I recently went on a college tour to Northeastern University in Boston and fell in love with the school. Compared to all the previous colleges I have visited, Northeastern is definitely at the top of my list and may even be my number one choice. I know that this school is very selective and I’ve seen seemingly perfect candidates with high scores and great ECs get rejected. But on a few of the forums I’ve viewed I saw people who were in the IB program get in with mediocre grades/scores and limited ECs. I know that college admissions are looking for smart, well rounded individuals, so does Northeastern specifically favor IB students a little more since it shows an international mindset with regards to the coop program and internships that can be taken abroad? Can any accepted students who were in the IB program confirm that they may have had a slight advantage because of the rigor and global mindset offered from IB?
Our son was IB and did get in and is likely going. He liked the school very much as well. Don’t think anyone can answer if IB is favored except the admissions committee. I would say from prior experience with other children and school visits they say just take the most rigorous courses available. They told us in past (other schools) IB and AP are the same
My school is full-IB and most students get in with grades and test scores well below Northeastern’s average. Our HS’s acceptance rate to Northeastern is about 80%, and the median ACT for admits from my HS is 22 (SAT data is patchy). The mean ACT, at 25, is slightly higher because some high-stat students apply with merit scholarships in mind, which skews the average. IB predicted grades are a much better predictor of acceptance than test scores - the 20% who didn’t get in were on track to fail the IB altogether.
This suggests to me that an IB program, if it’s well-regarded, is a significant leg up at Northeastern.
My daughter was an IB student and when we were comparing colleges this time last year I found a spreadsheet that listed schools that favored IB diploma students and the percentage increase in acceptances. Maybe google that?
Our daughter is an A/high B student in IB (all A’s in her honours courses), she has some of the best EC’s, she got rejected first round, we think because we live in the city. She was full pay but it didn’t matter. It could of been her major of DpT as a Freshman that did her in. In the end it’s their loss. She’ll be an awesome PT, she even had a MGH/Harvard doctor she had shadowed for. Didn’t matter. So if you live in Boston or want DpT from Freshman year I’d say it doesn’t help.