Interesting rebuttal by the school. I can’t read the globe article because you have to pay to see it. https://news.northeastern.edu/2019/04/08/northeastern-university-responds-to-misleading-boston-globe-ideas-story-by-max-kutner/
When I read the Max Kutner piece in the Boston Globe Sunday I said…well, I’d get banned from CC if I posted that here.
Nice graphics.
Purely my opinion folks:
I love Boston but this is what a lot of Bostonians think about the any upstart (Northeastern, BC, and BU) that used to be less selective. From my experience having lived and worked there for 8 years, I can imagine a lot of nodding of heads amongst the readers of the article. THAT’S why the Globe printed it. This type of article has an audience. For all of Boston’s great traits, it is pretty tribal and has an element of pettiness. And the Boston Globe is certainly not immune from that.
To me, the most interesting highlight of this was Northeastern stating that the average SAT of NU.in students is over 1400, the first stat I think we have seen on this ever officially released. Second to that is the surprise Northeastern even responded to the article at all. Beyond that, the article was really just a negative spin on top of the original Boston Magazine article with the added alumni in the current scandal trying to tie Northeastern into that somehow.
My DD & I recently toured NU and other Boston schools. She noted that NU seemed “just to be selling the school” instead of talking about what they are looking for in an applicant and how you would fit in their community. She told us she felt as though they just wanted applications and were pushing the 1st semester abroad, When a 16-year-old can see that a college is just trying to get as many applicants as possible there must be something to it!
Thanks for the link! I appreciate this rebuttal, mostly for the information gleaned.
@Cof22mom Many other prestigious schools send kids abroad or down the road. Two that come to mind are BU with their CGS Boston London Program and Notre Dame with Holy Cross Gateway Program. Northeastern gives the student the option to say " no" to going abroad on the common app. It gives kids that really want to attend the opportunity to do so in a non-traditional way. That said, all the colleges play their little games. Haven’t seen one yet that didn’t.
Agree @MsGamora … just thought it was an interesting and timely observation given the original post.
I think Northeastern is an amazing school and may have been a top contender for my son if he hadn’t gotten in ED elsewhere but I 100% think that NEU is gaming the rankings with the NuIn program. Doesn’t mean those students aren’t amazing as well or that NuIn isn’t a great program but the kids who get in here from our school anyways definitely have lower stats.
D. applied to NEU after a campus tour even though it’s quite different from every other college she applied to. The gaming may be a contributing factor, but I think it attracts so many students because there aren’t many other colleges like it—pre-professional, buzzing, impressive campus in downtown Boston, has a PPE major that D liked. She was accepted with merit and great financial aid (lower than NPC estimate, and we are Pell eligible). She will not be attending though. Would have been a great fit for S though who is very entrepreneurial, but was denied (with fantastic ECs, but much lower stats).
“I love Boston but this is what a lot of Bostonians think about the any upstart (Northeastern, BC, and BU) that used to be less selective. From my experience having lived and worked there for 8 years, I can imagine a lot of nodding of heads amongst the readers of the article. THAT’S why the Globe printed it. This type of article has an audience. For all of Boston’s great traits, it is pretty tribal and has an element of pettiness. And the Boston Globe is certainly not immune from that.”
So so true! It comes from the fact that alot of people in the Boston area grew up in the area and their parents grew up in the area. And it’s like “I knew you when you were nobody in a crappy neighborhood. And you are a pretender.” The actual good schools are the classics - Harvard, MIT, etc.
How many students participate in the NU in London program? I know another private U that sends about 20 overseas for the first semester but not hundreds. The key is the first year attrition and what NU can fill with students “on hold.” Public U’s in Texas send kids to system schools for a year and require a 3.0 GPA. They fill up attrition in that manner.
So, does NU boost attendance in spring of freshman year or simply replace the attrition?
Northeastern has a freshman retention rate of 97%, so if the freshman class is 2800, that means 85 kids are not back as sophomores. My understanding is on college campuses in general, more students are likely to study abroad in Spring semesters (rather than Fall). That probably explains how NUIN can exist on campus space-wise.
Both NEU and BU take smaller classes that why they can fit those off campus programs… If you simply research you will find out that both used to take a class of 4000 but now BU takes 3100 and NEU even less… nothing has changed on campus… same goes with USC they take a huge transfer class of something like 1700
Northeastern hasn’t taken a class size of 4,000 in decades. I started at NU in 2005 and they were taking 2800 then too. BU has been reducing their class size by a 100 a year. I didnt know they were down to 3100 now, thats quite a reduction
@swimchris BU now admits all 600 CGS students in January in Boston and then sends them to London the following summer.
@swimchris their ranking did not shift in 5 years they’ve been playing this game for more than a decade… in 1992 northeastern accepted everyone and BU was at 85. All this gaming is thanks to the common app and they playing around… BU had less applicants to they dropped the CGS class making them look selective… same goes with NEU and this Nuin program… those accepted to those programs are considered rejected by NEU and Bu for the fall
Just look at Penn State and Michigan state after they joined the common app this year… both had huge jumps in applicants
College admissions has changed in a lot of ways since the 1980’s and early 90’s. Students have access to more information now. We have more inequality and people see prestige of college as a way to be on the right side of that. Students and families should apply to many colleges so that they can shop around for fit and reduce debt-loads. Increase in international students attending US colleges. Common Application has certainly been an important factor in all of this. US News ranking college has too.
We all know that spring admits don’t count towards numbers reported on Common Data Sets/US News. It is written 10,000 times on this forum. What is your point? That a school couldn’t have substantially changed over a 30 year period (I disagree)? That admissions statistics should all be thrown out because they are worthless (mostly disagree)? That the Common App has been bad for higher ed (worthwhile opinions on both sides)?
Northeastern cut their class size to 2800 in 1996 and it has been there for the last 23 years. The idea that nothing has changed on campus is wrong.
@tristatecoog @swimchris NU.in’s large size is replacing large amounts of seniors that graduate in the Fall given the co-op program and nontraditional schedules that result. As mentioned, the freshman retention rate is one of the highest in the US.
While NU.in is absolutely a part of the rankings game, it also fills a unique gap that is not present at many schools with similar freshman entry programs, allowing for the program to be larger.