I understand the concept however I am confused on how to do it for Northeastern. I am from Washington state so it is rather difficult to travel there. With other demonstrated interest schools in that area, like WPI, I have been able to do off campus interviews etc. Northeastern doesn’t do that. They don’t even have an essay prompt where you can showcase how much you care about the school.
I have send some thoughtful questions both to a faculty member in the computer science department, and to a general admissions person. However other then that I really don’t know what else to do.
Im applying before November 1st so hopefully that helps.
I believe on their website they have an email list that you can sign up for to receive information. I’m on the list and f you’re curious I have gotten almost NO emails and only one small letter (I’ve only started getting them since I added NEU to my common app).
Applying EA definitely shows interest.
There’s another thread on this, but they have an optional area to upload additional information. Upload something; it could be a letter to NEU saying “I love your school, you’re my top choice, I’ll attend if I get in and can afford it, here’s why I love your school” (definitely shows interest!) or any other kind of supplement like a resume or drawings or something. Either way, taking the time to do that is a bit of demonstrated interest.
If you get deferred, send the admissions office a letter of continued interest specifying that even though you’ve been deferred, you still love the school and want to go there.
If you have any questions at all, please email the admissions rep for your area. As long as you aren’t emailing them every other second with “What’s your school’s address?” (i.e., things that can be easily found on the website), they will see this is as some level of interest, and while it probably won’t help, it definitely can’t hurt. (I see you’ve done that, good job!).
I want to argue with number 3 - don’t send an extra supplement to just say “I love your school” include a supplement if you have something extra to add.
I’m not sure a big school like Northeastern with 50,000+ applications even track interest. Demonstrated interest will most likely not help you get in, just like Ivies don’t care if you want to go to their school or not.
According to their common data set, they do track interest. According to anecdotal evidence from the results threads here, some kids with very good stats were rejected for “no good reason” and they didn’t visit.
You can show interest by really knowing the school and your match (not just stats) and letting that come across in what you do show in the app and supps. Think about it. It isn’t just, “Wow, he visited.” Or, “Yup, he’s on our mailing list.” Certainly not, “Well I got an email and he could have looked up the answer, but hey, he wrote to us!”
Agree with kiddie. You don’t get in because you love them and fall all over yourself saying it in an extra piece. You get in when they like you and have space for you in their programs, geo diversity, and other factors. That’s about the app and supp. Make your essays and other answers relevant to them. Be on your game.
There is no supplement and there are no NEU specific questions, so unless an applicant writes about their experiences with NEU in their common app personal statement (which goes to more than one college), Northeastern does not give a lot of opportunity to show interest in the APPLICATION itself. @lookingforward