Thank you again 
They seem to imply that they are restructuring the honors program, so I will go straight to the source to ask these questions.
I am editing the post, because I remember the letter did have some details about the program:
One-of-a-kind, interdisciplinary courses and experiences with a small student-to-faculty ratio
Dedicated opportunities for faculty-mentored research and creative endeavors with funding available Honors
Living Learning Communities that engage various themes
Honors advising tailored to high-achieving students
Global learning opportunities tied to your Honors experience and funding to support them
Mentoring from a vibrant network of Honors alumni who are invested in your future.
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They seem to say that Honors is the top 10-15% of students but no criteria are posted. My sense is that it is by college/program as well so that they Honors program is balanced. The perks for Honors is usually updated every other year or so, and if offered in admissions, they usually list the perks in the letter. Otherwise it is on their website. There is honors housing the first year an you have access to honors level courses for some classes (smaller classes, not necessarily more work.) Each year they tend to switch up what they offer in terms of scholarships for global coops/DOC and other global opportunities, etc. Not all students complete the honors program (it is not listed on your diploma like latin honors that are open to all.) Like others have said, it is not a big deal for most students of who is in honors and not.
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I have a current first-year at Northeastern who was given a $12k/year Deansās scholarship but didnāt get into honors as an accepted student. After earning all As during their first semester in Boston my student applied for the honors program (which required an essay and a professor recommendation as well as the submission of grades) and was accepted over the recent winter break. Iām not sure what the draw was, since they donāt necessarily want to live in EV next year and I believe will not qualify for funding for international study (DoC). But I think thereās a better chance of getting funding to do research for a professor, and itāll look good on the resume for internships and co-ops.
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Yes, they do offer some additional access for research and some research funding. There is also sophomore honors housing on a limited basis, but all students in an apt need to be honors. This usually limits how many want honors housing bc they tend to mix up with other friends after frosh year. Nice for your D to seek that out for whatever her interest is!
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We made a pdf of the letter as soon as it arrived just in case. Maybe they are considering her for the Boston campus also?
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Just to add, there is money to cover DOC fees, airfare, etc for a Dialogue of Civilizations the summer after first year.
The first year honors dorm has been an amazing experience for my shy and somewhat nerdy kid to find a large group of her people. The set up of the dorm with large centrally located lounges on most floors is great for connecting with people and being passively social.
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Great to hear. Those Dialogues are amazing! My son found his people in his freshman dorm in 2020, when there were no social events. Lots of nice, smart kids.
We did the pre-read too (very grateful they offered that!) and it came out to about $33K COA. This is a great price for NU but we are aiming for closer to $25K COA and already have a few offers under $20K. So we could not do ED as we needed to assess all our options in the final month.
My son was deferred to regular decision from NU. I was just wondering if your financial pre-read was exactly the offer your received or a bit higher or lower? If my son gets accepted at the COA of $33K we will still consider it (and might be able to justify it since itās his top choice) but needed the opportunity to bargain shop.
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It was very close. The aid amount was actually higher, but I think that was on account of the tuition increase from this year to next. So if anything, it was better, definitely not worse.
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Portal Question for Applicants Deferred from EA to RD:
In the āYour Application Detailsā box on the right side, does your āStatusā indicate āDecidedā? Last week it read āAwaiting Decisionā
What does this mean?
Yes my sonās now says ādecidedā-not sure what that means but nothing has made sense in this process. Lol.
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Thatās very helpful to know. Thank you!
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I do not care for such sneaky practices. NU placing students into other programs to keep their acceptance rate down should be against the Federal governmentās reporting standards.
If I had my way, 23 would not have wasted time applying to NU.
University of Chicago does something similar, and I strongly urged 23 not to apply. I canāt think itās a good school and donāt understand why others do when they send so much marketing mail to unqualified students whose families think the junk mail means their kid has a chance. Thatās taking advantage of naive people.
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Thank you. I donāt believe they are, but I was able to find it. I appreciate the reply!
Blockquote
I do not care for such sneaky practices. NU placing students into other programs to keep their acceptance rate down should be against the Federal governmentās reporting standards.
I understand your position, but I would just urge you to be open to the idea that there are other factors at play besides a school trying to work itās way up the rankings by rejecting the majority of applicants.
I have no allegiance to NU and Iām not sure if my son will go there (full disclosure, he was offered NU.in) but when we attended a tour over the summer, they were very open about NU.in and talked about it quite a bit. When he applied, we talked about how it might mean heās rejected if he says Boston only. He didnāt get Boston but now is strongly considering going abroad first and then attending.
So I never saw it as any sort of deceptive practice. Numerous examples of similar programs at other schools have been mentioned - you even brought up UChicago - and many of them have been around 2 decades. Same son was also offered an Arts & Science pathway at GaTechā¦ which doesnāt count against their '23 acceptance numbers. I donāt think GaTechās crazy low OOS application and acceptance numbers have anything to do with that program or similar ones they offer.
Long way of sayingā¦ I think Northeastern has completely transformed over the past 2 decades and has built a unique education experience and itās numbers were climbing out of all of that. Then COVID and Test Optional and some savvy marketing and great feedback from alums has vaulted them into a bit of a moment.
Just another way of thinking about itā¦
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What is DCF Supporting - parent, guardian, personal, individual, etc. on the portal now, in the Upload materials section? How would you complete or submit it? This is on a deferred studentās portal now.
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Yea. Decision was made to defer. April 1 now listed as decision date instead of Feb. 1
I donāt think Northeastern is doing anything shady or sneaky. They simply cannot accept most people who apply.
Of course they want their acceptance rate % to be low, itās what every school wants. But itās the 96,000 people applying that are sending the rate down. They only have so many spots on campus, so much housing, so many professors. They have to be careful not to over-enroll. So many schools have done that in the last few years and itās a mess.
They need to accept people who they think will come to NU!
I was kind of bummed my son got N.U.in but heās the one who checked the box, and heās happy to have been admitted.
Accepting students to Oakland or London who did not express an interest in those campuses is a major bummer though. We had a student who thought sheād been admitted to Boston for the past week, and just recently realized it was Oakland.
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100% with @kombucha22.
If all NEU is doing is assign students to different campuses due to supposedly student interests and the cynical deferral of top students in an open EA round, and if the intention is real, then all stats should be reported for CDS. But I wont blame NEU and others for gaming the system to look elite. CDS should tighten the standards or the data is more misleading than it is helping consumers.
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