@crepes Probably not a bad relationship but rather an oversaturation - they want geographic diversity, and a top school in the northeast is a common applicant type. If there are many applicants to give you all this data (and thus a decent number of acceptances per year), and BC (with a similar admit profile) follows the same trend, I suspect that’s the likely reason for both.
UMass Amherst. Not in, or next to, a city, but nevertheless a very vibrant area. Excellent business programs but much else to offer if he changes his mind.
Is admission to Northeastern’s undergrad business program more difficult than to its other schools, like it is (or is long rumored to be) for BC? I’m not seeing any separate data but it’s quite possible I’m not looking at the right website pages.
How about Lehigh? Great business school. Only 90 minutes from NYC, closer to Philly, cool college town, VERY STRONG ALUMNI. If he’s competitive for Villanova and W&M, he’ll be competitive for Lehigh. Our son loved it but decided on Wake Forest (which I highly recommend but virtually no merit - think BC). Also, FWIW, stunningly beautiful campus and strong school spirit!
@evergreen5 Northeastern claims there is no admission by major, and there are no stats on anything beyond general admit rate. Of course there are likely different rates to some extent, but it’s hard to say how much effect they have.
On the flip side, changing majors/schools is so easy here (flexibility is important being a co-op school) that it would make sense to avoid the admit by major. You can change your major between getting admitted and Fall semester with no problems at all. The number of CS majors has been growing as well, not staying stagnant, signaling an increase of competitive CS applicants. My bet is that they more or less ignore admit by major, pick a class of admits + X, and if there are too many of Y major, cut a few of those and add the tail end in other areas. Also hard to say how all of that fits together with yield as Northeastern is such a common application for ivy hopefuls and the like. I’m inclined to think that major is overall a very small factor in admission based on that mostly anecdotal experience.
@Crepes I have no firsthand knowledge but Northeastern might have a but if the “Tufts syndrome” type of yield protection where they may reject or defer over-qualified applicants who have shown no interest in the school as they think are simply using the school as a safety and would not attend if accepted.
I’ll throw out Rowan. It’s about 20 minutes or so outside of Philly.
I believe they just got a donation to their business school to support scholarships for business students who want to be in the honors program.
Their new business building opened this year.
It couldn’t hurt to check it out.
Hello, I am a current business student at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, which is just 2 hours away (by train) from New York City. I’m studying International Business and Economics here, and our strongest business programs are in finance and accounting. We’re definitely a smaller school, private, liberal arts institution that used to be affiliated with the Catholic church. We are a test optional school and really value a student’s extra curricular activities as much as their accomplishments in the classroom. Many of our students intern in the city, and quite a few get hired to work down in the financial district post-graduation. Here at the college we have Bloomberg terminals for our student use, professors with years of experience in their fields, business competitions, and many other projects and opportunities to diversify our portfolios. We also have great study abroad options, as I was able to study at one of the top business schools in Germany, the ESB Business School of Reutlingen University. Most of our students live on campus and we have a really great community. There is always something to do here on campus or in the historic Hudson River Valley. Our tuition bill falls right in your price range, and I think this school may be a good fit! We have another round of applications due February 1st. Learn more about us here: http://www.marist.edu/admission/visiting.html
Can’t speak to NEU but BC and BU merit are very unrealistic.
BC: only offers Merit in the form of a full tuition scholarship that they limit to roughly 20 incoming students per yr. Think of these as the Harvard candidates they are able to pluck away with money. They do meet 100% of need so that’s where the aid is going.
BU: Yes they offer merit to a pretty decent percentage (like 5 or 6 percent). S actually applied there as a “safety” thinking he would easily get at least 10k or something to make cost more doable (we qualify for zero need). Last yr was their most competitive admission class due to a massive applicant pool (60k). He applied RD and did get in but without any merit (3.95 UW / 6.0 W, all AP and honors, 1420 new SAT, class president, 4 yr varsity baseball / team captain, 2 yr mentor, school ambassador, NHS, voted top overall student in school 3 yrs in a row, great essays, etc - I share this only to show you how competitive it is). Their admit package listed accomplishment of “your fellow classmates”. Kids who have literally published children’s books, created popular apps, climbed Mt Everest - really, played in junior level of World Cup soccer, played a concert with the Boston Pops, etc. I assume these are the kids getting merit. I thought our S was amazing (and he is and will do amazing things in life), but they are looking at stunners and outside the box candidates for merit.
True of all the selective schools. the next tier down is a good place to look for merit. Schools like Syracuse, Bentley - I know you don’t want a business school but they actually do have liberal arts programs and offer a lot of merit - my son was offered 50% tuition for four yrs so roughly 100k. BTW - turned it down.
Go Flyers!!
UVM is a good choice; Burlington is a great college town. Take another look at Pitt. They are definitely strong in the life sciences but their undergrad business program will easily get him to a Big 4. BU and Northeastern are both great choices but can be stingy on aid.
I hope you are aware that if you got more flexible on the location (were open to colleges in the south & midwest), you could satisfy your criteria and pay about half as much. Sticker prices are often lower and merit aid often more generous than at comparable colleges in the northeast.