Many colleges do similar things. Look at Boston University’s CGS January-London program. Also Cornell offers applicants who didn’t quite make it for freshman admission guaranteed sophomore transfer if they maintain a 3.0 at another university.
I am not picking on NEU, but it is the one situation that stuck out to me on my various visits with my children. It has a very practical reason for being in that the university has a COOP focus and 18000 undergrads. They want to be sure that dorms are filled and academic spaces are used.
But the fact remains - If you add the deffer-ed+1st semester abroad+transfer numbers for Northeastern you may get a very different statistical picture of the student body than you would get from looking at US News. It appears that about 20 - 25% of the students who attend the NEU, never have their data factored into the Freshman statistics reported to (or by) US News. That is my point. Those students could be statistically identical to the other students or be vastly different - we just don’t know. I would also suggest this is an issue at other colleges as well. Additionally how a student is classified could also cloud the 6 year graduation rate which is so important in weight to the various rankings.
USC is another school that has climbed like a rocket in the USNWR, and also defers a large number of Freshman admits to entry in Spring semester. The do Spring enrollment instead of WL.
Other ways to manipulate the appearance of selectivity: go test-optional.
I am confused. Is this just the 2015 transfer in students or the “total” transfers-in on campus in 2015? I checked some like Vandy and Penn and their numbers match with the CDS, which are only for transfers-in in 2015. Having a hard time believing that Columbia accepted 585 transfers in 2015? Is Columbia reporting total transfers-in on campus while Vandy and Penn are reporting only the 2015 transfers-in?
dude, the SAT is the most botched test there is now a days, im not sure why anyone would get that particular about schools knowing that the SAT is an extremely standardized, engineered test (at least the SAT post 1994), that does not correlate to how hard one works OR how intelligent they are. I would think about what you’re interested in, then pursue a school. If you’re worried about prestige then just go on a forbes or business insider list and go to the best school you get in to.
Thanks collegehelp for the posts throughout, both the “lists” provided in a number of your posts and your perspective on why you chose the criteria you did. Thanks to those who have posted assessments of those criteria. Although this data is available to all, you’ve organized a few variables in helpful ways, and your posts and the posts that assess your approach allow me to make use of it or not in considered ways.
Thanks all.