Scathing Summary of Northeastern Admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

BTW, speaking of 'cops', because of that tradition, Northeastern is highly ranked for its Criminal Justice major. It has its own School of Criminology & Criminal Justice.

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

Well on SCOIR our acceptance rate to Penn is 20%, not the 5% they report to USNWR. Our Columbia ED acceptance rate is 50%, not 13%.

That means absolutely nothing and is of no significance.

Yes but no one has legacies with Northeastern. None of us went there. The spread between 5% and 40% without legacy is quite stark and ridiculous. It's an ok school masquerading as a very good school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how different what northeastern does is compared to other schools with alternative starts but I do know (from the employer end) that a young person who has done a 6+ month coops is generally a lot more appealing than one who has done a 2 month internship.

🤔 4 year University, mine (and most of his peers) had 2 month internships all 4 years at 4 different companies. Class of 2025 grads achieved a 96% landed rate immediately to within 6 months. Business school 98% / Liberal Arts 94%

That’s not the same as 6 months at the same company (or 6 months at two different companies) as you surely know.

I do know NEU requires 6 month co-ops or 2 alternatives, correct me if I’m wrong, but they can opt for community service or global outreach programs.

5 of my son’s HS peers went to NEU. Their stress level to secure these co-ops was intense despite advisors “helping” them. By that I mean, here’s a list, good luck.

I ran into parents of these kids and we’d share our kids experiences. It’s all co-op, all the time. It consumes the students. It’s competitive and demoralizing when others easily secure them. It disrupts living arrangements, friendships, and continuity.

My son confirmed that 2 friends hated the stress until they landed something, literally anything. One of them regretted not graduating in 4 years vs 4 1/2 or 5 years. Just something students/parents should be aware of.

I think students prefer new experiences at different companies. Remember most don’t declare major, minor, concentrations until sophomore year.

Not at all an NEU basher. OP is correct though. NEU normalized manipulating the numbers and ranking.

This is interesting feedback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This paragraph both complains about the "artificial" acceptance rate for the school because it's just for the Boston campus AND complains that no one wants to go anywhere but to the Boston campus - so to me that acceptance rate is exactly the information that this quasi-influencer says applicants should need. If "nobody" wants to go to any of the other programs NEU is doing applicants a favor by not including that data in their acceptance rate.

My family has no interest in NEU, but they also are no where near the only school who plays these games and charges these dollars.

The notion that NEU is doing this for transparency and altruistic reasons is obviously disingenuous. They are doing it to artificially manipulate rankings while concurrently maximizing revenue from their conscientious strategy of adding capacity outside of Boston for lower-stats, full-pay kids that think they're getting into an incredibly competitive institution. I have no issue with the philosophy of the school - I think the co-op program is great. I am, however, repulsed by the blatantly misleading manipulation of the rankings that should be smarter and more nuanced but are not.

To a tie for 46th in its U.S. News category?

Yes, they are absolutely not of the quality to be in the top 50. They should be much lower.

How so?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVa changed to drop supplemental essays only starting this year - and due to pressure from US DoJ. They are likely to switch back with any new Federal administration.

They could easily have simply switched to different topics, as most other schools have done. But they chose not to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And yet, over 100,000 students have applied to Northeastern for the past couple of years. And, only a few thousand are accepted to Boston (and attend).

So bash away, but the kids who attend are top students, do amazing co-ops and get good jobs, including my child

Or are you from the northeastern marketing department? I swear they show up on these threads.

[Anonymous]

This university fully grinds my gears in terms of their misleading (and arguably) false marketing.

There is nothing wrong with the students who go there, but prospective students should be warned in advance that much of their public-facing reputation (including admission rate, yield, class size, etc.) is a grift.

Buyer beware.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how different what northeastern does is compared to other schools with alternative starts but I do know (from the employer end) that a young person who has done a 6+ month coops is generally a lot more appealing than one who has done a 2 month internship.

🤔 4 year University, mine (and most of his peers) had 2 month internships all 4 years at 4 different companies. Class of 2025 grads achieved a 96% landed rate immediately to within 6 months. Business school 98% / Liberal Arts 94%

That’s not the same as 6 months at the same company (or 6 months at two different companies) as you surely know.

I do know NEU requires 6 month co-ops or 2 alternatives, correct me if I’m wrong, but they can opt for community service or global outreach programs.

5 of my son’s HS peers went to NEU. Their stress level to secure these co-ops was intense despite advisors “helping” them. By that I mean, here’s a list, good luck.

I ran into parents of these kids and we’d share our kids experiences. It’s all co-op, all the time. It consumes the students. It’s competitive and demoralizing when others easily secure them. It disrupts living arrangements, friendships, and continuity.

My son confirmed that 2 friends hated the stress until they landed something, literally anything. One of them regretted not graduating in 4 years vs 4 1/2 or 5 years. Just something students/parents should be aware of.

I think students prefer new experiences at different companies. Remember most don’t declare major, minor, concentrations until sophomore year.

Not at all an NEU basher. OP is correct though. NEU normalized manipulating the numbers and ranking.

This is interesting feedback.

Hope it helps. I respect schools who don’t yield protect (current students hate it). They may defer the Ivy bound application but won’t outright reject them. Everyone gunning for those single digit acceptances should absolutely love a couple of no yield protection schools. It’s all strategy.

[Anonymous]

Why is this thread hidden from the more recent ones?

[Anonymous]

Huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This university fully grinds my gears in terms of their misleading (and arguably) false marketing.

There is nothing wrong with the students who go there, but prospective students should be warned in advance that much of their public-facing reputation (including admission rate, yield, class size, etc.) is a grift.

Buyer beware.

Amen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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

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

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

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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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

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

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

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

Self reported data isn't reliable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The recent-ish Northeastern grad I know did two coops, one including one abroad, got a job straight out of college, was quickly promoted, moved on to an even better job a couple years later, and just bought her first apartment in NYC. Granted, this is just one anecdote, but it speaks well to the quality of a Northeastern education.

That’s not education it’s vocational training.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how different what northeastern does is compared to other schools with alternative starts but I do know (from the employer end) that a young person who has done a 6+ month coops is generally a lot more appealing than one who has done a 2 month internship.

🤔 4 year University, mine (and most of his peers) had 2 month internships all 4 years at 4 different companies. Class of 2025 grads achieved a 96% landed rate immediately to within 6 months. Business school 98% / Liberal Arts 94%

That’s not the same as 6 months at the same company (or 6 months at two different companies) as you surely know.

I do know NEU requires 6 month co-ops or 2 alternatives, correct me if I’m wrong, but they can opt for community service or global outreach programs.

5 of my son’s HS peers went to NEU. Their stress level to secure these co-ops was intense despite advisors “helping” them. By that I mean, here’s a list, good luck.

I ran into parents of these kids and we’d share our kids experiences. It’s all co-op, all the time. It consumes the students. It’s competitive and demoralizing when others easily secure them. It disrupts living arrangements, friendships, and continuity.

My son confirmed that 2 friends hated the stress until they landed something, literally anything. One of them regretted not graduating in 4 years vs 4 1/2 or 5 years. Just something students/parents should be aware of.

I think students prefer new experiences at different companies. Remember most don’t declare major, minor, concentrations until sophomore year.

Not at all an NEU basher. OP is correct though. NEU normalized manipulating the numbers and ranking.

This is interesting feedback.

Or it's one perspective. Our kid went to Northeastern recently, and when it was Co-Op time, applied to 5 and got 3 interviews and 3 offers. Chose one, loved it, learned a lot, and it's where they ended up getting a job offer a year later (that's right, they graduated in 3 years even with the co-op -- thank you MoCo AP classes). So not every kid takes 5 or more years to graduate. And what you all keep missing is that you don't pay while your student is on co-op. So going an extra year (for those who choose to do that), isn't that big of a deal, it does not mean paying for an extra year of college. The co-ops pay them enough to pay rent, and they learn how to budget.

I am laughing at the pp who thinks applying for a co-op is stressful. What do you think happens to these snowflakes when they start applying for jobs? That is what is competitive

[Anonymous]

There are lies, damned lies and (Northeastern) statistics.

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