Wanting to transfer to Northeastern in a year or two, what should I be aiming to do to get in?

To be honest I don’t think you could get in with a 1200 SAT even as a transfer. Their low average is a 1340. I do agree that the ACTs are easier than the SATs. I would try to get a 1400 SAT or 32 ACT score at minimum, instead of trying to take 18 credits in one semester.

If you apply before you have 24 credits, the school doesn’t have much to work with to tell how you are as a college student, so the SATs and your high school GPA will most likely be a highly weighted part.

If I were you, I’d go to CC for 2 years (apply during the 2nd year). Aim for a 4.0 but don’t be upset with yourself over a ‘bad’ grade or two. That way, they’ll have 45 credits or so and can see an upwards trend.

Schools want to see someone who is enthusiastic about learning and wants to be involved. Try to join extracurriculars. Befriend your professors so you know you’ll get amazing recommendations. Professors are legally required to write a recommendation for you if you ask (at least at state schools in Mass). Just because they have to, doesn’t mean they will write a good one - especially when they’re confidential. Being close to a few professors almost guarantees a good recommendation.

Also - remember that quality > quantity. Being a part of 10 clubs isnt as good as being highly involved in 1-2 and even starting your own club/research.

Show them what you can do for them. Not the other way around.

Also, if you do well in your first 3 semesters and have a high GPA, then you won’t need standardized test scores. If you retake them and do well, it can’t hurt. But remember that they’re mostly used to determine how well you might do in college. High college GPA + a fair amount of college credits = proof you’re already doing well in college.

Right that’s what I was thinking. My transcript tells you I’m an extremely unmotivated person who does the simplest classes. They really won’t be able to gauge how good of a student I actually am after one year.

I’m not sure if it works this way, but is it worth trying to apply for sophomore year, and if I don’t get in can I try again junior year?

@Liloesq Scoring better on the SAT is probably easier than doing 18 credits in a semester.

@armadillo109 Which is why I said “instead of.”

On the recommendation side of things, I’m lucky I’m starting at a small school so it should be very easy to befriend my professors.

But yeah, @Liloesq I will definitely look into redoing the SAT or trying out the ACT, I’m just not sure if it’s worth doing that and trying for sophomore year to just waiting till junior year.

Can anyone gage me on what’s a “hard” or “east” class? Is precalculus or biology courses considered hard? Because for me, I kinda breezed through them but since they had a lot of work I’ve only been taking 15 units a quarter (around 3 high level intensive classes)

@armadillo109 my high school gpa was somewhere around a 3.0 translated to the commonly used US scale, however I did go to a Swiss gymnasium, which is comparable to a boarding school or other more academically rigid kind of school. Northeastern listed the Swiss Maturity Certificate as “a diploma that may further enhance chances to get in”, or something along those lines. So I don’t know how heavily they weighted that fact.

@PixelTomato I’m pretty sure Biology isn’t considered “difficult” per se, as long as it’s not a college level/AP class. Pre-calc is usually considered quite difficult, as it’s more advanced than the general requirement for a high school student (at least it was at my high school when I studied in Texas for a semester). Pre-calc there was something like the second most advanced level with some kids taking calculus, and bio would just have been a regular science requirement.

@hegann00 thanks for the insight! I just wanted to know what would be deemed difficult.

I come from a suburb 15min away from NEU. Where i went to high school, almost everyone took calculus. Most people graduated HS with 2-3 APs and got 4s or 5s.

Asking what’s a ‘hard’ class isn’t going yo give you the same answers. It’s all dependent on your major.

Personally, I’ve only taken my major requirements and 2 gen-eds in my 4 semesters at my current school. If you want them to think that you’re hard working, do your best to get through the major courses. (ie. Don’t take drama courses if you’re a bio major.)

Don’t forget that the school will see (at least) 2 GPAs, major GPA and your overall GPA. They will probably look more into your major GPA and weigh that more.

@Hegann00 Thanks for the answer!

I’m getting way ahead of myself here, but my reasons for wanting to transfer to Northeastern specifically is 1) it’s in a city environment and I’m trying to leave my small suburban town to a more lively area with way more opportunities, 2) I really like their learning model of classes combines with co ops and real world experience which is perfect for me since I am very much a hands on learner, and 3) I am very interested in the combined computer engineering and computer science degree they offer as I don’t want to pigeonhole myself into either the software or hardware side of computers. Would they see these reasons as being good enough to warrant transferring?

@armadillo109

That’s definitely something you should mention in your personal statement. For now, you should work on improving your grades. Take as many computer science and math classes as you can.

Show them that you understand calc1, calc2, linear algebra, and passed some algorithms courses. That should be a good start at making your application more competitive.

Thanks you @DoronG I’ll definitely focus on doing that. Is there anything else I can do that could improve my application?

As long as you write a good personal statement, try your best in school, and enjoy your college career (through extracurriculars and learning), there’s nothing much you can do.

There’s no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to go about these sorts of applications because they’re not based on discrete requirements.

Keep in mind that transferring is based on opened spots from people who drop out of school, change majors, and students who were accepted into, but did not choose to matriculate into that univeristy.

Also - I want to note that I have not been accepted yet. I’m still awaiting my response from them, and these are just tips that I’ve learned throughout the process. Regardless of whether I get in or not, I still try my best in school and make the best I can from my current college.

@DoronG Right that’s a very good thing to keep in mind. That does explain why Northeasterns transfer rates from year to year seem to be so erratic. I’ll just do the absolute best I can at my current school and hope I get in.

And good luck getting in, I believe in you! Let us know if you do!