@merc81 Thank you so, so much for your wonderful advice. I really appreciate it.
I will clarify some things.
The reason I did not apply to Tufts early decision (and this is genuinely the only reason) is because I am from a small suburb of Boston where I had a childhood that was less than ideal. I’ve had the very lofty goal of “escaping” Boston since I was a small girl. This attitude followed me into the college admissions process, and I put (significantly) less effort into colleges near Boston because I was afraid of being too close to memories that I want/need to leave behind. I realize now that my problems from my childhood will not follow me to college even if I’m only forty five minutes away from my childhood home. I love Boston, and I know it was foolish of me to try to rule out colleges there simply because I’ve had bad experiences in the area.
I have been planning on taking a gap year since early this year, and I had requested to be considered for Tufts’ “Bridge Year” in Spain if admitted. It’s funny to think that I might end up in exactly the same city next year anyways (I would be travelling extensively and exploring university courses in either Spain or Scotland)
I should be clearer when I say “intimate”. I applied to a small liberal arts college (Occidental), however, the breadth of the curricula, to me, did not justify what it would offer. I fear this might be the case at many other liberal arts schools, though I love them dearly, because I love technology. While some LACs are hopping on the comp sci train, they simply don’t have the variety I want. For me, schools like Tufts and Brown (I’m sure there are others; these are the best examples I can think of) hit the “sweet spot”- the course breadth of a larger school with the class sizes/LAC “feel” of a small school. Does that make sense, or am I totally missing the mark?
Yes, a triple major would be absolutely mental. I’m not that crazy I was planning to double major in cognitive science and computer science and try to do a semester abroad in Germany. At northeastern I would do a combined degree in information science and cognitive psychology.
I’m very open about the fact that I made a lot of mistakes during this round of admissions. I am so, so lucky to have parents that are willing to be proud of me/support me despite this.
How could you not have pursued your goal of leaving your home town area? You had it for so long. And, as you stated earlier in the thread, you love to travel.
“am I totally missing the mark”
Since the colleges that have drawn your interest are immensely popular, tens of thousands of other applicants every year would have to be missing the mark as well.
Personally, though, whenever I research the breadth of offerings at a smaller LAC, I usually am impressed. For example, the one I just checked has 21 computer science courses available. I’d have to better understand what someone else is looking for before I could comment further.
You really do have some fantastic options and goals.
Note that, if you’re not 18, there are specfic laws about attending college in Quebec; I think McGill requires you to have a legal guardian designated in the city where you live. I don’t think McGill has a blanket situation where the Dean of students for your year is in charge of all internationals below age 18. So, yo MUST check.
@MYOS1634 I turn 18 in late July, so it wouldn’t have been a problem if I had gone to college in Quebec. However, McGill is off the table, so it’s not really a big deal at this point.
okay I wondered if you were one of these 16 year old high school graduates, that would have been more problematic.
I see that you accepted NEU.
However why was your deadline April 7, not May 1st?
@MYOS1634 My mother is currently moving to Colorado so I didn’t have time to visit these schools/prolong picking one. I am going to Northeastern’s welcome day this Sunday (I live a few train stops away from Boston so visiting NEU is no problem). If I’m not thrilled with it, my parents have allowed me to take a gap year to live in Spain and become fluent in Spanish as long as I clear it with NEU (so that I can defer my acceptance) and the admissions departments of the schools I would apply to during the year. I would try to retake the SATs and ED I to Tufts, my top choice school that denied me in the RD round.
Would you attend “high school” in Spain (it’s a pretty tough thing to do) or “woof” (//woofing, in case you don’t know the term http://wwoofinternational.org/ http://ruralvolunteers.org/WHOSTS/)
It exists for other countries.
I don’t see why NEU would say no to a gap year abroad
@MYOS1634 I was planning on doing a language program, many of which involve taking classes at a university. That’s why I’m worried- I’ve heard that schools don’t like it when you take university classes outside of their university, even though it’s pretty obvious that it would be more beneficial to learn Spanish at a Spanish University and I wouldn’t be taking credits that go towards my major.
^ I think it’s less a question of what schools like and more whether it changes your status if you apply to an array of schools next year. Some may consider you a transfer student, which puts you in a different, sometimes even more selective, applicant pool. For example, the highly selective smaller LACs accept transfers often at a <20% rate. Princeton, I believe, does not accept transfer students. Other schools seem to open the door wider for transfers than they do for freshman candidates.
Northeastern will be the easiest school to work with; since you are an admitted student they should be able to tell you their policies without the need for conjecture.
I don’t think any of this should be enough to hold you back with your terrific plans. But you should learn enough now so you won’t be in for any surprises next year.
@MYOS1634 that makes me feel much better! I definitely understand why a college wouldn’t want me to take, say, courses at a local college while I was on my year abroad if I intended to be a freshman.
Qwerty568 I encourage you to make an appointment to talk to admissions/advising regarding gap year possibilities, how to transfer credits, etc. They may have some options for you that you haven’t considered. While you may get some or your questions answered at the open house, resources will be stretched thin that day. You might get responses that are not fully accurate by someone trying to be helpful, but not the right person for the job. I think you would be more successful in speaking with an informed and appropriate person if you call and schedule a meeting, even if it needs to be over the phone early next week given your circumstances.
Whatever you do, jump in with both feet and allow yourself to be open to all the growth and learning to come. Congratulations!
Only “college credit bearing” classes count - you can take foreign language classes (not for “degree” credit), community education classes (“learn how to code”, “CPR”…) and it wouldn’t count.
Calling the university to check is ALWAYS the best policy.
Update on my Northeastern visit:
I liked the program and hated the campus. I like being right in the city, but there is a huge divide between the honors and non honors dorms, with the latter being awful. I’ve visited NYU, George Washington, Tufts, and JHU, and Northeastern has the smallest freshman dorms by far. They tried to be sneaky and show us a handicapped upperclassman dorm- but my friend that’s an upperclassman showed me her dorm that’s about half the size.
Half of the buildings are beautiful and up to date, while the other half are falling apart- it was strange.
I’m NOT a fan of NEU teaching their intro to comp sci class in “Racket”. I’m not interested in learning a programming language that is essentially useless.
The coops that students were doing were very impressive.
People were looked down upon for wanting to look into the 4 year program- why? One coop isn’t going to necessarily be the difference between getting a job after graduation and not getting a job.
The dean was unable to explain why NEU is ranked 40th on US news but much, much lower on most other sources…hm.
It seemed like the school is growing/improving too fast for its own good, and the infrastructure simply can’t keep up.
@TomSrOfBoston perhaps “falling apart” is hyperbole, but several older buildings and the freshman dorms were very clearly too small for what the school has become and are in need of updates and repairs. There is a pretty obvious divide in age/ugliness in the middle of the campus. Northeastern has thrown TONS of money into updating IV, Marino, and several science/comp sci buildings- I would think the dorms that the other 80 percent of the schools use and the business buildings, which service more students than the comp sci buildings, would be a higher priority. I have friends at NEU who feel there is a definite divide between the way NEU treats honors kids and regular kids (beyond the suite style housing!), with a few even calling it a “caste system”. What I saw on my tour did little to help that perception. However, your posts on CC suggest you think NEU can do no wrong…so I’ll hush up
This is not anti-Northeastern – I’m open to what the University offers to what appear to be many satisfied students – but it will answer the question, @Qwerty568, that the dean was unable to: Under a previous president the University essentially engineered their rise in the USNWR rankings as a priority in and of itself. Boston Magazine covered the issue in a full article, “How to Game the College Rankings.”
Beyond that, after reading your review, Northeastern sounds like an academically strong place with good programs (Racket must be a type of teaching language? – not necessarily a bad concept for a changing field), but with the significant flaw that they don’t care to house all their students too well. My feeling is that you were sincerely interested in seeing how things really are at NU, so you accomplished that today. Now you may need to let your impressions settle for a few days.
Personally, I was hoping you would love the University this time around unreservedly. I’m sorry your final decision was not made that simple for you.
@merc81 Northeastern is definitely academically strong- the professors I talked to knew what they were talking about, the rigor is there,and the kids were doing some very interesting stuff. They course load described for my dual degree would be very intense.
Yes, Racket is a teaching language utilized by the university to “level the playing field” for people that begin their major without ever having programmed before.
It would be a lot easier if I had fallen in love with NEU, that’s very true! I have a very difficult decision ahead of me- say “screw it” and go this fall, or say “screw it” and defer my acceptance. I’m calling admissions tomorrow (they were swamped today) to see whether or not they would be willing to let me defer. If they won’t, I’ll just enroll.
