My daughter is a freshman at Northeastern. A year ago, the college wasn’t even on my radar. She was deferred EA and then accepted into NUin with $20,000/yr merit (yes, it was applied to NUin).
After spending her entire Senior year in remote learning, she went to Greece the Fall of 2021. That was hands-down the best decision (albeit difficult for parents) for her. She was able to travel on her own, create amazing experiences and make wonderful friends.
Last week, I went to Boston to move her into a 4 person suite/apartment with 3 good friends from Greece. While in Boston, I was able to meet all her roommates and go to dinner with the other parents and our girls. I feel like this is an anomaly.
What is also an anomaly, unfortunately, is that my daughter has been able to experience her entire freshman year of college in person. I commend Northeastern for making decisions that are in the best interests of the student and their learning experience.
@Mom270 , Jeff Selingo’s book, Who Gets In and Why, does a great deep dive how NU strategically elevated their rankings over the past 10-ish years. When I was applying in the '80s, it was nowhere near as competitive as it is today.
Thanks for this uplifting post. Tell us more about the merit fir NU in. It’s just federal loans that don’t apply to NU in and NU Bound? This is actually the first I’ve heard about someone getting merit to go to NU in. Didn’t know NU gave merit for it! And actually the unofficial word is that NU offers NU in to students who don’t have demonstrated need, thus they can “afford” this option more than a student who has demonstrated need
If you have read that book, you know that they all do that! How many mailings and emails do you get? So much marketing is driving the low admit rates.
Northeastern University is highly regarded for the quality of the professors and the co-op programs. I have worked for a FAANG company. We hired several NE students for co-op who later became FTEs. Students get multiple job offers when they graduate. Their alumni network is very strong. There are parents who are ready to pay even $100k in tuition after hearing the success story of the students.
Yes, USNR ranking is misleading.
Not everyone is obsessed with prestige.
Congratulations! You are the first one to post this article this year.
The gaming consisted of hiring new faculty, building new facilities and convincing USN to use the 6 year graduation rate instead of the 4 year rate due to Northeastern’s coop schedule.
Sure. Not trying to pick on them. I am sure other universities do it as well. You mention the positive gaming elements, but to be fair some of the elements were negative as well.
Such as they made SAT optional for international applicants for a while to drive applications #s up without bringing down SAT averages. Initially NU.in was conceived to not include the scores of these students in USN rankings as they would be abroad in the fall.
As I said before, most of it is history and they do not matter today.
I agree! So why not go to Umass or some other University and pay at least 50% less?
UMass is not cheap! It’s 30,000 for in state!
Wow, that’s how Pitt and Penn State are for PA residents! I thought we were the only ones!
Agree! But 30,000<75,000. Not even close. So does prestige matters or not?
My son chose between Rutgers ($30k in state) and Northeastern in 2020. Rutgers students were not on campus last year while NU made a tremendous commitment to frequent COVID testing and having an on-campus experience. I talk to a Rutgers parent and think NU has done a better job with advisors, course selection (her son had great difficulty getting classes of interest) and overall experience (i.e. a walkable campus and not having to take buses to classes or dorms). No offense to New Brunswick but Boston has a lot more to offer. I think we paid more for college and we got more. That’s not always the case, but we made financial sacrifices to give our kids a choice.
Hi thank you for the good info. From EA to got in NUin, how long for the waiting. It seems NUin is great program. do you mine share what stat of you daughter (ex, SAT, GPA …)? thanks.
That would only be the case if you are full pay.
It’s only recently that NUin students got merit or nu FA that could be used for NUin. No federal aid can be used for NUin bc you are not matriculated to NU officially until spring. Their stats still do not show up in rankings, again, bc they are not NU students in fall.
Thanks for the info. This could be a game changer for us. I told my D22 when applying to say she’d want to be in Boston on her application because we have demonstrated need. I knew federal loans would not work if she was offered NUin or NUBound. But with merit, that’s a game changer. Wish the possibility of merit being applied was on the website somewhere. I went over it several times before she applied in August.
We have always liked this programs, but we never thought they would work for us.
Silly question, if NU’s acceptance rate is 18%, that is only for Boston campus admits, correct? Does anyone know the acceptance rate for NU in and NU Bound? I think I read that 1 in 4 offered NUin accepts the offer. But I don’t know how many are offered a spot in 1 of these programs. Anyone know?
- UMASS for OOS 51$K , they do give you merit though to attract the students that could othewise go to NEU for example. However - UMASS has much less opportunities for solid internships for undergraduate. My step dtr - could not get any !internship last year through UMASS, she is a junior now at the bioengeneering program. No offers, - None. Also -UMASS in the middle of nowhere , and that is a big minus for some people. All last year they were remote.
- My niece is a sophmore at NEU- applied math /bussiness major. But she is ahead in classes , so practically junior - doing full paid internship through coop with fedelity in boston. And the pay is good she is saying. the money she earn she will use towards last year of colledge , her parents have money to pay for only 3 years at NEU. She loves the school, the people, and how they handled pandemic. No mental health issues. She met very nice group of frends. She rents of campus the apartment with few others ( its still through NEU) and loves it. Trader joes, whole foods, and plenty not exopensive helathy fast food options in a walking distance. She has nothing negative to say. She also got merit , so it brought cost to 55K …
so for the return on investment in education - I think NEU is better investment if one able to afford… of course . Umass is very competetive now also and not easy to get in … ( like their Isenbergs, or CS programs) …and its not a bad school at all !. I think at the end of the day its all matter of preference, finances and a major. Like for nursing major - umass would be great in state…
If my son gets in, I prefer he goes to NE for all of those reasons. We are in state and UMass is still close to 30,000 a year.
As others have said, it’s not about prestige. UMass is also a great school. The co-op opportunities make a huge difference.