving parts. They have found a great way to deal with what would otherwise be a huge problem for them - no one should begrudge them that. Where it gets sketchy is when they use the Boston campus acceptance rate numbers as a marketing tool when they are accepting a huge number of students into other campuses and these students have completely different acceptance rates and test scores.