Reply to Scathing Summary of Northeastern Admissions

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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🤷‍♂️[/quote]

I agree with this mostly as well. Northeastern isn't terrible but it has a strategy and intent to be misleading. They've been gaming the USNWR rankings methodology for 5 years (there's a whole chapter on their shenanigans in Selingo's "Who Gets In" book) which enabled them to jump 40 places in a short, short time and this strategy culminated with them overpaying for the shrewd but also somewhat shady former Head of Admissions at Tulane to come over to NU and replicate his heavy handed and misleading urgency tactics that pressed a lot of kids to apply, apply ED and commit to Tulane (also featured in Selingo's book as a cautionary tale and red flag). There's no question they have aggressive sales tactics, and massively benefit from kids wanting to study in the Boston area but being unable to get into Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Wellesley, BU/BC etc. It's not illegal, but some of their tactics are shady and exploit student immaturity and admissions anxiety. So I'm not a fan, and I strongly discouraged my kid from applying.[/quote]

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