This is how Northeastern gamed the system

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I've got a kld heading to Northeastern this fall. I am very excited about the program and opportunities there (and I think my kid is too!). The housing stuff outlined above is concerning, but I think most colleges/universities have issues which arise from time to time. My older kid is at William and Mary, and the parent Facebook pages are full of complaints about different things (poor food/food availability, unhappiness with the dorms, problems with registering for classes, etc.). My alma mater, a small, very selective liberal arts college, is having its own housing issues as the incoming freshman class is apparently much bigger than usual. Virginia Tech had enormous problems with housing a few years ago. Ultimately, almost no experience is going to be perfect, and hopefully the housing issues PP details above either work themselves out or are only short-term problems for any one kid.

Yes, housing issues is not unique to NEU or any other school. However, similarly, I wouldn't have sent my kid to VAtech when they had the major housing issues a few years ago. Basically, know your facts and make informed decisions. If the housing at NEU doesn't bother you then go for it. However in Boston, it's not cheap or easy to find alternatives and NEU is still holding to the "live on campus freshman & sophomore years" requirement. So it's not like you have an alternative.

My own kid would not do well in a dorm room with only 60 sq ft of space, not incredibly picky (their College just has basic dorms, nothing fancy but they are all over 100 sq ft per student, some even larger). For 80K/year, I'd prefer to start at a school that is not currently overcrowded, as it's not just housing that has issues when there's overcrowding. My kid found a perfect school for them where getting into classes you want also does not appear to be much of an issues. If I check the course schedule for last 2 years, very few Lectures are at 100% capacity---labs and recitations are but there were still sections with availability. Having already experienced college with 3 older kids, I know how stressful it can be to constantly fight to get the courses you actually need for your major at the times you need them (so you can take the next course in a sequence on time as well). And by fight I'm not talking, "man I don't want to take X at 8am or have any friday classes or have Professor ABC they suck",
I'm talking "I need Y this semester and there is NO space and I'm on the waitlist" or "I registered and have only 2 of the 5 classes I need for Spring semester. I am only registered for 6 credits because everything else is full". I know life is not perfect, but if we are paying $80K/year, I expect my kid to be able to register for meaningful courses when they need them.

My kid is majoring in CS which is one of the most popular majors.
Registration and taking courses turned out very fine.
I think it's at least better than the crowded public schools.

She had to share a double room with two roommages wich was not desireable, but she would have made the same choice of school.
They admitted significantly less students this year, this will resovle majority of the problem, and hope she gets better dorm situation in the 2nd year.

Good to hear about registration for classes! Yes, large state schools are worse, and that's why my own DC has no plans to attend any school that big--NEU was pushing the size limit for DC.
Hope she hears about her sophomore dorm situation soon, but I've heard it might not happen until late June.

Update on the dorm for my DC at Northeastern. My DC is a rising Junior.
DC got into a roommate group of 4 - two rising juniors and two rising sophomores.
(Found it on Reddit Discord or someting online)

They got into one of the nicest buildings. Room arrangement is Single Single Double.
Two juniors will have the Singles. It has a big living room and a kitchen. One shared basthroom for four.
It turned out very well for my DC for the second year - 2022/2023

Typo. My DC is a rising Sophomore.

Glad it worked out for your sophomore. I personally cannot imagine waiting until June to know what housing my kid has for August. Just curious what lottery # did you DC use to get this housing

Lottery number was 3000 something so had to wait till end of June also, but DC found the group with a rising Junior who had like 1000 something number.
That was the advantage.

So it's luck that your DC will not be stuck in forced triple with only 60sq ft for each kid.

I doubt that'll happen this year especially for upperclassman with the significantly lower number of accepted students.
They'll just get a less nice building at a cheaper price.
In fact that was the reason for this year's 6% something acceptance rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've got a kld heading to Northeastern this fall. I am very excited about the program and opportunities there (and I think my kid is too!). The housing stuff outlined above is concerning, but I think most colleges/universities have issues which arise from time to time. My older kid is at William and Mary, and the parent Facebook pages are full of complaints about different things (poor food/food availability, unhappiness with the dorms, problems with registering for classes, etc.). My alma mater, a small, very selective liberal arts college, is having its own housing issues as the incoming freshman class is apparently much bigger than usual. Virginia Tech had enormous problems with housing a few years ago. Ultimately, almost no experience is going to be perfect, and hopefully the housing issues PP details above either work themselves out or are only short-term problems for any one kid.

Yes, housing issues is not unique to NEU or any other school. However, similarly, I wouldn't have sent my kid to VAtech when they had the major housing issues a few years ago. Basically, know your facts and make informed decisions. If the housing at NEU doesn't bother you then go for it. However in Boston, it's not cheap or easy to find alternatives and NEU is still holding to the "live on campus freshman & sophomore years" requirement. So it's not like you have an alternative.

My own kid would not do well in a dorm room with only 60 sq ft of space, not incredibly picky (their College just has basic dorms, nothing fancy but they are all over 100 sq ft per student, some even larger). For 80K/year, I'd prefer to start at a school that is not currently overcrowded, as it's not just housing that has issues when there's overcrowding. My kid found a perfect school for them where getting into classes you want also does not appear to be much of an issues. If I check the course schedule for last 2 years, very few Lectures are at 100% capacity---labs and recitations are but there were still sections with availability. Having already experienced college with 3 older kids, I know how stressful it can be to constantly fight to get the courses you actually need for your major at the times you need them (so you can take the next course in a sequence on time as well). And by fight I'm not talking, "man I don't want to take X at 8am or have any friday classes or have Professor ABC they suck",
I'm talking "I need Y this semester and there is NO space and I'm on the waitlist" or "I registered and have only 2 of the 5 classes I need for Spring semester. I am only registered for 6 credits because everything else is full". I know life is not perfect, but if we are paying $80K/year, I expect my kid to be able to register for meaningful courses when they need them.

My kid is majoring in CS which is one of the most popular majors.
Registration and taking courses turned out very fine.
I think it's at least better than the crowded public schools.

She had to share a double room with two roommages wich was not desireable, but she would have made the same choice of school.
They admitted significantly less students this year, this will resovle majority of the problem, and hope she gets better dorm situation in the 2nd year.

Good to hear about registration for classes! Yes, large state schools are worse, and that's why my own DC has no plans to attend any school that big--NEU was pushing the size limit for DC.
Hope she hears about her sophomore dorm situation soon, but I've heard it might not happen until late June.

Update on the dorm for my DC at Northeastern. My DC is a rising Junior.
DC got into a roommate group of 4 - two rising juniors and two rising sophomores.
(Found it on Reddit Discord or someting online)

They got into one of the nicest buildings. Room arrangement is Single Single Double.
Two juniors will have the Singles. It has a big living room and a kitchen. One shared basthroom for four.
It turned out very well for my DC for the second year - 2022/2023

Typo. My DC is a rising Sophomore.

Glad it worked out for your sophomore. I personally cannot imagine waiting until June to know what housing my kid has for August. Just curious what lottery # did you DC use to get this housing

Lottery number was 3000 something so had to wait till end of June also, but DC found the group with a rising Junior who had like 1000 something number.
That was the advantage.

So it's luck that your DC will not be stuck in forced triple with only 60sq ft for each kid.

I doubt that'll happen this year especially for upperclassman with the significantly lower number of accepted students.
They'll just get a less nice building at a cheaper price.
In fact that was the reason for this year's 6% something acceptance rate.

Everyone knows they are over crowded and the low acceptance rate this year was partly due to hoping to yield only 2500 students on campus fall 2022 versus the usual 3500. Only time will tell if that yield was achieved and what the numbers will be from NUIn and NUBound, which they push hard. However that doesn't change the fact that the fall 2022 sophomores number close to 7000, based on the number of housing lottery numbers. I'm not sure 1K less will be enough and NEU doesn't think so either with their housing plan for fall.

Ok, so then it will only happen to freshman? Read the housing plan---it's happening to students living in EV and IV this fall. No clue if that's only freshman or includes upperclassmen. The NEU plan is to add 900 beds with forced doubles and triples in EV & IV. Those rooms are already fairly small and yes, some will be only 60 sq ft per student, with the students sharing what was originally a closet designed for 1 student. So even with a smaller incoming freshman class, there are supposedly almost 7K sophomores this fall (based on the housing numbers in the lottery for housing assignments). So beyond the big fresh class on campus last fall, there were big NUIn and NUBound programs who will all be back in Boston this fall (NUIn was back in Jan 2022). So if 900 beds are added there are at least 1800 students affected, and I believe majority are forced triples, so probably closer to 2100 students who will have to live like that this fall.


I have seen forced triples at other schools and most have chosen dorms that were already HUGE doubles, so while it's a bit tight, it's actually more space than many students normally have at other schools in typical dorms. That unfortunately is not the case at NEU.

Whereas my DC will have a basic dorm room this fall (none are fancy at the school) but smallest doubles are over 110 sq ft per person, some go up to 130 sq ft. So if they needed to "force up" it would be the 130 sq ft and then a triple would have ~88 sq ft per person---tight but dramatically different than 60 sq ft.

[Anonymous]

Don’t think I’ve ever met an NEU grad who didn’t have a massive chip on their shoulder.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like they've been following the published criteria to the letter. How is this gaming the system? On a freeway with 65 speed limit, I usually drive at or below the limit. How is this gaming the system to avoid a traffic ticket?

[Anonymous]

And frankly anyone who graduated from the school prior to about 2010 is deeply unimpressive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like they've been following the published criteria to the letter. How is this gaming the system? On a freeway with 65 speed limit, I usually drive at or below the limit. How is this gaming the system to avoid a traffic ticket?

Yup. But OP won't let it go, especially because they went to a lesser school, so his chip be the biggest of all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And frankly anyone who graduated from the school prior to about 2010 is deeply unimpressive.

Because you know all of them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And frankly anyone who graduated from the school prior to about 2010 is deeply unimpressive.

Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning went to Northeastern in the late 90s although he dropped out to become an entrepreneur.

[Anonymous]

As an insider, I find these NEU threads interesting. I have worked in the NEU administration for 25+ years. Back when I stated my job at NEU, the university was nearly broke and it was generally ranked as a commuter school that resides just above the community colleges. In fact, we often lost students to Middlesex Community College and such.

The quick turnaround from commuter school to an elite which according some on this forum is a Harvard rival is amazing.(I was surprised to learn that last bit.) But I believe that NEU has marketed itself well, given the number of applicants this past season.

Interesting, the university is fundamentally not that different from the inside since its earlier commuter days. I don't mean buildings and such. But the faculty and teaching quality are about the same. NEU doesn't try to hire "stellar" faculty, just some folks who can get in front of a class. That means they don't mind hiring lots of "temporary" teachers or hiring faculty who can be hired cheaply.

Importantly, the administration also realizes the need for warm bodies and is aggressive in filling in the classroom and the dorms with people. Sometimes they do this too aggressively and they have pack in lots of kids into small places. But, they know it does not matter as those students are already a captive tution-paying audience who won't leave.

They know jobs are important and co-op programs have grown.They know people want CS, so they offer a zillion flavors of it (many won't make sense from a purely science point of view and will never be offered at Harvard or some other more education-oriented place).

In other words, NEU is a common sense driven business. They know how to market themselves. But they also know how to give their customers what they want, which is good thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an insider, I find these NEU threads interesting. I have worked in the NEU administration for 25+ years. Back when I stated my job at NEU, the university was nearly broke and it was generally ranked as a commuter school that resides just above the community colleges. In fact, we often lost students to Middlesex Community College and such.

The quick turnaround from commuter school to an elite which according some on this forum is a Harvard rival is amazing.(I was surprised to learn that last bit.) But I believe that NEU has marketed itself well, given the number of applicants this past season.

Interesting, the university is fundamentally not that different from the inside since its earlier commuter days. I don't mean buildings and such. But the faculty and teaching quality are about the same. NEU doesn't try to hire "stellar" faculty, just some folks who can get in front of a class. That means they don't mind hiring lots of "temporary" teachers or hiring faculty who can be hired cheaply.

Importantly, the administration also realizes the need for warm bodies and is aggressive in filling in the classroom and the dorms with people. Sometimes they do this too aggressively and they have pack in lots of kids into small places. But, they know it does not matter as those students are already a captive tution-paying audience who won't leave.

They know jobs are important and co-op programs have grown.They know people want CS, so they offer a zillion flavors of it (many won't make sense from a purely science point of view and will never be offered at Harvard or some other more education-oriented place).

In other words, NEU is a common sense driven business. They know how to market themselves. But they also know how to give their customers what they want, which is good thing.

Interesting perspective. NEU seems like a decent school with a unique slant with the applied focus. But, I think it's just 1 rabid booster that keeps saying it rivals Ivies because they just wish it to be so. No one really thinks NEU rivals a T20 school. But, it's nice to have a variety of decent schools out there. Not sure why a set of people want either tear this one down or promote it beyond its means. I find the obsession on both sides a little bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an insider, I find these NEU threads interesting. I have worked in the NEU administration for 25+ years. Back when I stated my job at NEU, the university was nearly broke and it was generally ranked as a commuter school that resides just above the community colleges. In fact, we often lost students to Middlesex Community College and such.

The quick turnaround from commuter school to an elite which according some on this forum is a Harvard rival is amazing.(I was surprised to learn that last bit.) But I believe that NEU has marketed itself well, given the number of applicants this past season.

Interesting, the university is fundamentally not that different from the inside since its earlier commuter days. I don't mean buildings and such. But the faculty and teaching quality are about the same. NEU doesn't try to hire "stellar" faculty, just some folks who can get in front of a class. That means they don't mind hiring lots of "temporary" teachers or hiring faculty who can be hired cheaply.

Importantly, the administration also realizes the need for warm bodies and is aggressive in filling in the classroom and the dorms with people. Sometimes they do this too aggressively and they have pack in lots of kids into small places. But, they know it does not matter as those students are already a captive tution-paying audience who won't leave.

They know jobs are important and co-op programs have grown.They know people want CS, so they offer a zillion flavors of it (many won't make sense from a purely science point of view and will never be offered at Harvard or some other more education-oriented place).

In other words, NEU is a common sense driven business. They know how to market themselves. But they also know how to give their customers what they want, which is good thing.

Interesting perspective. NEU seems like a decent school with a unique slant with the applied focus. But, I think it's just 1 rabid booster that keeps saying it rivals Ivies because they just wish it to be so. No one really thinks NEU rivals a T20 school. But, it's nice to have a variety of decent schools out there. Not sure why a set of people want either tear this one down or promote it beyond its means. I find the obsession on both sides a little bizarre.

No one tinks it rivals Ivies.
It's position is a level below T25ish.
It's a great option after T25ish schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an insider, I find these NEU threads interesting. I have worked in the NEU administration for 25+ years. Back when I stated my job at NEU, the university was nearly broke and it was generally ranked as a commuter school that resides just above the community colleges. In fact, we often lost students to Middlesex Community College and such.

The quick turnaround from commuter school to an elite which according some on this forum is a Harvard rival is amazing.(I was surprised to learn that last bit.) But I believe that NEU has marketed itself well, given the number of applicants this past season.

Interesting, the university is fundamentally not that different from the inside since its earlier commuter days. I don't mean buildings and such. But the faculty and teaching quality are about the same. NEU doesn't try to hire "stellar" faculty, just some folks who can get in front of a class. That means they don't mind hiring lots of "temporary" teachers or hiring faculty who can be hired cheaply.

Importantly, the administration also realizes the need for warm bodies and is aggressive in filling in the classroom and the dorms with people. Sometimes they do this too aggressively and they have pack in lots of kids into small places. But, they know it does not matter as those students are already a captive tution-paying audience who won't leave.

They know jobs are important and co-op programs have grown.They know people want CS, so they offer a zillion flavors of it (many won't make sense from a purely science point of view and will never be offered at Harvard or some other more education-oriented place).

In other words, NEU is a common sense driven business. They know how to market themselves. But they also know how to give their customers what they want, which is good thing.

Everyone should know career leading jobs are in fact one of the the most important things especially when student loan problem is becoming national cirisis.

Also schools like harvard and such don't have undergraduate business shools because they think it's not in a domain of 'pure/traditioanl college education' while shcools like Cornell, MIT, UPenn, and many others adopted it. Rice recently started one, Vanderbilt started Business minor. Brown started Econ with Business track.
Education evolves too. The tech field really evolves fast, and the field of CS is getting wider and wider. I think Northeatern is adopting to it very nicely and leading the trend.

My kid was specifically looking for colleges with some sort of hybrid programs and options with CS and design/art.
DC found a few schools such as Dartmouth, Georgia Tech, UF, etc. Northeastern was one of them, and end up there.

The location is a big plus too, and they took advangate of it well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an insider, I find these NEU threads interesting. I have worked in the NEU administration for 25+ years. Back when I stated my job at NEU, the university was nearly broke and it was generally ranked as a commuter school that resides just above the community colleges. In fact, we often lost students to Middlesex Community College and such.

The quick turnaround from commuter school to an elite which according some on this forum is a Harvard rival is amazing.(I was surprised to learn that last bit.) But I believe that NEU has marketed itself well, given the number of applicants this past season.

Interesting, the university is fundamentally not that different from the inside since its earlier commuter days. I don't mean buildings and such. But the faculty and teaching quality are about the same. NEU doesn't try to hire "stellar" faculty, just some folks who can get in front of a class. That means they don't mind hiring lots of "temporary" teachers or hiring faculty who can be hired cheaply.

Importantly, the administration also realizes the need for warm bodies and is aggressive in filling in the classroom and the dorms with people. Sometimes they do this too aggressively and they have pack in lots of kids into small places. But, they know it does not matter as those students are already a captive tution-paying audience who won't leave.

They know jobs are important and co-op programs have grown.They know people want CS, so they offer a zillion flavors of it (many won't make sense from a purely science point of view and will never be offered at Harvard or some other more education-oriented place).

In other words, NEU is a common sense driven business. They know how to market themselves. But they also know how to give their customers what they want, which is good thing.

Interesting perspective. NEU seems like a decent school with a unique slant with the applied focus. But, I think it's just 1 rabid booster that keeps saying it rivals Ivies because they just wish it to be so. No one really thinks NEU rivals a T20 school. But, it's nice to have a variety of decent schools out there. Not sure why a set of people want either tear this one down or promote it beyond its means. I find the obsession on both sides a little bizarre.

No one tinks it rivals Ivies.
It's position is a level below T25ish.
It's a great option after T25ish schools.

PP here. That is essentially what I said, except that one odd person thinks it does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an insider, I find these NEU threads interesting. I have worked in the NEU administration for 25+ years. Back when I stated my job at NEU, the university was nearly broke and it was generally ranked as a commuter school that resides just above the community colleges. In fact, we often lost students to Middlesex Community College and such.

The quick turnaround from commuter school to an elite which according some on this forum is a Harvard rival is amazing.(I was surprised to learn that last bit.) But I believe that NEU has marketed itself well, given the number of applicants this past season.

Interesting, the university is fundamentally not that different from the inside since its earlier commuter days. I don't mean buildings and such. But the faculty and teaching quality are about the same. NEU doesn't try to hire "stellar" faculty, just some folks who can get in front of a class. That means they don't mind hiring lots of "temporary" teachers or hiring faculty who can be hired cheaply.

Importantly, the administration also realizes the need for warm bodies and is aggressive in filling in the classroom and the dorms with people. Sometimes they do this too aggressively and they have pack in lots of kids into small places. But, they know it does not matter as those students are already a captive tution-paying audience who won't leave.

They know jobs are important and co-op programs have grown.They know people want CS, so they offer a zillion flavors of it (many won't make sense from a purely science point of view and will never be offered at Harvard or some other more education-oriented place).

In other words, NEU is a common sense driven business. They know how to market themselves. But they also know how to give their customers what they want, which is good thing.

Interesting perspective. NEU seems like a decent school with a unique slant with the applied focus. But, I think it's just 1 rabid booster that keeps saying it rivals Ivies because they just wish it to be so. No one really thinks NEU rivals a T20 school. But, it's nice to have a variety of decent schools out there. Not sure why a set of people want either tear this one down or promote it beyond its means. I find the obsession on both sides a little bizarre.

No one thinks it rivals Ivies.
It's position is a level below T25ish.
It's a great option after T25ish schools.

Northeastern was one of 6 universities tied for #49 in the US News rankings this year. That puts them in the top 54ish. So, nowhere near the top 25ish. It’s a great option after the top 40ish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an insider, I find these NEU threads interesting. I have worked in the NEU administration for 25+ years. Back when I stated my job at NEU, the university was nearly broke and it was generally ranked as a commuter school that resides just above the community colleges. In fact, we often lost students to Middlesex Community College and such.

The quick turnaround from commuter school to an elite which according some on this forum is a Harvard rival is amazing.(I was surprised to learn that last bit.) But I believe that NEU has marketed itself well, given the number of applicants this past season.

Interesting, the university is fundamentally not that different from the inside since its earlier commuter days. I don't mean buildings and such. But the faculty and teaching quality are about the same. NEU doesn't try to hire "stellar" faculty, just some folks who can get in front of a class. That means they don't mind hiring lots of "temporary" teachers or hiring faculty who can be hired cheaply.

Importantly, the administration also realizes the need for warm bodies and is aggressive in filling in the classroom and the dorms with people. Sometimes they do this too aggressively and they have pack in lots of kids into small places. But, they know it does not matter as those students are already a captive tution-paying audience who won't leave.

They know jobs are important and co-op programs have grown.They know people want CS, so they offer a zillion flavors of it (many won't make sense from a purely science point of view and will never be offered at Harvard or some other more education-oriented place).

In other words, NEU is a common sense driven business. They know how to market themselves. But they also know how to give their customers what they want, which is good thing.

Interesting perspective. NEU seems like a decent school with a unique slant with the applied focus. But, I think it's just 1 rabid booster that keeps saying it rivals Ivies because they just wish it to be so. No one really thinks NEU rivals a T20 school. But, it's nice to have a variety of decent schools out there. Not sure why a set of people want either tear this one down or promote it beyond its means. I find the obsession on both sides a little bizarre.

No one thinks it rivals Ivies.
It's position is a level below T25ish.
It's a great option after T25ish schools.

Northeastern was one of 6 universities tied for #49 in the US News rankings this year. That puts them in the top 54ish. So, nowhere near the top 25ish. It’s a great option after the top 40ish.

Not according to the actual sutdent selectivity - acceptance rate, yield, and student stats.
Don't get confused with rankings and student selectivity/popularity.
Ranking is one of the many factors for choosing a school, so just because it ranked 54th, doesn't mean students selectivity/popularity is 54th.

Northeatern's acceptance rate and student stats are on par or even better than some of the T30.
So according to the actual student selectivity, it's one of the most popular options after T25ish by students.
Schools like BC, BU, Tufts, NYU, Georgia Tech, and Tulane would be the examples regardless of t rankings by USN&WR.