I was recently accepted EA to the Northeastern business school (yay!) with a Dean’s Scholarship. I wasn’t accepted to the Honors College, and truthfully, I don’t care about that as much as my parents do; but in order to satisfy them, I did some research and it says that the top 10-15% of the freshman class is placed in honors. I have a 4.37 GPA (4.0 UW) & a 1500 SAT with a ton of involved ECs, so I was a bit surprised that this wasn’t the top 10-15%, but was mostly just grateful to get in so I let it go. But my friend who also just got in brought up that the website says, “Students who are in the top 10-15% of our applicant pool are considered for competitive merit awards, including the prestigious Dean’s Scholarship. Recipients are awarded between $10,000 and $25,000 annually.” Sooo… if I got a scholarship, wouldn’t I be in the top 10-15%, ie. in the Honors College? Again, I really am just grateful to have gotten in and know that not getting into honors won’t break my life apart, but I am a bit curious now. Does anyone have any insight? Or thoughts? Parents want me to appeal but I don’t want to cause drama.
Scholarship and honors I believe are decided separately and holistically. I’d also point out that your raw stats alone are in the middle 50% of admitted student ranges, not even in the top 25%, so getting a scholarship probably is a reflection of your EC’s, so congrats!
Honors and scholarships aren’t a big deal (besides the money part). You can appeal but to me it sounds like your parents care because of “prestige” type stuff. No one cares on campus when it comes to honors/scholarships, they are perks that don’t have any notable effects on your time here besides some nicer housing your first two years and the global scholarship for honors.
For what it’s worth, appealing won’t cause any drama so if you just want to appeal to make your parents happy that should work out fine. But I wouldn’t worry about it at all on your end 
Nobody cares about honors. It doesn’t improve your experience at NU. And getting into NU is enough prestige. Scholarships are more important because they mean $$$$. You can still put the scholarship on your resume under “awards” if that matters to you. Some coop employers look at your GPA for the first coop, so if the honors courses are harder, then it might actually hurt you, but unlikely. I don’t thing there is much difference.
I totally understand your curiosity. Things like that always make me wonder too.