Yeah thats the case. Im surprised you weren’t aware of that before applications were due. You aren’t guaranteed acceptance obviously, but your application won’t be hurt because you didn’t submit.
My D to accepted ED and he high school still has to send in her 1st and 2nd quarter grades and then her final grades.
Thanks for all your postings- you seem to have a good handle on the admissions. My son has applied ED2–strong grades (about a 4.4–7 APs through junior year and another 5 this year; almost all As with 2 A- and maybe a B+?) he submitted his ACT score (33); nothing extraordinary in ECs (standard clubs/activities). Applying to college of arts and media…or maybe the college of humanities and social sciences? I can’t remember…
Sorry - pressed enter too soon- do you think he has a shot at ED2?
So I’ll breakdown his chance into a few categories: grades, extracurriculars, essays/letters of recommendation, extra work, and uncontrollable circumstances.
Grades: His GPA is solid, 4.4 is a great GPA and is above the 50th percentile which is around 4.2. GPA alone doesn’t decide if someone gets in, though. Instead, GPA gets you into the discussion. If you are an applicant with a 3.7 weighted and 3.4 unweighted, for example, you are unfortunately not in the discussion for admission unless you have some extenuating circumstances. Your son is in the discussion. His ACT score is also solid. Northeastern 50th percentile is around 32/33, so he is good there. I would say that solely looking at grades, your son is a contender. I don’t know what his AP test scores were, and I don’t know if you submitted, but these can also heavily impact your application. Northeastern will only accept 4’s and 5’s on AP tests.
Extracurriculars: You may fall a little short here. As SAT and ACT scores decrease in weight in college applications, other categories increase in value, and extracurriculars is at the forefront of that. Better applications are made by those who show strong leadership in extracurriculars, made an impact in some way, had community service that wasn’t solely for the service hours but instead was for interest and growth. Standard clubs like key club, the math team, etc. are good but they don’t show a strong applicant. I don’t know necessarily which clubs your son was in, nor what his intended major is, so I can’t be certain, but what I do know is that people who are in clubs/organizations in high school that are similar to their intended major/intended career do better in admissions. There are two ways to show if your extracurriculars are strong: one is to have a really well-rounded application, meaning you are - for example - in the jazz band, play varsity lacrosse, and are in science olympiad. With a well-rounded application, colleges appreciate your diverse interests. Another way is to show a spike. A spike is usually an extracurricular or couple extracurriculars in which a student excelled at. These could include being the president of your school’s speech and debate team, competing on the national circuit, and winning various awards.
Essays and Letters of Rec: I don’t know what your son wrote in his essays, nor what his letters of rec look like, but these are a big factor in applications. They can make or break a student’s chance to get in, and they are the best category for a college to understand who you are and what your goals are.
Extra work: Extra work involves a few different categories. These are: Letters of continued interest (LOCI), communication and connection building with admissions officer, and any other ways to further show your interest in Northeastern. You can write to your admissions officer introducing yourself, asking them questions, maybe set up a zoom Q&A meeting. You can submit additional documents that could be from extracurriculars you were involved in or additional letters of recommendation. Anything that is not asked for on the common application that you can do.
Uncontrollable circumstances: These are categories that you have no control over but still affect your admissions chances. Your race, religion, gender, income, legacy status, town you grew up in, high school you went to, high school course offerings, etc. These all affect your chances, and unfortunately, I don’t know what your son looks like here.
Northeastern had over 90k applications this year, and on average, each application is read and reviewed for only about 15 minutes. In order to stand out in applications, you should strive to improve everything you can.
For reference, I was admitted ED2 last year, and this was my application:
White, male, from suburban NJ: applied for History and Political Science Combined Major, PreLaw track, planned career as corporate attorney
Grades:
- 8 AP’s throughout high school, 9 honors classes as well: submitted 2 5’s and a 4 pre-application, as well as 2 5’s after admission
- High Honor Roll all 4 years of high school
- 4.1 weighted GPA, 3.7 unweighted GPA
- Did not submit SAT/ACT score
Extracurriculars:
- Eagle Scout, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader of Boy Scout Troop
- Two years on Boy Scout Camp Staff
- Two years as Vice President of Northern New Jersey’s National Scout Honor Society
- Vice President of high school Chinese Honor Society
- President of high school Mock Trial team, member for four years
- Boys State representative for my high school in junior and senior years
- Two years in high school jazz band
- Freshman year played on baseball team
- Worked a retail job throughout senior year of high school
- Speech and debate for two years
- Member of Rho Kappa social studies Honor Society, Tri-M music honor society, National honor society, english honor society
Essays/Letters of Recommendation:
- Common Application Essay: 7/10, wrote about struggling as a leader at boy scout camp staff after attending the camp for several years as a camper, how I learned to successfully lead from failure
- Letters of Rec: 8/10 and 8.5/10, APUSH and AP US Government teachers loved me as a student, AP US Gov teacher recommended me for boys state
- Counselor letter of rec: 7/10, my counselor liked me and I had a good relationship with her after struggling my freshman year
Extra Work:
- Additional essay: I wrote a second essay about my time as vice president of national scout honor society, basically explained the role and what I accomplished
- Supplementary essay: even though NU does not require a supplementary essay, I wrote one about my interests at Northeastern, why I wanted to go, what classes I wanted to take, as well as what clubs I was interested in
- I submitted my eagle scout project report which detailed everything about my eagle project, including the fundraising, completion, and impact of the project, completed during my senior year of high school
- I developed a strong relationship with my admissions officer by emailing him questions, asking what else I could submit for my application, and set up a zoom Q&A to ask more questions (basically an interview without the worry of failing)
Circumstances:
- Not a legacy
- I am a twin whose sister also applied to college (different ones) same year as me
I believe that the ways I stood out to admissions were my continued interest in the school, my extracurriculars (having both a spike and a well-rounded application), as well as my communication with my admissions officer. My grades weren’t stellar, but I made up for it in other categories.
I think your son has a decent chance, but there is always more he can do to try and get in.
Good luck!
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Excellent. Congrats to you, very well done on your application strategy.
Thanks! I think that the way to excel in college applications is to just be genuine and show your interest in schools you apply to. Colleges dont want to admit people who aren’t going to put in all the effort they can at their school.
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I can say my D22 has not done the following up that you have. Perhaps she will if deferred, but perhaps not. Really depends on how her other decisions pan out. But you have shown excellence in truly doing everything that is in your power to do. The rest you can’t control. I’m glad you were accepted. Hope you got a nice financial package as well for those extra curriculars!
I have a question for you chipaway . If my D22 is deferred, should she submit her 32 in the RD round? She went test optional in EA.
When do we think EA decisions will be out?
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Wed., Jan. 26th - based on what others who know Northeastern better than me have posted in this thread.
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Super helpful–thank you! I think he was hoping that his visit last spring plus ED2 would be enough demonstrated interest but I’ll encourage him to put in some additional effort.
Out of curiosity, not being a legacy is obviously a factor for most colleges but how might having a twin sister matter?
FWIW, DS is not an underrepresented minority and not a legacy…all obviously not helpful. He is full pay–does that matter at all? Definitely glad he applied ED2 as I’m thinking that is the only way he’ll get in…
Thanks! My financial aid package was alright, it was all need-based aid because my parents aren’t exactly in the position to pay 100k+ a year for two kids to go to college (lol) but it worked out. Im fortunate enough to be able to go to this school.
You still have time to try and do these things, but I wish you luck nonetheless!
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I would say that a 32 wouldn’t hurt, and its never bad to submit test scores that are within their range.
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Being a twin can affect my decision because it affects my financial aid package, which, even though they say won’t affect their decision, definitely will in some way. It also affects it because colleges will take into account how many siblings you have. I have a friend who is the youngest of 6 girls, and she believes that part of her acceptance is the fact that she was the last to go to college, had the best grades out of them, even with a lot against her. Everything about you can affect college admissions.
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My son also has a twin sister. We have six kids–four will be in college next fall. We didn’t let any of ours apply ED because it’s all about the financials. My son’s dream school is NEU, but the only way he can attend is if he gets aid. We have saved for all our kids, and his twin sister asked us that if she goes to our state school, can he have the rest of her savings to pay for NEU. We’re just hoping he gets in and that there’s some way we can make it work. He applied EA (GPA 3.97 unweighted/35 ACT but not a lot of leadership or clubs) His sister was admitted in 2020 but merit aid was only $13,000 and to NUin, so it was not at all possible for us to swing that.
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very late but chance me!
Applied EA with
4.6 W/3.94 UW
35 [ACT]
pretty strong ECs (with leadership) and essays
Studio Arts Major
(OOS, Private high school in OC, CA)
I just wanted to get a feel for what I should expect!
Thanks in advance!!
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I would take a look at some of my suggestions here, but specifically for you, great grades and ACT score, don’t know exactly what your EC’s and essays are but if you believe they are solid thats good, but unfortunately one thing against you is that you applied EA. About 50k people applied EA to NU this year, and it is likely that NU will accept only around 6-7k because EA has a very low yield rate. For reference, about 2.7k people applied ED and around 1.5k applied ED2. Of the 2.7k, about 1-1.25k were accepted, and ED2 will probably see about 600-700 accepted. That’s already around 50% of the entering class, so it is likely that EA will have an acceptance rate around 11-13%, and it could even be lower. I wish you luck nonetheless!
sorry just saw this - yes it was immediately updated. she had to scurry over xmas break - as deadline was 1/1 and she had not had her counselor sign - she contacted a contact we have at NU and they helped get it confirmed on their side. Good luck to us all!