This is how Northeastern gamed the system

[Anonymous]

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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.

Don’t let one good year go to your head.

For this one good year's standard, it's T10.
However, again as I said above, it's an exception, so we don't want to draw conclusions with the skewed data.
We want to look at the last several years of data.

Compare it to other schools in between T25ish - T50, for example T30 schools like UF, UNC, Wake Forest, UCSB
or many of the higher ranked other T50 schools.

'But it's not because T-anything is not admissions rate alone.

+1000

Northeastern has a really low admissions rate for a few reasons:

1) They miscalculated yield for fall 2021 and had an extra 1000+ students on campus (that was for fall, rumor is they were also very overloaded with NUIn/NUbound, so they are likely 1500+ students over).

2) NEU is a marketing machine. They have successfully marketed their school extremely well in the past decade and do not require any supplemental essays, so all it takes is application fee and being on the common app. Hence, thousands of kids apply "just because its a good school and easy to apply to". Whereas the Ivies, Stanford, Northwestern, Vandy, Tufts, and most of the T50 schools have 1-4 supplemental essays. So it takes thought and a concerted effort to apply to them, not $75 and hitting submit in the common app.

I wouldn't consider admissions rate to be a reliable indicator of how good a school is personally. My kid wants engineering, and I'm 100% certain that there are 20+ schools that are a better choice for that than Harvard or Yale.

Northeastern has always been an excellent engineering school. The ivies, not so much.

Hahahahaha. NEU is a decent engineering school, but your last statement betrays you, NEU Booster. Several Ivies make the top engineering lists. NEU doesn't come close on any list. All the Ivies outrank them. Look, it's a decent school. Just be happy and stop trying to fabricate a status it just doesn't have.

Unfortunately for you the PP is correct. Ivies are not actually known for their engineering programs..

Seven of the 8 Ivies rank ahead of Northeastern. So, if the Ivies aren’t know Engineering, then Northeastern really isn’t worth bothering with, right?

Says whom?

Not following your "logic"?

[Anonymous]

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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.

Don’t let one good year go to your head.

For this one good year's standard, it's T10.
However, again as I said above, it's an exception, so we don't want to draw conclusions with the skewed data.
We want to look at the last several years of data.

Compare it to other schools in between T25ish - T50, for example T30 schools like UF, UNC, Wake Forest, UCSB
or many of the higher ranked other T50 schools.

'But it's not because T-anything is not admissions rate alone.

+1000

Northeastern has a really low admissions rate for a few reasons:

1) They miscalculated yield for fall 2021 and had an extra 1000+ students on campus (that was for fall, rumor is they were also very overloaded with NUIn/NUbound, so they are likely 1500+ students over).

2) NEU is a marketing machine. They have successfully marketed their school extremely well in the past decade and do not require any supplemental essays, so all it takes is application fee and being on the common app. Hence, thousands of kids apply "just because its a good school and easy to apply to". Whereas the Ivies, Stanford, Northwestern, Vandy, Tufts, and most of the T50 schools have 1-4 supplemental essays. So it takes thought and a concerted effort to apply to them, not $75 and hitting submit in the common app.

I wouldn't consider admissions rate to be a reliable indicator of how good a school is personally. My kid wants engineering, and I'm 100% certain that there are 20+ schools that are a better choice for that than Harvard or Yale.

Northeastern has always been an excellent engineering school. The ivies, not so much.

Hahahahaha. NEU is a decent engineering school, but your last statement betrays you, NEU Booster. Several Ivies make the top engineering lists. NEU doesn't come close on any list. All the Ivies outrank them. Look, it's a decent school. Just be happy and stop trying to fabricate a status it just doesn't have.

Unfortunately for you the PP is correct. Ivies are not actually known for their engineering programs. Columbia and Cornell tie at #13. There are several other options that come in before them in the rankings (including Univ. of Ill and UC-San Diego). My youngest kid is in engineering (not NEU), but only considered Cornell when applying. Dartmouth only offers "Engineering Studies". A friend's child who graduated from Dartmouth regretted not choosing another school because they felt the program just wasn't as strong as other programs in their experience. Ivies offer excellent education obviously, but generally speaking STEM programs are not their strength.

Full disclaimer - I had one kid go to NEU and they had a great experience (not engineering). It's a great school, but no one who isn't anonymous on the internet is trying to say the school is top 20. It's a solid school and the preparation for the working is excellent which I greatly appreciated (and for the record, my other kid who is at a higher ranked school is not getting anywhere near the same level of help and guidance in the internship/job market - that is truly disappointing!). However, who cares. NEU is a great option for some students. Other people prefer something different. I'm not sure why people want to tear the school down. It makes no sense to me....hyperbolic statements like the PP's -"Don’t think I’ve ever met an NEU grad who didn’t have a massive chip on their shoulder" and "And frankly anyone who graduated from the school prior to about 2010 is deeply unimpressive" sound just as pathetic as the supposed NEU boosters who want to believe it is the next Harvard.

+1

Same. Consider the source.

[Anonymous]

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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.

Don’t let one good year go to your head.

For this one good year's standard, it's T10.
However, again as I said above, it's an exception, so we don't want to draw conclusions with the skewed data.
We want to look at the last several years of data.

Compare it to other schools in between T25ish - T50, for example T30 schools like UF, UNC, Wake Forest, UCSB
or many of the higher ranked other T50 schools.

'But it's not because T-anything is not admissions rate alone.

+1000

Northeastern has a really low admissions rate for a few reasons:

1) They miscalculated yield for fall 2021 and had an extra 1000+ students on campus (that was for fall, rumor is they were also very overloaded with NUIn/NUbound, so they are likely 1500+ students over).

2) NEU is a marketing machine. They have successfully marketed their school extremely well in the past decade and do not require any supplemental essays, so all it takes is application fee and being on the common app. Hence, thousands of kids apply "just because its a good school and easy to apply to". Whereas the Ivies, Stanford, Northwestern, Vandy, Tufts, and most of the T50 schools have 1-4 supplemental essays. So it takes thought and a concerted effort to apply to them, not $75 and hitting submit in the common app.

I wouldn't consider admissions rate to be a reliable indicator of how good a school is personally. My kid wants engineering, and I'm 100% certain that there are 20+ schools that are a better choice for that than Harvard or Yale.

Northeastern has always been an excellent engineering school. The ivies, not so much.

Hahahahaha. NEU is a decent engineering school, but your last statement betrays you, NEU Booster. Several Ivies make the top engineering lists. NEU doesn't come close on any list. All the Ivies outrank them. Look, it's a decent school. Just be happy and stop trying to fabricate a status it just doesn't have.

Riddle me this: why so PASSIONATE about NU??

Could it be that you went to an inferior school? Because those who went to great schools don't bother here.

But you, dear son, are relentless.

[Anonymous]

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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.

Don’t let one good year go to your head.

For this one good year's standard, it's T10.
However, again as I said above, it's an exception, so we don't want to draw conclusions with the skewed data.
We want to look at the last several years of data.

Compare it to other schools in between T25ish - T50, for example T30 schools like UF, UNC, Wake Forest, UCSB
or many of the higher ranked other T50 schools.

'But it's not because T-anything is not admissions rate alone.

+1000

Northeastern has a really low admissions rate for a few reasons:

1) They miscalculated yield for fall 2021 and had an extra 1000+ students on campus (that was for fall, rumor is they were also very overloaded with NUIn/NUbound, so they are likely 1500+ students over).

2) NEU is a marketing machine. They have successfully marketed their school extremely well in the past decade and do not require any supplemental essays, so all it takes is application fee and being on the common app. Hence, thousands of kids apply "just because its a good school and easy to apply to". Whereas the Ivies, Stanford, Northwestern, Vandy, Tufts, and most of the T50 schools have 1-4 supplemental essays. So it takes thought and a concerted effort to apply to them, not $75 and hitting submit in the common app.

I wouldn't consider admissions rate to be a reliable indicator of how good a school is personally. My kid wants engineering, and I'm 100% certain that there are 20+ schools that are a better choice for that than Harvard or Yale.

Right, it's not just the admission rate.
If you want to look at the better picture for 'student selectivity', as I mentioned earlier, look at admission rate + student stats + yield.

Going back to my earlier point.
Nobody thinks Northeastern is at T20(or Ivy) level. We all agree it's nonsense.
The next point was then Northeastern's actual position in reality.
Ranking/prestige is one of the many factors students consider for choosing schools.
Obviously students don't pick a school just because it's higher ranked on USN&WR

From the data(admission rate + student stats + yield), it appears that students consider Northeastern(as well as schools like BU BC NYU Tufts Tulane Georgia Tech) next best options if they didn't make T25ish schools.
It just appears to be the case, and no argument needed for what's actually happening.

Ironically the miscalculation came from the soaring rise of the yield rate (33% last year).
Higher yield is a great thing for colleges. It just had a side effect for this particular year for Northeastern.
It's actually an indication that students don't just apply because it's easy to apply or as a safety.
A good well respected higher ranked school like Case Western(#42 USN&WR) also doesn't require supplemental essay, but its admission rate has been over 30% while 18-20%(again forget this year) for Northeastern for the past few years. Case Western's yield was only 16% for class of 2025.
So the high stat students apply to Northeastern not just because it's easy to apply, they apply thinking it's one of the the next best options to the T25ish schools.

So you are somewhat contradicting yourself, and wrong on some of the points, but you are right that ranking and selectivity are parts of many factors, and a good school for your kid is a personal and subjective matter. My kid chose #49 school, rejecting a T30 and a mid 30s school like you said.

Case Western's yield is low because it's in Cleveland. Put Case in Boston and it would have a much much higher yield (IMO). It's an amazing School, but the location really hurts it. It's a campus filled with IVY/T30 wannabes. My own DC almost attended, but instead turned down over $140K in merit awards as it was not the best fit for them.

And I'd argue with you that many, many students do pick a school based on prestige/rankings. Just look at DCUM. So many parents are obsessed with rankings, rather than looking at fit or specifics related to a major.

NEU is a good school. But they really need to grow the infrastructure quickly, based on the student growth in just the last decade. Right now they have grown too fast and it means resources are behind. Had they given my kid direct entry instead of NUBound, my DC might have considered it and the Boston location might have helped, but ultimately I think it's too big of a school for my kid. They will be at a school with ~5.5K undergrads and that's a better environment overall for my DC. My DC will get engaged with research freshman year and do internships and perhaps coop if desired (as an engineer the difference between coop and internships while researching during the year is a toss up). But my DC was not willing to be overseas for freshman year and not really have enough meaningful courses to take. With 8AP credits, the necessary advanced STEM courses simply were not available freshman year and my DC was not willing to take bogus courses (courses that do not check a box for graduation) for a semester at a cost of $75K+ for the year, as it would mean a 9th semester of classes to get the double major they desire, simply due to the lack of classes during freshman year. So not worth it to our family.

It was about supplemental essay, but now it's the location?
You keep moving the goal post, but that's fine.
Yes location is an important factor.

There are bunch of other schools in NYC area and Boston area.
Schools like NYU, BU, Tulane, Northeaster took good advantage of the location while doing others things right.
Most kids generally prefer city schools, however location is also one of many factors.

One of my kids wanted an urban school, but ended up choosing the only non-urban school applied because all the other factors were stellar including the ranking. Ranking, location, are all one of the factors.

NUBound is a relatively new program. It doesn't sound attractive and has room for improvement.
NUIn could be a great deal for some kids, but it's a different topic, and it's not about your kid or my kid when I was pointing out things in general that Northeastern's position is one of the next best options to T25ish schools based on the data - admission rate + yield + student stats.

Also someone posted a retention rate today.
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1064316.page
Northeastern is like top ranked there.
Students seem to be happy there.
Again reality is little different from your personal impression.

Well for Case it is about the location. You brought up Case as comparison with no supplemental essay. I was just pointing out that for Case the location is a huge deterrent for many and likely a major reason their yield is so low most years [well that combined with how well or not the wait lists move for T20 schools] My own kid really didn't want Cleveland (heck we as parents were not thrilled with it or Ohio), but saw that it was a great school for engineering and decided since it didn't have any extra essays (most of DC's schools did), they might as well apply and have it as a choice just because. Ultimately it was in their top 3 schools. But DC really initially only applied because it meant not having to write ANY MORE DAMN ESSAYS, which is where most seniors are in Oct of senior year.

And I still think if NEU added 2-4 supplemental essays, like many other T50 schools have and most T20 have, they would see their number of applications drop some. There is no question that any school with no supplementals gets more applications than they would if they only had the general common app. Kids know it is a good school and can easily apply with only a small cost. They can buy a lottery ticket to the crapshoot that is higher education admissions with out any extra work. Same is true at Case (and others like it). They get kids who apply simply because it's easy and a good school for their major. It's not unique to NEU.

Yes, I understand that most students who attend really like it. hence the retention rate. I've done my research on the school as well as many, many others. It is an impressive school.

Once again, my personal impression is what I and my kid and my family think about it, by definition. That doesn't mean my impression is wrong. It simply means that's how we feel. Yes, I personally think an overcrowded campus is not somewhere I want my kid to be when I'm paying $80K/year. If that doesn't bother you, go for it and spend your 4-5 years there. I'd say the same thing if Harvard/Yale/Princeton or any other school grew so much in the last decade and had not built up their infrastructure to support the growth. I researched and saw many things that gave me concern and I future investigated and determined my kid did not want to be a part of that experience. But that's ok--my kid will succeed in life because they will do well wherever they go.

If you feel differently, then you are free to feel differently and have your own impression. Neither is wrong. If NEU is your best choice and you love it, go for it. It really doesn't impact me in any way.

However, I will still stand by my impression that NUBound is not the most well thought out program. It's a great marketing ploy to ensure you have a steady stream of fall "transfer" students; because that's essentially what you are fall of 2nd year transfer students. It has been marketed well, and the fact that people will "overpay" for the experience is good for NEU (Yes, I'd argue paying $75K per year before any meals are included is overpaying, especially when your student may not have the right courses to take during that first year, thus putting them 2-3 courses or almost a full semester behind entering sophomore year).

[Anonymous]

Engineering or not, I wouldn't compare Northeatern to T20 schools.

It emerges as one of the best options after that.

[Anonymous]

My DD applied to NU, really just because everyone else was and there was no supplemental essay. To our surprise, she got in - for NUin. At first we were super excited for her but then came to the conclusion that she should not go to Europe her first semester (for a variety of reasons) so I was sure that NU would let her just take first semester off and start second semester. I figured why wouldn’t they? I mean if she won’t be on campus first semester, why would they care? And with so many kids coming and going to coops, it seems it wouldn’t matter. Well, they wouldn’t let her and that was disappointing and convinced me that they are a money making operation. That’s not to say they aren’t attracting good students and don’t provide a good education, but I worried that it wouldn’t be the best experience. DD turned it down for a lower ranked school that gave her lots of merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD applied to NU, really just because everyone else was and there was no supplemental essay. To our surprise, she got in - for NUin. At first we were super excited for her but then came to the conclusion that she should not go to Europe her first semester (for a variety of reasons) so I was sure that NU would let her just take first semester off and start second semester. I figured why wouldn’t they? I mean if she won’t be on campus first semester, why would they care? And with so many kids coming and going to coops, it seems it wouldn’t matter. Well, they wouldn’t let her and that was disappointing and convinced me that they are a money making operation. That’s not to say they aren’t attracting good students and don’t provide a good education, but I worried that it wouldn’t be the best experience. DD turned it down for a lower ranked school that gave her lots of merit aid.

They have marketed the NUIn and NUBound well and they are money makers fro them. A guaranteed flow of spring start and fall transfer students, who pay $~35-40K/semester while abroad for the experience. Most other schools do allow students to select where they take courses, or if they take a semester off, before starting in the spring.

You researched and decided it was not for your DD. Rankings do not matter that much. Your DD is at a school that's affordable that allows her to have the full 4 year experience. That can go a long way towards a successful college experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD applied to NU, really just because everyone else was and there was no supplemental essay. To our surprise, she got in - for NUin. At first we were super excited for her but then came to the conclusion that she should not go to Europe her first semester (for a variety of reasons) so I was sure that NU would let her just take first semester off and start second semester. I figured why wouldn’t they? I mean if she won’t be on campus first semester, why would they care? And with so many kids coming and going to coops, it seems it wouldn’t matter. Well, they wouldn’t let her and that was disappointing and convinced me that they are a money making operation. That’s not to say they aren’t attracting good students and don’t provide a good education, but I worried that it wouldn’t be the best experience. DD turned it down for a lower ranked school that gave her lots of merit aid.

They have marketed the NUIn and NUBound well and they are money makers fro them. A guaranteed flow of spring start and fall transfer students, who pay $~35-40K/semester while abroad for the experience. Most other schools do allow students to select where they take courses, or if they take a semester off, before starting in the spring.

You researched and decided it was not for your DD. Rankings do not matter that much. Your DD is at a school that's affordable that allows her to have the full 4 year experience. That can go a long way towards a successful college experience.

Tha ms for those kind words.it was an agonizing decision for her (made at 10:30pm May 1) but it was definitely the right one. Although her chosen school is lesser ranked, she’s in into their two best programs, ones that are highly regarded and which have very good job placement. I also think she will have a better experience there than at NU. Not to dump on the school, I just don’t think it was the right choice for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Engineering or not, I wouldn't compare Northeatern to T20 schools.

It emerges as one of the best options after that.

Lol. Okay. If you say so!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD applied to NU, really just because everyone else was and there was no supplemental essay. To our surprise, she got in - for NUin. At first we were super excited for her but then came to the conclusion that she should not go to Europe her first semester (for a variety of reasons) so I was sure that NU would let her just take first semester off and start second semester. I figured why wouldn’t they? I mean if she won’t be on campus first semester, why would they care? And with so many kids coming and going to coops, it seems it wouldn’t matter. Well, they wouldn’t let her and that was disappointing and convinced me that they are a money making operation. That’s not to say they aren’t attracting good students and don’t provide a good education, but I worried that it wouldn’t be the best experience. DD turned it down for a lower ranked school that gave her lots of merit aid.

They have marketed the NUIn and NUBound well and they are money makers fro them. A guaranteed flow of spring start and fall transfer students, who pay $~35-40K/semester while abroad for the experience. Most other schools do allow students to select where they take courses, or if they take a semester off, before starting in the spring.

You researched and decided it was not for your DD. Rankings do not matter that much. Your DD is at a school that's affordable that allows her to have the full 4 year experience. That can go a long way towards a successful college experience.

Tha ms for those kind words.it was an agonizing decision for her (made at 10:30pm May 1) but it was definitely the right one. Although her chosen school is lesser ranked, she’s in into their two best programs, ones that are highly regarded and which have very good job placement. I also think she will have a better experience there than at NU. Not to dump on the school, I just don’t think it was the right choice for her.

Rankings do not matter that much. Kids should go where they will fit in and that's for a variety of factors (including Cost) Kids who are happy at college do better---the more involved you are at college the more you get out of the experience in every aspect. My own kid knows they want the traditional experience of not living abroad any part of first year; they were excited about the coop experience at NEU but recognize as an engineer they can do that at almost any school they attend---they are not an extrovert and were concerned about fitting in on campus essentially as a transfer student soph year (got NUBound). Even before getting the decision my kid had decided that the campus might be too large for them and that 5-6K undergrad size is a better fit for them. Ultimately my kid is attending a school that is ranked ~20 higher, but also seriously considered WPI (not ranked nearly as high as it should be---amazing school) The attraction of Boston as a location was tempting, but my kid smartly (for them) choose a better fit, better ranked, smaller school despite the "not the best location". Each time we visited campus my kid lit up and I could just see something I did not see on any other campus (except their ED school which ultimately rejected them in RD). So Fit is extremely important.
If the parents have a positive attitude I find that goes a long way towards a kid being successful as well. So many kids think they are disappointing their parents because they didn't get into the "elite/perfect" school. And that's sad, because these kids with 1350+ SAT will do well wherever they go, if they choose to

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Engineering or not, I wouldn't compare Northeatern to T20 schools.

It emerges as one of the best options after that.

Lol. Okay. If you say so!

Well it's not what I say, or specific cases of my kid or your kid.

I'm simply poiniing out that it's just the case in reality for the general public.
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For the NUIn, It's an option.
It could be a great option for many people.
Spend first semester abroad experiencing a foreign country, knock out a few gen ed requirements,
then come right back to one of top choice schools.
Other schools have similar programs.
Students transfer in and out all the time as well.

Some schools ask you full pay, some schools give discounts.
Options are options.

[Anonymous]

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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.

Don’t let one good year go to your head.

For this one good year's standard, it's T10.
However, again as I said above, it's an exception, so we don't want to draw conclusions with the skewed data.
We want to look at the last several years of data.

Compare it to other schools in between T25ish - T50, for example T30 schools like UF, UNC, Wake Forest, UCSB
or many of the higher ranked other T50 schools.

'But it's not because T-anything is not admissions rate alone.

+1000

Northeastern has a really low admissions rate for a few reasons:

1) They miscalculated yield for fall 2021 and had an extra 1000+ students on campus (that was for fall, rumor is they were also very overloaded with NUIn/NUbound, so they are likely 1500+ students over).

2) NEU is a marketing machine. They have successfully marketed their school extremely well in the past decade and do not require any supplemental essays, so all it takes is application fee and being on the common app. Hence, thousands of kids apply "just because its a good school and easy to apply to". Whereas the Ivies, Stanford, Northwestern, Vandy, Tufts, and most of the T50 schools have 1-4 supplemental essays. So it takes thought and a concerted effort to apply to them, not $75 and hitting submit in the common app.

I wouldn't consider admissions rate to be a reliable indicator of how good a school is personally. My kid wants engineering, and I'm 100% certain that there are 20+ schools that are a better choice for that than Harvard or Yale.

Northeastern has always been an excellent engineering school. The ivies, not so much.

Hahahahaha. NEU is a decent engineering school, but your last statement betrays you, NEU Booster. Several Ivies make the top engineering lists. NEU doesn't come close on any list. All the Ivies outrank them. Look, it's a decent school. Just be happy and stop trying to fabricate a status it just doesn't have.

Riddle me this: why so PASSIONATE about NU??

Could it be that you went to an inferior school? Because those who went to great schools don't bother here.

But you, dear son, are relentless.

What about my statement says passion? I said it's a decent school. The booster (you?) is the rabid poster here. You've got it all wrong unless women are "sons" and Oxford is an inferior school.

You seem to be pulling a John Eastman here. Knock it off and move on. NEU is a decent school. Don't inflate it's standing or conflate what I'm saying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD applied to NU, really just because everyone else was and there was no supplemental essay. To our surprise, she got in - for NUin. At first we were super excited for her but then came to the conclusion that she should not go to Europe her first semester (for a variety of reasons) so I was sure that NU would let her just take first semester off and start second semester. I figured why wouldn’t they? I mean if she won’t be on campus first semester, why would they care? And with so many kids coming and going to coops, it seems it wouldn’t matter. Well, they wouldn’t let her and that was disappointing and convinced me that they are a money making operation. That’s not to say they aren’t attracting good students and don’t provide a good education, but I worried that it wouldn’t be the best experience. DD turned it down for a lower ranked school that gave her lots of merit aid.

They have marketed the NUIn and NUBound well and they are money makers fro them. A guaranteed flow of spring start and fall transfer students, who pay $~35-40K/semester while abroad for the experience. Most other schools do allow students to select where they take courses, or if they take a semester off, before starting in the spring.

You researched and decided it was not for your DD. Rankings do not matter that much. Your DD is at a school that's affordable that allows her to have the full 4 year experience. That can go a long way towards a successful college experience.

Tha ms for those kind words.it was an agonizing decision for her (made at 10:30pm May 1) but it was definitely the right one. Although her chosen school is lesser ranked, she’s in into their two best programs, ones that are highly regarded and which have very good job placement. I also think she will have a better experience there than at NU. Not to dump on the school, I just don’t think it was the right choice for her.

Rankings do not matter that much. Kids should go where they will fit in and that's for a variety of factors (including Cost) Kids who are happy at college do better---the more involved you are at college the more you get out of the experience in every aspect. My own kid knows they want the traditional experience of not living abroad any part of first year; they were excited about the coop experience at NEU but recognize as an engineer they can do that at almost any school they attend---they are not an extrovert and were concerned about fitting in on campus essentially as a transfer student soph year (got NUBound). Even before getting the decision my kid had decided that the campus might be too large for them and that 5-6K undergrad size is a better fit for them. Ultimately my kid is attending a school that is ranked ~20 higher, but also seriously considered WPI (not ranked nearly as high as it should be---amazing school) The attraction of Boston as a location was tempting, but my kid smartly (for them) choose a better fit, better ranked, smaller school despite the "not the best location". Each time we visited campus my kid lit up and I could just see something I did not see on any other campus (except their ED school which ultimately rejected them in RD). So Fit is extremely important.
If the parents have a positive attitude I find that goes a long way towards a kid being successful as well. So many kids think they are disappointing their parents because they didn't get into the "elite/perfect" school. And that's sad, because these kids with 1350+ SAT will do well wherever they go, if they choose to

This is good to know. Mine was initially interested for the coop aspect, but we are turned off by the over enrollment, the abroad situation and the crazy boosters who think it's an Ivy League rival. I'm all about being "true to your school," but there is some craziness out there. Can you share what school your kid chose? Also, can you add to thoughts on WPI? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD applied to NU, really just because everyone else was and there was no supplemental essay. To our surprise, she got in - for NUin. At first we were super excited for her but then came to the conclusion that she should not go to Europe her first semester (for a variety of reasons) so I was sure that NU would let her just take first semester off and start second semester. I figured why wouldn’t they? I mean if she won’t be on campus first semester, why would they care? And with so many kids coming and going to coops, it seems it wouldn’t matter. Well, they wouldn’t let her and that was disappointing and convinced me that they are a money making operation. That’s not to say they aren’t attracting good students and don’t provide a good education, but I worried that it wouldn’t be the best experience. DD turned it down for a lower ranked school that gave her lots of merit aid.

They have marketed the NUIn and NUBound well and they are money makers fro them. A guaranteed flow of spring start and fall transfer students, who pay $~35-40K/semester while abroad for the experience. Most other schools do allow students to select where they take courses, or if they take a semester off, before starting in the spring.

You researched and decided it was not for your DD. Rankings do not matter that much. Your DD is at a school that's affordable that allows her to have the full 4 year experience. That can go a long way towards a successful college experience.

Tha ms for those kind words.it was an agonizing decision for her (made at 10:30pm May 1) but it was definitely the right one. Although her chosen school is lesser ranked, she’s in into their two best programs, ones that are highly regarded and which have very good job placement. I also think she will have a better experience there than at NU. Not to dump on the school, I just don’t think it was the right choice for her.

Rankings do not matter that much. Kids should go where they will fit in and that's for a variety of factors (including Cost) Kids who are happy at college do better---the more involved you are at college the more you get out of the experience in every aspect. My own kid knows they want the traditional experience of not living abroad any part of first year; they were excited about the coop experience at NEU but recognize as an engineer they can do that at almost any school they attend---they are not an extrovert and were concerned about fitting in on campus essentially as a transfer student soph year (got NUBound). Even before getting the decision my kid had decided that the campus might be too large for them and that 5-6K undergrad size is a better fit for them. Ultimately my kid is attending a school that is ranked ~20 higher, but also seriously considered WPI (not ranked nearly as high as it should be---amazing school) The attraction of Boston as a location was tempting, but my kid smartly (for them) choose a better fit, better ranked, smaller school despite the "not the best location". Each time we visited campus my kid lit up and I could just see something I did not see on any other campus (except their ED school which ultimately rejected them in RD). So Fit is extremely important.
If the parents have a positive attitude I find that goes a long way towards a kid being successful as well. So many kids think they are disappointing their parents because they didn't get into the "elite/perfect" school. And that's sad, because these kids with 1350+ SAT will do well wherever they go, if they choose to

This is good to know. Mine was initially interested for the coop aspect, but we are turned off by the over enrollment, the abroad situation and the crazy boosters who think it's an Ivy League rival. I'm all about being "true to your school," but there is some craziness out there. Can you share what school your kid chose? Also, can you add to thoughts on WPI? Thanks!

WPI and RPI were on my kids list.
Never applied WPI. Not a good part of Boston area, and clearly a step down from Northeastern.
Liked RPI better. Variety of good tech favored programs, but location is not good and looking kind of drepressing. Got in.
No need to consider these schools after getting in Northesatern(direct main campus).
I udnerstand the hesitation if got in as NUIn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD applied to NU, really just because everyone else was and there was no supplemental essay. To our surprise, she got in - for NUin. At first we were super excited for her but then came to the conclusion that she should not go to Europe her first semester (for a variety of reasons) so I was sure that NU would let her just take first semester off and start second semester. I figured why wouldn’t they? I mean if she won’t be on campus first semester, why would they care? And with so many kids coming and going to coops, it seems it wouldn’t matter. Well, they wouldn’t let her and that was disappointing and convinced me that they are a money making operation. That’s not to say they aren’t attracting good students and don’t provide a good education, but I worried that it wouldn’t be the best experience. DD turned it down for a lower ranked school that gave her lots of merit aid.

They have marketed the NUIn and NUBound well and they are money makers fro them. A guaranteed flow of spring start and fall transfer students, who pay $~35-40K/semester while abroad for the experience. Most other schools do allow students to select where they take courses, or if they take a semester off, before starting in the spring.

You researched and decided it was not for your DD. Rankings do not matter that much. Your DD is at a school that's affordable that allows her to have the full 4 year experience. That can go a long way towards a successful college experience.

Tha ms for those kind words.it was an agonizing decision for her (made at 10:30pm May 1) but it was definitely the right one. Although her chosen school is lesser ranked, she’s in into their two best programs, ones that are highly regarded and which have very good job placement. I also think she will have a better experience there than at NU. Not to dump on the school, I just don’t think it was the right choice for her.

Rankings do not matter that much. Kids should go where they will fit in and that's for a variety of factors (including Cost) Kids who are happy at college do better---the more involved you are at college the more you get out of the experience in every aspect. My own kid knows they want the traditional experience of not living abroad any part of first year; they were excited about the coop experience at NEU but recognize as an engineer they can do that at almost any school they attend---they are not an extrovert and were concerned about fitting in on campus essentially as a transfer student soph year (got NUBound). Even before getting the decision my kid had decided that the campus might be too large for them and that 5-6K undergrad size is a better fit for them. Ultimately my kid is attending a school that is ranked ~20 higher, but also seriously considered WPI (not ranked nearly as high as it should be---amazing school) The attraction of Boston as a location was tempting, but my kid smartly (for them) choose a better fit, better ranked, smaller school despite the "not the best location". Each time we visited campus my kid lit up and I could just see something I did not see on any other campus (except their ED school which ultimately rejected them in RD). So Fit is extremely important.
If the parents have a positive attitude I find that goes a long way towards a kid being successful as well. So many kids think they are disappointing their parents because they didn't get into the "elite/perfect" school. And that's sad, because these kids with 1350+ SAT will do well wherever they go, if they choose to

This is good to know. Mine was initially interested for the coop aspect, but we are turned off by the over enrollment, the abroad situation and the crazy boosters who think it's an Ivy League rival. I'm all about being "true to your school," but there is some craziness out there. Can you share what school your kid chose? Also, can you add to thoughts on WPI? Thanks!

WPI and RPI were on my kids list.
Never applied WPI. Not a good part of Boston area, and clearly a step down from Northeastern.
Liked RPI better. Variety of good tech favored programs, but location is not good and looking kind of drepressing. Got in.
No need to consider these schools after getting in Northesatern(direct main campus).
I udnerstand the hesitation if got in as NUIn.

See how everyone will have differing opinions?!?!
We visited RPI and my kid hated it. As soon as we drove into town, I got back on the highway and took them to see Albany is only 15 mins away and RPI is "not in the middle of nowhere". My kid actually suggested that perhaps we don't even bother with the visit as there was no way in hell they would attend here.

For us RPI/troy was too remote, and more importantly we had researched and understood the financial issues RPI has been having. You could see this during the visit---of the 10+ campuses we visited, it was the only one where every single building I saw looked like it needed maintenance and not just today, but more likely 5+ years ago. All of the wood windows on multiple buildings were rotting and had no paint left---should have been painted/maintained 5+ years ago. Other than the performing arts center, the next newest building on campus was built and dedicated the same week fall freshman was born. We only went into the 2 newest building on campus and briefly into 1 dorm (due to covid nothing else was open). But I have to wonder if the school is having financial issues, what that means for academic resources, lab equipment, etc... Considering every college campus I have ever been on seems to spend a fortune on making the campus look nice, almost to an extreme.

Add to that the Mandatory Summer arch program which doesn't seem well thought out and seems more like a way for RPI to get more $$$. Nobody really wants to take a full semester of junior year engineering courses (ie Higher level engineering) crammed into 6 weeks sessions over the summer. But it's required and difficult to get out of (just check out Reddit comments). This gets RPI more $$$ because the students are also REQUIRED to live on campus for the summer, so it makes it difficult to start a lease living off campus for junior year when you are supposed to be on Coop/Internship for fall or spring semester as well, and that coop most likely will not be near RPI (because RPI is not a in a large city). So many students are simply forced to choose on campus housing (and dining that ensues) for the semester they are allowed to be on campus junior year because it's slightly cheaper than the full year lease and living off campus would be.
For my kid, RPI had a bit too much of a "nerd" vibe and the students we saw did not seem happy. Our tour guide was not able to answer many of the questions that students/parents had---it just was not inspiring. Tour did nothing to sway our opinion at all.

My kid really liked WPI. The students seemed happy, excited, etc. My kid liked the open curriculum and it was in their top 3 ultimately. But decided that the 7 week terms might not be the best thing for someone who is a major procrastinator. They have worked over the last decade to get close to a 50/50 male/female split. While the town is not as exciting as Boston, it's 1000 times better than Troy (IMO and my kid's opinion). I don't consider it a step down from NEU. Rankings for engineering at USNWR are almost 100% a "popularity" contest. It has to do with how others in the college realm rank you. So of course the larger, more traditionally well known schools do better (besides being known by more, I can only imagine the behind the scenes "payments"/"discussions" that go into "if you vote for me, I'll vote for you" etc.)
WPI is a hidden gem that is actually much better than the rankings place it, IMO Their hand on approach to learning coupled with the opportunity to do internships and/or coops is well established. Yes, not everyone does coops, but plenty do and it's available if you so desire. Many kids graduate and stay in the general Boston area as Boston tech sector knows the value of a WPI grad.