So I just found out I got deferred EA from Northeastern. My top schools thus far have been Amherst, Williams, Midd, and Tufts…but after getting deferred from NEU (which I thought/think is less competitive) I don’t really feel like I have a shot at any of these schools.
FYI: I have a 1520 SAT, 780 Bio E and 750 Math II, and I’m valedictorian. I don’t have a ton of leadership but I have decent EC’s (sports, community service, work). I really put a lot of time into my essay, and I think my recs are decent/strong.
Northeastern seems like an odd choice compared to schools like Amherst, Williams, and Middlebury, since it is a very overtly pre-professional school with a curriculum built around co-ops, while those LACs are much less pre-professional in their curricula.
Northeastern also considers level of applicant’s interest, so if you appear “overqualified”, it may think that you are applying as if it were a “safety” and are unlikely to attend if admitted.
NEU deferred so many qualified people (take a look in the EA 2022 thread) that I really think it has to do with you being overqualified rather than your stats not being good enough. Honestly, college admissions sometimes feel a little random, but I definitely think you will get in to one of the schools you applied to (if not more). Good luck!
Do you have other schools you applied to? Just wondering if the headline is being melodramatic – if you have some more safeties or low matches, then it is. You may get into one of the other schools you listed, thiugh. But none are a slam dunk.
I am in the same boat to be honest. My stats are lower than yours but based on grades, ECs, recs, people who have gotten into NEU from my school in the past, I thought I would get in. When I was deferred I was like ???. I don’t care much for Northeastern, so probably they saw that I showed like 0 interest, so I’m not upset because I wanted to go to Northeastern. I’m upset because I thought I had it in the bag, and my GC told me I did, and I didn’t get in. I got deferred ED from Brown. I applied EDII to Tufts and I am so discouraged now; more than I was before. It just really sucks.
My oldest was accepted to Northeastern four years ago with stats that were not quite as good as yours. That being said, I agree with others that none of the schools that you have mentioned in this thread are safeties.
I wouldn’t use your deferral from NEU to gage your chances at other schools. By throwing in ED II this year, Northeastern EA results are much more of a crapshoot. It does seem as though they may be deferring a lot of “overqualified” applicants and especially being that they are relying heavily on selectivity numbers to boost their ranking and that they overaccepted last year, it seems like this year is a trial run. It’ll be interesting to see how it all turns out.
it’s getting more difficult to get into Northeastern, and BU too. They are good schools in a nice city which is desirebale for a lot of kids. Apps have gone up every year. I think a lot of schools that have gotten more popular are deferring lots and lots of kids, keeping only the cream of the crop in the EA rounds. Then they can compare you again vs the RD apps that come in. My son was deferred last year, as well as most of his friend group that applied there, but most of them eventually got in during the RD round.
You have good stats, and NEU likes that. I think you’ll get in. You’re right in that NEU isn’t as competitive as Tufts, Williams etc, but those schools are thru the roof hard. Northeastern is made a tier down, but not by much nowadays as they have been flooded with quality applicants.
@ucbalumnus@intparent@PurpleTitan my safeties are Conn College, St. Lawrence, and possibly U of R. I applied to 16 schools, so hopefully I’ll get into a few? (Colby, Amherst, Brown, Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Midd, Tufts, Penn, Vassar, Williams, Wesleyan). I would love to get in to any of those schools but I’m afraid the only other school I may get into is Conn or St. Lawrence, which are still great schools…but I’ve worked really hard the past 4 years and it’d be really nice to get into a school that I really like.
@margaret1515 I have noticed via Naviance a surprising number of rejections of highly qualified candidates. I do think that many students suffer from being too high for their “safeties” or “likely” LOL. I think it may be a bigger problem than people realize. I dont know your stats but I think schools that are on the lower end for a highly qualified applicant dont believe that these applicants will go to there school and in fact they dont.
In answer to your “Please help”: You’ve worked hard and had great results so far. Have confidence! It costs the same as panic but is much more pleasant.
Make sure you update this thread in spring with the good news!
Here’s the deal: Even guidance counselors can forget that the only places where you are guaranteed to be admitted are those where you meet the specific requirements that they post on their websites as guaranteeing admission. Open admission community college? Yup, you are in. Meet the ISU RAI? Yup, you are in at Iowa State (Go Cyclones!).
Anywhere that a team of human beings reads your application and then ranks it against other applications, there is a chance that you will be rejected. Your guidance counselor knows where students with stats like yours have been accepted in the past, and which places have never rejected students with stats like yours. But as they say in the finance pages, “past performance is no guarantee of future results”. Every year some students (and their counselors) have nasty surprises in the admissions game.
What does this mean for you as an applicant? Well, go back to your list of dead-on true safeties (as in the ISU example above), and never-rejected-someone-like-you-before-so-pretty-darn-safe institutions, and make certain that there are two or three that you would be happy to attend if everything else goes wrong. Can’t find that? Come up with a Plan B for a gap year. It really, truly is OK to recognize that you don’t like any of the truly-safe and pretty-darn-safe places and that you’d rather take some time to find a better list and try again later should you not be accepted anywhere that you really like and that is affordable for your family.
@margaret1515 Alot of this is out of your hands. Some of it isn’t. Are you: (1) requesting alumni interviews at every one of your schools that offer them? (2) opening every email you get from the schools and participating in every webinar and local info session? (3) finding relevant ways to be in touch with your admissions officer? Others on this thread may have additional ideas about how to demonstrate interest in those of your schools that like it. Beyond St. Lawrence and U of R, I would say the ‘easiest’ of your other schools are Colby and Colgate. I would make sure they know you are really interested. Can you visit and ask for interviews? Try to do an overnight? Colby and Colgate are very difficult admits but in my mind (I’ve had three kids accepted to Williams and two to Dartmouth so I know the NE LACs pretty well) those two are better odds than the rest of your match/reach list. Good luck. I believe it will work out. Valedictorians with 1500+ CAN get rejected at those two but I would bet on you being accepted at at least one.
Okay. So I think you were probably being a bit dramatic. I would make sure you regularly check the portals for all your schools (some schools see that as a sign of interest)…
My kids worried about this, too. Until that first acceptance comes, everyone does. For other applicants reading this, have a rolling admission match or safety, and an EA as well where possible. Saves a lot of stress from Jan thru March to have at least one acceptance in hand.
Your stats are good. You very likely will have more choices than your safeties, unless there is something wrong with your app. Things that can go wrong:
An essay on a topic that makes a college uncomfortable about having you on campus.
Negative or lukewarm recs
No or very limited ECs (for the types of colleges you applied to)
A very generic app for the school if they have supplemental essays about why that school.
I’m guessing you are good in those areas. So… go eat ice cream, work out, study for APs, hang out with friends, make music or art, read a book, or anything else that isn’t worrying about this. It is out of your hands. If you win some award or competition or something, email all the admissions offices with the update and tell them you are excited about being considered to attend their school. Otherwise, find something to distract yourself.
I would make sure you regularly check the portals for all your schools (some schools see that as a sign of interest)…