To what?
@llegeacceptanc No point to this at all, LOL Just seeing how far ClarinetDad16 will go to prove whatever point he is trying to prove. This is one of many unresolvable debates that occur on CC, Just make some popcorn and enjoy!
Just weird how Clarinetguy has such an ax to grind with NEU.
Emory does not post CDS since they were caught cheating,
I just finished reading through this thread.
Although @ClarinetDad16 is a bit rash with his comments, I also saw some of this with the other comments, such as @wave100, a little bit with @anotherparent22, and even some rash emotion coming out of Tom’s comments.
Awesome thread, and a good, relatively comprehensive review of Northeastern’s ranking struggles that I’ll link to in the future
Let’s not reward any school, or celebrate those that game the system, or worse yet - cheat.
Personally those are not the values I believe in or teach my kids.
It’s easy to see trends when you keep your eyes open to the numbers.
Another example go to the government’s site (college navigator).
Look at what % of each college’s enrolled students submitted test scores.
Northeastern is at 48% SAT. (36% ACT). There is a big gap there from 100%…
BU at 81% SAT (34% ACT)
Tufts 58% SAT (42% ACT)
Drexel 88% SAT (29% ACT)
american 63% SAT (37% ACT)
harvard 83% (35% ACT)
Emory 70% SAT (44% ACT)
Seems Northeastern has different rules than the others.
Yes, Northeastern does have a different rule: international applicants do not submit test scores, as has been mentioned several times before in this thread. If you exclude the +/-17% of enrolled international students the figures are comparable to most of the schools that you list.
Again, all of this is pretty meaningless when it comes to the school itself, what it has to offer, and the clear general trend of Northeastern.
How does any of this relate in any way to the school’s quality and offerings of great academics, research opportunities and professional services?
You can dislike how NEU got to where it is, but it does nothing to change the actual quality of the school. As people have said now for the 5th or 6th time, the positive feedback loop has made significant, real improvements to the school.
Over the course of NEU’s rise, it has built many new facilities, offered significantly more financial aid and scholarship, decreased class sizes, hired many more new professors, and better ones, and the school started to get more donations (see the business school). All of this is blatantly stated, even with graphics, in the article. What of all that doesn’t make it a better school?
NU.in didn’t exist until 2007. The international SAT requirement was dropped in 2010. At those points, NEU had already risen over 50 and nearly 100 spots respectively since 1996. Since both of those, it has risen less than 30. So, which part again is false about NEU’s drastic improvement?
IMO, Northeastern “gamed” the rankings mostly by actually becoming a better school. They just focused on areas the rankings cared about while they did. NU.in and the international SAT policy aren’t very unusual these days, as already shown. Why aren’t you on Emory’s case, who literally got caught cheating, while Northeastern is transparent with their policies?
Also remember when looking at those SAT scores that international students tend to score low on the SAT due to language differences. Given that Northeastern has something like 1/6 of its population from out of country, the SAT scores are misleadingly low.
Everyone says Northeastern gamed the system like they’re cheating. They spent a lot of money and attracted a lot of very high quality students, and the coop program is much more than a gimmick and will continue to attract a quality caliber of students.
Forbes’ rankings are ridiculous- College of William and Mary ranked higher than the ivies? Please. That should be the first hint that they aren’t very reliable.
@DSBarg at the other schools all enrolled students report SAT scores. NEU excludes international test takers, so the opposite is the case - the reported university test scores are artificially inflated. (And they also exclude an even larger group NUin as they push them overseas in the fall so they are spring admits? And their test scores don’t count)
NU moving up in the college food rankings.
http://www.thedailymeal.com/best-colleges-food-america
Is it possible to game the food rankings Cdad?
@wave100 sounds like they used a similar strategy to improve their food ranking. Do you think they hired better chefs or bought better ingredients?
The 25 Most Amazing Campus Student Recreation Centers
pump it up NU.
http://www.bestcollegereviews.org/features/the-25-most-amazing-campus-student-recreation-centers/
The 48 best colleges in the Northeast
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-colleges-in-the-northeast-2015-7
Looks like NEU dropped from 42 to 47 for 2016:
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/northeastern-university-2199
wow. very ironic considering everyone was hyping northeastern to go up in rankings (as in rank lower). tbh i was expecting BU to go down (as in get a worser ranking) but it stayed the same. lehigh’s drop was surprising… tulane going to 41 however was a little expected from me tbh. but srsly us news. 6 schools at #41 ranking. srsly?
just goes to show how much of a grain of salt one should take with these rankings
Clearly US News is just sad that I left. 
I posted in this thread on 6/29/2015
Tied for 50, and a slight decrease could have been in that scramble tied for 60.
It’s all kind of silly, but people care about it,.,
Holy traffic jam at 85 Batman!!
I can’t say it is all silly bc my BA school just cracked 200:). So there MUST be something to it…now I can finally succeed in life!! Lol!
I’m actually happy about it. This is my son’s top choice (so far) and it seems to be a great fit - with the exception of cost. Hopefully less “Ivy backup” kids will apply freeing up some merit money for my kid!
The improvements the school has made over the years to affect the rankings are still there- and I’m sure that won’t change. Its still a great school in my mind - but maybe others will turn their nose down at it and apply to only top 30 schools.