Here is the CC EA/ED decision thread from last year:
Decisions start on page 6
@TomSrOfBoston Thanks for this post! It was really helpful (despite giving me even more anxiety :-S )
Thanks, @TomSrOfBoston that just took all my morning coffee time! 
D’s stats could go either way (4.0uw, 32 ACT). Here’s hoping they want 1) geographical diversity (Hawaii), 2) gender diversity (female mech eng), and 3) see value in that good ol’ fashioned “EC” – working.
@palm715, my son is a current NEU student. His application was pretty heavy on that “good ol’ fashioned EC” and not much else with the exception competitive swimming. (And guess what, NEU doesn’t have a varsity male swim team). I wondered about that myself but it was what it was and there was no point in making up a bunch of EC stories. He did have 160 hours in community service because they were required to graduate but honestly, the number of truly meaningful hours I think some of these HS students have (my son included) I question. I think the colleges and universities do too. I’d say no more than half of his he had real conviction about.
Your daughter sounds like an excellent candidate for all 3 of the reasons you listed already plus excellent scores and grades. That old thread sure is an eye opening read however so I get why you are uncertain.
I posted that link because last year there were so many chance me threads at about this time. As you can see there were a lot of surprised applicants, a few of whom got nasty when deferred or denied. Applicants can get an idea of there chances as many applicants posted their stats.
I have no official inside information but I heard that they are looking for applicants who are a good “fit” for Northeastern’s experiential approach to education. If the adcoms get the feel that an applicant is looking for a traditional college experience: four years with summer vacations and the odd internship, they may be deferred or denied regardless of stats. How they determine this without a supplemental essay I have no idea. Expressed interest perhaps?
As you see in the thread ED/EA decisions included denials, deferrals, NUIn offers (non-binding), admits and offers to the Scholars program. Again familiarize yourselves with the NUIn program. It is an amazing opportunity but it is not for everyone, especially due to limited financial aid.
That would be so cool, but man, it’s expensive!
Thanks for the encouraging words @halflokum
And yes, @TomSrOfBoston reading all those comments back to back was very Wide World of Sports, “The thrill of victory! The agony of defeat!”
It’s more curiosity than fear on how my D will fare through the college admissions race. For her, academics comes first, job second, and her favorite activities beyond that are pretty much solitary. I’m surprised how little importance employment is given on the common data set for most colleges and in general opinion on CC. She has worked for over two years at a small, local bean-to-bar gourmet chocolate company. She’s done everything from design and sew their reusable gift bags made from the burlap the cacao beans come in to grin-and-bearing-it with “customers” at holiday fairs who eat as many samples as possible only to declare the chocolate expensive and not as good as Hershey’s.
At the end of the day, she has safeties that are not holistic and happy to give her automatic merit.
Aloha & good luck to all.
on my friends EA status checker he doesn’t have the option of being places in the NU.in program, but my ED application does. do you know if they changed it so that only ED applicants go or if its just because he applied to the 6 year pharmD program? thanks so much
I’m not entirely clear on what you say is available to choose in the status checker. But some information: not all majors have NU.in, because of the nature of their degree requirements. Also, because ED is normally binding, if ED applicants are offered NU.in, is becomes non-binding. Not sure if that answers your question.
@palm715 I think your daughter should get into the MechE program at Northeastern. Her stats very similar to my D. She was accepted EA a few years ago into ChemE. The Hawaii is definitely a plus for her also! Good Luck.
I think one of the reasons there were so many EA deferrals last year (and will be this year as well) is financial aid. First deferrals take the pressure off the financial office getting the packages completed before Dec 17. It also gives the financial aid team the opportunity to see what the RD pool looks like before commiting merit funds.
They are not likely to lose too many students because of the deferral since no one is deciding before May 1 anyway. There may be initial disappointment but that will be erased by an acceptance in the spring.
You are probably right. EA is used for colleges to try and snag the kids early in the process that are real standouts (according their criteria). Getting accepted EA at any college means that they consider you to be at the top end of their pool of applicants. They defer some knowing that those kids will be accepted in RD.
Can someone chance me?!! im feeling super anxious
I applied early decision and did not apply for financial aid or anything.
White
Female
3.33 GPA
1740 SAT scores (i know they suck, but when I took the SAT the second time in October I was in a room alone with my proctor because i get extra time, and she was very distracting and did many things she shouldn’t have, and i talked about that in my additional information on the common app and my college councilor wrote something about it)
major: marine biology
If you dont have some great ec’s i probably wouldn’t get your hopes too high up. both gpa and sat are below the 25th percentile but you never know. Good luck