I am not surprised that NEU isnt buying it. You applied all over the country, youve taken a spot on the wait list at case western, and yet you are trying to convince NEU to give you Boston campus as a freshman, for medical reasons that only seem to come into consideration when dealing with NEU. And why? Because you are under the mistaken impression that NEU is more prestigious, will somehow open med school doors for you, when it wont. What it will do is drain your parents bank account, plus you will have to struggle to get the research opportunities that umass is handing you on a silver platter! Beautiful honors campus, no unnecessary co op program, great food, ready made path into research, supportive Muslim community, supportive LGBTQ community, great disability services, a gem of a director of student health who will become your on campus MD if you like, close enough to home to continue with Childrens managing your care, and a quick hop to the barn for riding. NEU has no bragging rights over Umass honors with biotap. In fact, it seems obvious that for your situation, umass is by far the better option.
While I fully agree that U Mass is the best fit for OP, you seem deliberately and persistently accusatory and calloused in your tone, how is that helping OP?
I remind you that you don’t know the entirety of OPs health conditions, physical limitations or family circumstances so casting aspersions on their ethics seems a bit unfair.
He is a kid who who has shown resilience in the face of illness, challenges and most recently college admissions disappointments. The parents seem extremely supportive but unfamiliar with the admissions process so OP has come to CC for help.
Perhaps we should set aside our adult moral indignation and just try to be supportive without judgement.
OP you keep being you and get excited about U Mass please while ignoring the noise that people sometimes send your way.
As others who have been rooting for OP have noted, the reasons being given to NEU do not seem to have been consistently applied to the whole college list. NEU doesn’t know this, and while other schools that made decisions OP would probably also like to change, this one – with an application for Boston and an acceptance in Oakland–must have felt to OP’s family to have left open just enough of a crack that they might be able to exploit it. quietly observing/not judging.
The issue is that the decision process isn’t meant to handle appeals. With gazillions of applications, schools cannot/will not negotiate with everyone who ended up unhappy with their decision. In most cases, this is clear and folks accept that fate. You rejected me, I do not get to ask you to re-read my application or get a chance, at least in this application cycle, to augment my app.
Kids who were accepted at branch campuses rather than the main one at their state university, kids who were offered a spring start rather than fall, kids who were offered a first semester in Europe rather than on-campus – all, like OP, now have an option to consider that isn’t the one they applied for but is adjacent to it. All offer a diploma with the same name on it, but a decidedly different experience.
In those cases, students have to decide whether this adjacent opportunity is one they want because that’s what has been offered. That was the acceptance. But the opportunity they applied for is not an option. That was a rejection. But pretty consistently, if you read the threads for the schools that offer these not quite what I signed up for acceptances, the first question is "can I convert this acceptance into a "normal " one. So close, yet so far away! AND enough students do say yes that these programs remain vibrant.
Whatever you think of OP’S pursuit of trying to get NEU to change its decision, this has hopefully been helpful (if not frustrating and stressful) to OP in feeling like they have done all they could and in providing closure. Outside of the wear and tear on OP, this has had no downside.
From where I sit, OP has been asked to the dance by a really wonderful kind person who wants to first take them to dinner at an restaurant offering their favorite cuisine and has already sent flowers and chocolate (and 5 lbs of carrots for the horse!) Yet they continue to crush on the jerk who doesn’t notice them except when they need homework answers. But we’ve all done this about something at sometime, probably more than once. Usually, the universe bails us out.
OP, I am so sorry your parents are making it hard for you to just delight in the incredible opportunity UMass has offered. It sounds like it’s just a matter of weeks now, then you’ll be on your way. cheering from afar!
O
I am a firm believer that there is a reason for the disappointments that life brings us. You may not see the reason until later in your life. Or you may never see the reason. But the reason is no less valid just because you don’t recognize it. You have tried to make your first choice work, but it’s not working … the universe, the fates, Allah, whatever have determined that you need to take a path that is different from what you thought you should take. That’s okay. Take that path, and I bet you’ll be happy that you did.
I appreciate all the warm words from everyone. My parents brought up another option that I’m now trying to decide over as NEU has given us an option for fall 2024 in Boston. /sighing
My parents suggested a gap year, where I either continue to work at the Broad, work at another highly-renowned lab, shadow/work at my pediatrician’s office, etc.- which would count towards clinical shadowing hours and such for medical school, while retaking my SAT/ACT (because I never took it the first time around, and if it’s possible, we’d do that), reapply to the Boston area schools [BC, BU, Tufts, MIT, Harvard] while having a guaranteed spot for NEU of fall 2024- and I’d probably take 1-3 online college classes as well to keep myself sharp. /thoughtful
They’re still willing (obviously) to let me go to UMass for a year and then transfer to NEU for fall 2024 in Boston, but I know for me, I can’t handle change on a scale like that (I’m learning and working on managing it.) /sighing
So… the options are:
- Commit to UMass for a year, attend for HC + BioTAP, and then transfer to NEU for fall 2024 in Boston.
- Take a gap year, do clinical shadowing/work at a lab or pediatrician’s office, take some online college classes, retake SAT/ACT, and reapply to the Boston area schools, where I can then decide to go to NEU for 2024 or potentially another institution. /musing
That’s kinda where it’s at right now. I don’t know what y’all will think (or maybe I do, I don’t know!) but my own voice is especially pertinent to be listening to right now, I’m going to mull this over, over the weekend, and see. /thoughtfully, mature
I know God’s gonna work this out, I’m just here for the ride. /happily, warmly
I would take the great opportunity you have at UMass and get started. It may be after a year, you still want to transfer, but you may love it and want to stay. The chances of you getting into schools that rejected you this year is very small. Bird in the hand and all that. Good luck to you!
Would NEU take you in Boston in 2024 if you didn’t do a year with them first ?
I don’t think your gap year will work. I think you were given poor advice on your school list.
If you’re only through pre calc, you were unlikely to get into higher level schools. NEU likely accepted you as they did bcuz they need bodies on their new campus. Also, a year away from school might expand your math difficulties.
On the other hand, it might be an option during a gap year to repeat math and try to enhance your competency in the area.
I would double check that NEU would allow you to start in Boston without Mills. I would not assume that a re application to schools will yield any different result.
Your parents and you are so focused on NEU. While I don’t understand it myself, you’ve gotten hooked on a school that doesn’t feel the same. And I think you leaving school for a year could exacerbate your struggles in math.
Best of luck.
inhales here’s what they said. /sighing
If we receive additional information from the doctor concerning your vision impairment, we could consider the exemption from travel. This exemption allows you take classes elsewhere and join your cohort and program in fall of 2024 in Boston.
So they would be fine and we just need to make sure the spot’s guaranteed (which it should be after we get the exemption), but we can always double check with NEU. /softly, musing
also yeah my rare disease is vision related /coughing
If you have never taken SAT, it will not be retaking.
Also it would be almost impossible for you to be accepted to colleges that you got denied at this year.
Well, I appreciate the advice. There’s always a shot, and if everything “failed”, I would still have NEU to fall back on, which is a wonderful option. /warmly, musing
But I still haven’t made a decision yet, so I may choose UMass for a year and then transfer. I don’t know, I still have to make my own decision. /thoughtfully
Obviously the decision is between you and your parents (and I suspect I know which way you are leaning), but looking in from the outside, UMass seems hands down the better option. But you will do what you feel you need to do and, whatever that ends up being, I wish you all the luck in the world.
This sounds like they would still expect you to enroll full-time somewhere else and enter as a sophomore with the same cohort. I think enrolling at UMass is really in your benefit even if you plan to transfer to NEU in fall 2024. But you would be entering with a cohort that had the chance to grow close to each other on another campus together, which has some definite downsides socially. I personally think staying at UMass for all four years would be a better option, but no matter what you ultimately decide, I don’t think a gap year makes sense at all in your case.
It seems like everyone’s saying (roughly) the same thing, which I’ll absolutely keep in mind as I make my decision. /thoughtfully, appreciative
As someone who works in higher ed, this is what I would encourage you to do right now:
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accept your place at UMass and put whatever deposits down that are required for housing to hold your place/not miss out on the best housing options, orientation dates, etc. You always want to choose the earlier orientation dates to have the better pick of classes (everyone already enrolled will have chosen classes already for fall, so you want to be ahead of the freshmen pack). Most schools have honors students attend a specific early orientation, which could even be in May. Go ahead and arrange all of this now, even if you’re unsure what your final decision will be.
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Provide the documentation NEU requires, but don’t count on them coming through. Keep in mind they said “we could consider” and are not guaranteeing this option.
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Get the terms of this in writing from them if they do grant the exemption and allow you a fall 2024 start. My guess is they will expect you to come in with enough transfer credits to be considered a sophomore. Find out exactly how many credit hours they want you to come in with to make sure you meet the conditions of this agreement, and you should also ask to be connected with an advisor for your major so you can discuss how those courses will transfer in AND get a four-year degree plan to show the order that NEU prefers you to take classes in to make sure you are taking classes at UMass that will work for NEU if you do decide to transfer.
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Don’t discount what UMass is offering you. I truly think you will be set up better for med school applications from UMass than NEU and transferring is a tough process and never goes fully as planned (i.e. you will register last as a sophomore transfer at NEU and may find it difficult to get the classes you need and fall behind in your degree plan, which is even tougher with the coops at NEU). There is a lot of benefit from building connections for 4 years at the same school AND the benefits that come with the honors college shouldn’t be underestimated.
One other thing - just reading but it’s covid era but most students who took a gap year had not enrolled a year later.
And back to your LGBTQ status, Campus Pride rates UMASS a 5/5. NEU only a 3/5.
You can google campus pride index and each school to better understand what that means.
Well truth is you have singular focus to NEU - but I fear this will drastically impact your future and not for the best. I mean, you are a rock star at UMASS but no one special at NEU, even if it were to happen.
And as you reapply to other colleges, note they will re-read their prior notes on your candidacy. While not impossible it’s highly improbable that a school will change its decision later. Given your list of schools, I’m sure the pre calc is a huge red flag to them and will be again. As for the WL at CWRU, they do 30% of all applicants so that should not be seen as an almost.
You do you - as you should. It’s your life. But I do fear a bad ending if you don’t take your best shot now. Best of luck.
Forget for a moment the schools involved. Option 2 sounds incredibly isolated from your peers, and therefore, not in the best interests of your mental health. Go with Option 1 and give everything at UMass a try. You may love it and decide to stay. If not and you do well gradewise, you will be far better placed to transfer elsewhere (not just Northeastern) than you would with a gap year, where all you could change is test scores with high school grades and rigor already baked in.
I have been refraining from posting on this thread, but I will just emphasize what @cam2932 has said here.
My son has chosen a similar school to your UMass option, where he was admitted to the honors college, but he put the school on the back burner for a while, as he waited for other acceptances. Now that it is late in April and he is finally committing, he found that he has already missed out on some things, such as earlier (advantageous) application to housing, application to music scholarship, application to a special pre-fall Honors trip, etc. Fortunately his school hasn’t assigned orientation dates yet, but a lot of schools already have started doing that.
So I will just emphasize, please do go ahead and accept your place in this wonderful program so that you can be sure not to miss out on anything.
I also encourage you to commit to UMass, and with the idea that you will stay there for four years. I don’t understand the fascination with NEU, but do respect that is the case for seemingly you and your parents.
I also don’t like the gap year idea. You will have to start applying this fall again. There is not time to impact your app in a meaningful way between now and then that is likely to turn this year’s denials into acceptances. If you change your list that could work, but doesn’t sound like you want/intend to do that. It will be difficult to get another situation that is at the level of UMass honors plus BioTap.
One thing I’m not sure we have covered and IMO it’s really important…would your parents have to take out loans to pay for NEU? If so, that’s a clear breaking point for this decision, and doesn’t make sense especially if med school is a possibility because med school will be all loans for you. $400K of them. Unless your parents have money saved separately for med school.
This should be your road map OP!! Great post!!!
I’ll say this about the gap year idea. It’s usually just a phase in the way to committing to a college before May 1. A lot of students and/or parents post about it when they are disappointed with the admission decisions but in almost all the cases a gap year makes no sense and they usually realize that in time to enroll. So good luck!