Rising HS senior with heart set on being a husky. Chance me!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northeastern University
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GPA: 4.0
New SAT: 1510
SAT Math II: 710
SAT Chemistry: 700
Calculus AB AP (4), Chemistry AP (4)

Senior Year Courseload:
Statistics AP, Calculus BC AP, Computer Science Honors, English Honors, Psychology AP, Physics AP, Philosophy Honors

Extra-curriculars:
Three great leadership positions, plenty of community service. Committed myself to one school organization for my entire 4 years that really stands out.

I’m a white gay male, if those things mean anything.

I promised myself I wouldn’t fall in love with any one school, yet here we are. I really want to get into Northeastern University. They actually invited me to an invite-only overnight stay for me and my family for free. I think that means they want me, too. I think I’m interested in Computer Science the most, but they seem to be pushing me into an information session for the College of Engineering instead.

I also have high hopes to get a merit scholarship. Do you think my best bet is to apply to the College of Engineering instead of the College of Computer Science and Informatics? Would that have any bearing on how much merit money I might receive? And what are my chances overall?

And, given that NEU doesn’t have its own essay on the CA, I feel like the only way to tell them that I really want to be a husky is to apply early decision. I also really want to know if I’m in as soon as possible. If you guys convince me otherwise, I’ll just apply EA.

(Financially, my family’s EFC is in a doable range, might have to take out some loans, nothing too bad. If the CB official NEU calculator is accurate, and I get a ~10k/year merit, then I’ll be very comfortable.)

Thanks for taking the time for me, CC. I hope I’m doing this right. I’ll be checking back here a lot to respond as much as possible. Thank you!

(Reposted from ChanceMe, as suggested.)

2

Forgot to mention this.

New SAT breakdown: 760 Math, 750 CR. Essay: R6 A5 W6

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You should be more than fine, man.

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How did you do so well in your SAT? How did you prep? I’m a rising senior trying to get into Northeastern as well but my one problem is my SAT. I got a 1200 and plan to retake it.

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AMAZING!! Good luck :slight_smile:

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Thanks to everyone for the kind words!

I still am looking for an answer to my questions about merit money.

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The first time I took the SATs, without any actual studying, I got the equivalent of a 1380.

Materials:

  1. The official College Board New SAT book
  2. The official College Board daily question app
  3. The official Khan Academy website

Notice how I said “the official”. The CB wants to take your money, and unfortunately, you have to give it to them. All of the CB questions have a certain rhythm to them that other companies just can’t synthesize. If you practice with these enough (and I mean seriously practice), then you’ll be able to predict not only the correct answer, but also the incorrect multiple choice answers before you even finish the question. But if you practice with unofficial materials, that special “rhythm” just isn’t there, and you’ll be studying for the Barron’s exam, not the College Board’s.

That goes for both math and CR sections. I spent at least four hours a day, seven days a week, for five weeks just to boost my score by effectively 100 points. Set aside as much time as you think your favorite college is worth.

• You have to master close reading. Don’t fall for those tricks, like “only read the first paragraph!” and such. You must be able to closely and rapidly read. Trust me: I was neither of those things. But reading CB passages every day for months, then reading the questions and answers, made me a master close reader.

• You have to look at the nitty-gritty math skills. There’s some weird investment and logic lingo that they don’t teach you in high school. They only teach you it in the official CB study book. Sink $20 and hundreds of hours into that thing. Now.

• You have to take practice test after practice test. Then read the answers. Why did you get it wrong? Why? Really read the reasons that the CB states for why an answer is wrong. Again, there’s a hidden rhyme and reason behind every question that you’ll be able to pick up on if you work at it long enough.

Spend all you have on your SAT scores. Do you want to get into NEU, or wherever? Another club activity won’t do anything near as much as if you were to spend that time cramming for this stupid exam.

Yes, I gave up two different activities just to get a 1510 on the SATs. I probably have one less friend because of being a shut-in. But colleges aren’t ranked by how many of their students did mission trips, or Habitat for Humanity. They’re ranked by cold, hard numbers. SATs and ACTs. So stop enjoying yourself for a month or two, and boost your score.

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In regards to Merit from Northeastern University, they give out scholarships to their top applicants. The top 15% recieve some merit aid, and the best of the best recieve a full tuition scholarship.

Those who recieve a partial scholarship are invited into the honors program. This program has benefits that extend beyond the scholarship money that include academic resources, co op resources, connections to assist in outside projects, etc. Link:
http://www.northeastern.edu/honors/

Those who recieve the full tuition scholarship are invited to both the honors program and the Northeastern University Scholars Program. Only 75 students recieve this. Link:
http://www.northeastern.edu/universityscholars/

It never hurts to look for scholarships outside the college either. A lot of merit and prestigous scholarships exist on both a local and national level.

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Hey, there are lots of schools where you can be a husky (or a huskie!)

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MN, I want to be in Northeastern, and no other school. Even if their dog mascot is cute :wink:

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Dangppp, I know those things already. My question is, am I top 15% material?

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A few things:

  1. If you're interested in CS, go to those specific info sessions - while personal recruitment is somewhat accurate, you know better when it comes to your own interests.
  2. DO NOT apply ED because you want to show you're interested in NEU - do it only if it is your #1 school no matter what. Northeastern should be a very comfortable match - apply EA for sure, but make sure its your true #1 before doing ED.

I also have high hopes to get a merit scholarship. Do you think my best bet is to apply to the College of Engineering instead of the College of Computer Science and Informatics? Would that have any bearing on how much merit money I might receive? And what are my chances overall?

  1. Merit is not given out by colleges, though it is suspected that honors is assigned by the colleges. No college has a higher or lower admit rate according to Northeastern - they don't admit by major or publish numbers for each college - apply to the college you're interested in. You can get honors only or merit only - they don't go together.
  2. You should be competitive for both merit and honors, but no guarantees of course. They honors/scholars program is also seeing an organizational change which will hopefully be announced soon. Keep you ear to the ground on that one.
  3. I'm a current CS student and TA for the intro class here - personally, I think that the way CS is taught here is incredibly unique and the whole program is very solid. I'll spare too many details but if you have any specific CS questions, feel free to PM me!
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Does NEU stack merit and exceed EFC?

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ClarinetDad, I don’t have a source, but maybe someone can back me up on this: no.

From what I’ve read: Say you get the $16,000 ABC merit scholarship, and the $30,000 XYZ merit scholarship. You can only select one.

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I don’t believe NEU stacks merit on top of FA - that is important to consider as well. At this point, it sounds like it would be hard to know exactly the financial situation until you got a package back. NPC’s can vary in accuracy across the board, in both directions.

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@coterie

What you are talking about is merit stacking, and you are correct there. What clarinetdad means is stacking aid and merit - you assumed that in your first post - if you got a 10K scholarship, your financial aid would go down accordingly and the EFC would still be the same.

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According to the NPC:

“The estimated net cost does not include merit-based scholarships. Northeastern University offers several merit-based scholarship programs, ranging from $5,000 to full tuition annually.”

This wording makes me think that merit and financial aid are stacked. I will ask this question when I go for another info session in two weeks.

@PengsPhils @ClarinetDad16

Edit: TomSrOfBoston seems to know what he’s talking about, so disregard this comment, I guess.

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If your need is say $35,000/year and you receive a $20,000 merit award (Dean’s scholarship) then you may receive a $10,000 need based grant and a $5000 federal loan. In that case merit and need grants will be stacked.

If your need is $20,000 and you receive a $20,000 merit award you would not receive an additional need based grant.

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Can confirm as a student, received different merit awards that were less than my need; the difference was then made up with additional grants, loans, WS.

It is still definitely to your advantage to receive a merit scholarship over financial aid though; like grants, they are free money (grants can be included in a FA package, but Stafford loans almost always are first).

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If your need was $35,000 a year and NEU met it…

They typically would build a package between:
Loans
Work Study
Grants

If then that student qualified for merit aid from the university:
First they remove the loan
Next they remove the work study
And then reduce the grant
To add in the merit award
The total is the same overall of the package above

A stacked award would mean the merit not only removed loans and work study but makes it so need is not only met, it is exceeded.