I applied to NEU as a safety school early since it did not have a supplemental essay and I was lazy. I was accepted specifically to this program that I had no idea existed (full tuition paid, tons of exclusive perks, etc. according to their website).
At the same time, I was also accepted ED to Penn CAS and therefore must turn down NEU’s offer, but I’m wondering if anyone who knows anything about the program can tell me if it would have been better in terms of grad school placement and undergrad achievement/recognition to attend NEU through the Scholars program. Obviously I’m asking hypothetically since I have no choice but to attend Penn. It’s more for my own understanding.
It’s worth $180K and more, very prestigious. Look on NEUs scholars site to see the type of kids in the program. It’s too bad you didn’t pull your app before today so someone else could get this offer. Can you share your stats to help future applicants know what caliber student gets accepted to scholars?
I found out about Penn on Friday night (12/11) and had mistakenly believed the NEU decision was due back Dec. 31, so I was not in a rush to pull the app. It’s unfortunate, and I feel really bad seeing how it appears to be a select few among the applicants chosen. Is their matriculation rate generally quite high for the Scholars acceptances?
I guess I’m asking specifically compared to second-tier Ivies like Penn CAS. Would the average student, disregarding money, choose this program over Penn/Columbia/Dartmouth? It seems really amazing according to these online descriptions, but I am actually kind of surprised and confused- I have very few of the qualifications I feel they would have wanted, I haven’t started any non-profits or anything ground-breaking.
I’m wary of giving all my stats on this website since I’ve heard enough stories about people recognizing other students by their CC profile lol, but I don’t mind giving basic stats:
I had a 2300 SAT (790 780 730), 94.60 UW GPA (skewed downward from a variety of B’s in 9th grade), and I’m a NMF. I’m specifically interested in a particularly underrepresented major (in the social sciences, won’t specify), for which I have some unique ECs. My (probably killer) recs were likely also highly centered around this interest, as was my (killer) essay. Finally, I had a couple unrelated leadership positions (officer of a couple misc. clubs) and a few misc. awards in quizbowl, comp sci, finance and music.
I guess I was very intent on focusing on that one unique major of mine, and it was vocal enough in my application to Penn and NEU’s liking. Perhaps they expected me to use this program to perform influential research in the field (which I imagine I would have attempted to do haha).
I have friends who turned down Duke, Boston College, Penn, Cornell, and Stanford. None of these are hearsay-- all of these are personal friends, so it’s not just “I heard it through the grapevine”. Reasons for this include finances, really liking NU and the co-op model, and the individualized attention. In my opinion, it’s kind of a sweet deal to go to school for free and be almost guaranteed be a top performer there (just by nature of your achievement level compared to the class). NU isn’t Penn, but personally I’d rather hire a knockout GPA/extracurriculars/awards from NU than just a blah kid from Penn. That’s not to say that you won’t kick butt at Penn, but it’s harder.
No use in worrying about it at this point, though (although for what it’s worth, my friend was admitted to Cornell ED and, when she found out she was a Scholar here a few days later, she made things work to attend NU instead).
I’ve heard about people breaking the ED agreement under dire financial situation- was she in that? Since I"m fortunately not in those circumstances, I don’t know how I could ever give a reason to Penn for breaking it.
Also, do you know, though, in terms of actual tangible results, if these people faired better than your average Penn student? Like, regarding grad school placement and starting salary and the like? I see what you’re saying about going to a lesser ranked school with great stats vs. a high ranked one with mediocre stats, but I have a feeling they try to accept people who will have great stats regardless.
You’re right, no point in worrying. I just have occasional regret stemming from a secondary school decision (e.g. hearing about friends who decided to attend the high school I turned down getting into Harvard and such) and now I really fear bad decisions.
@anon92244464 Some students who choose Scholars over Ivies etc.do it for the cost. Many affluent families end up with serious parental debt to attend those schools. Also if the student is planning on medical or law school it would be better for their parents to save that $180,000 in undergrad tuition to apply to the cost of professional schools to avoid the sometimes huge debt entailed otherwise. You say that cost is not an issue for your family, you are lucky.
For other students it is simply a matter of the “vibe”, for lack of a better word, that attracts them to Northeastern or repels them from other top schools.
As for outcomes of the Scholars program, the program is only 4 years old so placement stats etc. are yet to be determined. Anecdotally, there is a poster here on CC, @nanotechnology, who graduated this year and currently is attending grad school at UCL in London on a Marshall fellowship.
OP, it sounds like the experience you may be having is that even though you got in to the school that you perceive to be your “dream school,” getting such a large scholarship for a rather exclusive within school program such as Scholars feels pretty darn good too. The chance to be part of that program with all it’s perks and save so much money to go to an up and coming college is no small thing. Congratulations on your success.
@anon92244464 For your underrepresented major, is there something Penn has that is substantially better than NEU to help you feel better about your decision other than just the name Penn?
I know that finances is “a way” out of early decision, not sure what that actually means for kids who don’t qualify for FA.
What do your parents think? Are they strongly in favor of the more prestigious school?
I seem to recall reading that Northeastern offers about 200 students the University Scholars program and they expect about half will accept. Don’t hold onto the guilt.
If my son decides to attend Northeastern it will be because of the University Scholars offer. We are full pay and will have two kids start college one year apart. Merit is necessary and the Ivies are cost prohibitive.
Hello everybody, my son was accepted into the Scholars Program exactly one year ago today. He’s finishing up his final final today. We, too, were not familiar with the program prior to application and had no idea it even existed. He added the full tuition scholarship to his lengthy list of other full tuition offers (he had 10) but really was undecided. Then we went to the March accepted student Scholars event. It was so obvious that this is an amazing program with numerous opportunities available. I cannot say enough about the NU Scholar’s program. These students have all the benefits of the honors college in addition to special opportunities open only to Scholars. He will be spending his Spring Break in San Francisco doing community service work and 5 weeks studying in India this summer (all covered completely by his scholarship). He loves everything about NU and the Scholar’s program. He had many many amazing college scholarship offers and many choices. He and many others in the program passed up Ivy’s and other very prestigious institutions. I recommend that you wait until March and attend the Scholar’s weekend. You’ll get what you need then to make a decision. Good luck to you all!
At the risk of offending anyone, which I do not mean to, it raises the eyebrows a bit to encounter this post after seeing how many NU applicants are genuinely distressed about having been rejected, deferred, or offered insufficient merit aid to make it work. There’s a thread of about 1300 posts if you wish to skim it for perspective. Some had their hopes pinned on Scholars and didn’t even have a shot.
Just one individual’s opinion, but it seems the more appropriate timing for this type of discernment process “for your own understanding” is before making a decision to apply anywhere ED. Failing that, since it is indeed “hypothetical” as you note, it might have been more discreet to refrain from airing it publicly on the day after EA decisions came out.
Best wishes for success at Penn. In the final analysis, your long-term success is more about your aptitudes and character and less about what school you attended - particularly undergrad.
Additionally, we had not visited, called or shown any interest in NU at all. It was totally not on our radar. My son applied for the same reasons the OP applied. It didn’t have a supplemental essay and it was easy to just send it out on the common app.
@ohiovalley16 It is completely appropriate to have this discussion now as there may be other scholars who are not bound by ED that are trying to decide what school to attend, so these stories from kids who are currently in scholars is very valuable. OP was accepted to Scholars in good faith - and did nothing wrong. It is absolutely OK to apply EA and ED, and the decisions came out within days of each other. Also, not having this discussion because it makes others who were deferred or rejected sad is ridiculous. Rejection is a fact of life and there are many other colleges out there to choose from.
Your candid response is appreciated, @suzyQ7 . I agree with the majority of it, though not all. Having an attractive opportunity presented to you unexpectedly when you already committed to another one is a fact of life too. It’s not like the comparison here is between Northeastern and some bottom of the barrel school.
Full disclosure, part of what I’m probably reacting to, is that I and others find the trend toward an increasing proportion of acceptances from ED at some schools to be less than 100% in the best interest of applicants in general. Perhaps not in this individual case, but others, some seem to feel pressured to apply ED believing it’s the only/best path to maximizing their odds of admission, when they might have been better off leaving their options open.
I think a lot of tippy top kids think Ivy league is the end all be all, and when they see an offer like this, with all the perks and benefits, they question it. Some of these kids probably had NO IDEA that schools even offered fabulous programs like this, if they did, perhaps they would not do ED. The mentality is Ivy League or bust - so why not go ED? Then they see a program like this and question the fact that they will likely just be a mediocre student at Ivy but a Rock Star in a program like this. Then there is the money…
Perhaps that’s what was initially jarring about the post - “I applied to NEU as a safety school early since it did not have a supplemental essay and I was lazy,” contrasted with other highly qualified applicants who really, genuinely wanted to go there and didn’t even get admitted, much less get offered Scholars.
^^^ I agree with @suzyQ7 that there was nothing “wrong” with the post itself. At the same time, the way it was delivered (SO pompous and insensitive) says quite a lot about the OP.
I disagree, it was not pompous and insensitive. Lots of top kids apply to NEU as an Ivy safety and because there is no supplemental app. That’s what NEU wants! If they wanted to focus on demonstrated interest they would add a supplement, like BC did- but that means their app count would decrease substantially affecting their admission rate (which is very low - and good for rankings). NEU is willing to get a bigger pool of applicants so they can try and get top scholars with generous programs such as these. And its working as we can see from OP. I, for one, am glad to hear his/her perspective.
NEU has no way of knowing that your student may have ‘really wanted to go there’ vs the OP. They have no way of knowing that other than extra school visits, which may or may not be a true indicator. As far as NEU is concerned, OP may have really wanted to go there as much as the next kid.