Didn't get into honors?

Hi, so I applied EA to Northeastern and got into the Chem department for the CoS, but I didn’t have anything on my application status about the honor’s college. I’d find it really surprising if I didn’t get in since a friend of mine who has similar stats to me did get in. Do you guys think maybe its an error or could I really have fallen outside the top 10% of applicants? Should I try emailing admissions about it? I also recently got nominated for the Presidential Scholars program so maybe that could change their mind.

2280 SAT (750 M, 740 R, 790 W), 35 ACT (36 S, 35 M, 34 R, 32 W), 4.0 GPA, National Hispanic Scholar (equivalent to National Merit and I even got a 30k scholarship for it), lots of activities and leadership (sports, NHS Vice-President), Lots of APs with plenty of 5s, in the top decile rank for class

My friend who got in has lower test scores but higher GPA, national merit instead of national hispanic, and everything else is pretty much the same.

I got in to Honors with a 35 ACT, 4.0 UW, no NMSF… major was Biology

I would investigate considering your stats are pretty similar to mine

Looking at last year’s threads, some got a scholarship and honors and some got one or the other, there seemed to be no particular reason or stat scenario.

There’s no objective way to measure the top 10%, so. It’s impossible to say exactly why you might not have been offered a spot in the honors program. I have a front who discovered a few years into her time here that the reason she didn’t get into honors was a mediocre letter of recommendation from her guidance counselor (who didn’t like her much for some reason).

I think honors is that important, though. It had some nice perks, but it’s not like it fundamentally changes your experience at the University. Plus, if you do well when you start here, you can join the honors program after your first semester or year.

That’s true. I think I’ll just wait and if I don’t get into my top choices after decisions come out I’ll try appealing here

@SwagLord69‌

Appealing won’t work here, they don’t have a system for it (that I know of based of all responses here in the past year or so). The decision is final for the first year/semester. As nanotechnology said, Honors really doesn’t change your experience here.

I actually did appeal to the Honors program here and got in, but I regret it. It certainly doesn’t make your experience here any better, and in my experience was very isolating as a freshman forced to live in the Honors dorm across campus from the rest of the freshmen. If you really like the school and didn’t get into honors, I would recommend not even considering it as a factor. The coops on your resume will be enough of a feather in your cap for potential employers that Honors won’t really matter.

@alixkay88, I’m sorry to hear that Honors was more negative than positive for you. Were there any aspects of Honors that you liked? Also, if you don’t mind sharing, what’s your college or major? Thanks

@Putterer‌ It is certainly not a bad program. There is additional advising available, and you can take honors sections of classes within your major. International Village, the freshman honors dorm, is beautiful and has a gym and dining hall in the building. It just tended to seem that the Honors faculty thought that they were the most important part of Northeastern, and reacted poorly to people having other commitments that conflicted with honors events, which there are a lot of during freshman year. I am a nursing student, so the rest of my class was very close-knit and lived on two floors of a building on the other side of campus. I have since become closer to them, but it was very isolating to start college. All that being said, there are certainly benefits to being in the honors program, such as the study abroad scholarship available to most, if not all, honors students (don’t quote me on this, I’m not 100% sure). One thing that they tend to gloss over is that in order to actually graduate “with honors”, you have to finish school with a 3.5 GPA, which is very challenging, and which I was not aware of when I started.

@alixkay88, thanks for sharing your experience. I’m glad you were able to overcome the logistical barriers separating you and your nursing classmates. I’m curious about the honors events. Could you say more about the kinds of events and their frequency? Thanks again.

@Putterer‌ sure. You are required to take a one-credit Enhancing Honors course in the fall, which meets once per week and has several outside of class required attendances, such as scavenger hunts around the city and speakers coming to the university. You also do the Honors Welcome Week, where you arrive at school a week early to bond with the honors class and do some events. There are a couple community service days. You have to meet with your honors adviser twice a semester freshman year. I’m sure I’m forgetting things, and it really wasn’t that bad but it just happened that several of the events coincided with other commitments I had, so I butted heads with Honors a bit. Your experience could be totally different than mine though, so take all this with a grain of salt!

Thanks @alixkay88, this is useful to know.

Thanks a bunch for your input! I think I will appeal it anyway since it can’t hurt to keep my options open. The study abroad scholarship also sounds enticing

What’s the study abroad scholarship you’re referring to? The Presidential Global Scholarship? That is for international co-op. It’s guaranteed for all honors students above a certain GPA cutoff, I believe, but anyone can apply for it; there’s just less of a hassle if you’re in honors.