NorthEastern University in Boston - weirded out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was basically a commuter school when I lived in Boston many years ago. They’ve admitted that they purposefully spent enormous resources to game the rankings and voila, it worked.

This is the entire story. They massaged their stats and now others know how they did it and can manipulate their own way past them in the artificial rankings.

Pick a school based on fit, not US News and World Reports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was basically a commuter school when I lived in Boston many years ago. They’ve admitted that they purposefully spent enormous resources to game the rankings and voila, it worked.

This is the entire story. They massaged their stats and now others know how they did it and can manipulate their own way past them in the artificial rankings.

Pick a school based on fit, not US News and World Reports.

Rankings aside, the students they attract are incredibly impressive (midrange ACT scores of 33-35, rival any Ivy) and are incredibly happy and successful by all metrics I've seen. The students I know that go there LOVE it and rave about their classes, their professors, and the co-op program. Maybe the school "gamed" the rankings in order to get where they are, but it seems to have led to a pretty successful school.

[Anonymous]

We were blown away by our tour, in a good way. I grew up in Massachusetts and always felt sorry for the students at the then commuter school. My son was lucky enough to have a mechanical engineering student lead his tour. He had already done 3 co-ops. As an aside, he told my son he had earned $70,000 while working them. One was a startup. The other was at an aeronautics company where he had to find out what was defective about returned parts. The other was at NASA. My DC is definitely applying. There are no supplemental essays required, and we can definitely afford it.

[Anonymous]

DH attended Northeastern from out of state and had an amazing experience. He was able to get hands on work experience in his field, loved the city. It's on our list for DD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’re these events organized by the school? You do realize that the schools all have marketing experts who give the school representatives talking points? It’s not a coincidence that they’re all saying the same thing.

Nope, not organized by the school. Even if it was, aggressively telling people that you'll soon be a Top 20 school in no time is a weird thing to hawk.

If you’ve spent any time on this board, and the parents’ obsession with school rankings, you wouldn’t find it “weird” at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were blown away by our tour, in a good way. I grew up in Massachusetts and always felt sorry for the students at the then commuter school. My son was lucky enough to have a mechanical engineering student lead his tour. He had already done 3 co-ops. As an aside, he told my son he had earned $70,000 while working them. One was a startup. The other was at an aeronautics company where he had to find out what was defective about returned parts. The other was at NASA. My DC is definitely applying. There are no supplemental essays required, and we can definitely afford it.

Is it setup more like a trade school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was basically a commuter school when I lived in Boston many years ago. They’ve admitted that they purposefully spent enormous resources to game the rankings and voila, it worked.

This is the entire story. They massaged their stats and now others know how they did it and can manipulate their own way past them in the artificial rankings.

Pick a school based on fit, not US News and World Reports.

Rankings aside, the students they attract are incredibly impressive (midrange ACT scores of 33-35, rival any Ivy) and are incredibly happy and successful by all metrics I've seen. The students I know that go there LOVE it and rave about their classes, their professors, and the co-op program. Maybe the school "gamed" the rankings in order to get where they are, but it seems to have led to a pretty successful school.

I know of a very smart student who chose to attend Northeastern but had grades/profile to attend higher ranked schools. However, he found NU had more to offer in terms of hands on experience, end degree, and outplacement, all for a much lower cost than he would have ever faced at the alternatives. He did his research on options and made an adult cost-benefit decision as a teen. At NU, he was given enough AP credits that he started as a second semester sophomore and would graduate in 4 years with a Masters (and the 4 years included his co-op jobs). It's a great option for the right kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure what the issue is. It used to be a commuter school and has transformed itself with a unique program that is wildly successful (co-op)

It will always be overshadowed by MIT, Harvard and Tufts, but will be right there with BU, BC, Brandeis etc putting the city of Boston and near the top of "college towns" in the US.

It isn't going to be for everybody, and certainly not my kids, but for the right fit, it is a great option.

Northeastern has always had the co-op program, including when it was a mostly commuter school. From its website: "Experiential learning, anchored by our world-renowned cooperative education program, is the heart of a Northeastern education. Starting in 1909, the College of Engineering was the first school at Northeastern to offer the co-op program."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They’ve got an 18% acceptance rate, so they’re doing something right that appeals to students

Is that how you measure the appeal of a school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were blown away by our tour, in a good way. I grew up in Massachusetts and always felt sorry for the students at the then commuter school. My son was lucky enough to have a mechanical engineering student lead his tour. He had already done 3 co-ops. As an aside, he told my son he had earned $70,000 while working them. One was a startup. The other was at an aeronautics company where he had to find out what was defective about returned parts. The other was at NASA. My DC is definitely applying. There are no supplemental essays required, and we can definitely afford it.

Is it setup more like a trade school?

Not at all- there is a core curriculum and many kids go there and get a solid liberal arts education, though there are a ton who are there for pre-professional programs (computer science, engineering, health sciences seem particularly strong). The school just has a very specific identity/philosophy around getting real world experience and has built a first-rate co-op program as a result.

One of the things my DD really liked when we visited was the tour guide talked about how she did a co-op in her intended field during sophomore year and HATED it--it wasn't that the co-op was bad but she realized it was a bad field for her. She switched majors as a result.

As others have said, it might not be the right fit for every kid but it seems like a great place for some...and the few kids I know who go there are dynamos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They’ve got an 18% acceptance rate, so they’re doing something right that appeals to students

Is that how you measure the appeal of a school?

If a school can turn away 82% of applicants, it obviously has more appeal than it has openings

[Anonymous]

Boston sucks 80% of the time. Dark, cold and full of Massholes.

[Anonymous]

Northeastern is a great school. Interships, Co ops for some kids this is amazing. I know plenty of kids that did really well there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was basically a commuter school when I lived in Boston many years ago. They’ve admitted that they purposefully spent enormous resources to game the rankings and voila, it worked.

Exactly this. I went to a top school in Boston a m million years ago and NE was basically the equivalent of a CC. They spent millions of dollars over the past decade doing exactly this to appear more selective and gamed the system. The more selective a school is/appears to be, the more people apply, regardless of how selective it is in reality. Make something appear unattainable and suddenly everyone wants it.

[Anonymous]

Aren't most universities in major cities "commuter schools" to some degree? In DC, NYC, Baltimore. Even UMD.