@homerdog Longtime Virginian here. My son really liked W&M when he toured and it was his top in-state choice by far. He said he could definitely be happy there; however, he preferred a larger, more urban or suburban school, ideally with top sports teams, and he’s going to one of those OOS next year. He has friends at W&M who love it and gave him tours (and they do not lack the “fun” gene, though I don’t think they’re big partiers), and if he wanted or needed to stay in-state or if he wasn’t as sports-oriented, it would have been very high on his list.
@Dustyfeathers I used to think just like you regarding Northeastern. I actually turned down the offer to attend the school myself a while back. I thought it was kind of an OK school in a sort of cruddy zone and it was sort of run down. I didn’t change my opinion for 30 years.
What I didn’t realize is the transformation the school underwent, in terms of new construction, expansion of co-op programs, overseas education, the actual quality of the students and professors etc. My son wanted to apply there last year and I wasn’t overly thrilled, until we took a few tours. I was more than impressed.
I think the reason it has skyrocketed in popularity is that it has become a fine educational institution located in a safe city filled with college kids , easily accessible from all over the US and world, and the co-op program is really helping kids find carers that they want in a booming economy. A lot of kids would like to come to Boston for college, but with MIT,Harvard, Tufts being too difficult to gain entrance some of the schools like BU and NEU become the next best thing. It’s just leading to stronger and stronger applicant pools.
NEU might not be your cup of tea, but the kids getting accepted there are very good students and their post college outcomes are impressive.
Regarding “hot schools” for us. Located just outside metro Boston;
Northeastern
BC
BU
Tufts
Umass for the value
UVA
Maryland
U Mich
URI, UNH,Uconn and UVM s where a lot of kids apply.
I think William and Mary isn’t for everyone and that is perhaps the way it should be. It is a school for fit. BTW, t is ranked #5 in Princeton Review for “Happiest Students” and has a higher alumni giving rate than any other national public university.
Duke was ahead of schools like Emory and Vandy in the past. However, preferences are swinging toward more urban schools (Chicago, NYU, Vandy). Duke isn’t threatened, but it is comparatively isolated and more in a forest.
Duke has always been a top ten ranking school and Emory has been about twenty. That hasn’t changed much through the years. Both are outstanding universities.
Northeastern is able to attract students with high GPA and test scores because of its reputation with its co-op program. In that respect, its applicant pool gets stronger and stronger. Its campus, while non-existent decades ago, won’t make anyone forget BC locally or any of the other nationally ranked universities. The school fills a certain niche, but it is what it is.
I am absolutely certain even Duke would not claim it was a top 10 college in 1968-78, when my family was applying. I I am glad that it is solidly so now, and goes to show the long-term importance of being a “hot” school.
“The surge lasts several years until the acceptance rate drops to a level that is no longer appealing to applicants. Michigan’s threshold has yet to be breached.”
It’s going to last quite a while Alexandre. Once Michigan starts to offer full need to all students who qualify, and it’s getting pretty close from what I hear, then I expect applications to increase even more.
@Dustyfeathers You win the prize for the first CC’er to post the link to that old Boston Magazine article about Northeastern this admissions cycle. The headline of the article, but not the article itself, gives validity to those whose impression of Northeastern is 30 years out of date.
@roycroftmom
Your Right but when Duke was ranked lower in the 20’s in the 1980’s or so, Emory was in the 30’s.
Duke used to be thought of as a top school in the South (Rice was another) if you go back to say the 1960s, but schools in the South were not held in very high regard in general. If you went back before the munificence of James B Duke, it was a nothing from nowhere. It is built on the almighty cigarette and all that implies (cough, cough).
In 1983, when USNWR first got into this nasty ratings business, Duke was in the top 10. It’s been there for the past 35 years. Not much before that is relevant in discussion of “hot”. Emory reached as high as 17 and has never been in the top 10 and usually around 20.
If you want to go back over 50 years or 100 years, you can make other arguments. Of course, the southern schools, particularly Emory and Vanderbilt had some issues with quotas that negatively impacted them.
@TheGreyKing @TomSrOfBoston Appears you guys knew something about Northeastern. Seeing posts by students who figured they had a Northeastern acceptance in the bag based on their stats, but got deferred.
@sSTEM or denied!
Not to mention being segregated whites only until the 1960’s.
@roycroftmom I matriculated at Duke in 1978 and graduated four years later. I am no fan of the institution: I didn’t enjoy my experience there at the time, and I haven’t liked the direction the school has taken in subsequent decades.
Nevertheless, I would argue that you are incorrect about the historical reputation of Duke. When I was applying to college, it was easily regarded as one of the nation’s premier schools–certainly in the top ten, and perhaps in the the top five.
Duke had always been regarded as a premier destination in the South (along with Rice), but the national landscape had evolved by the 1970s. In particular, the general decay of the urban infrastructure in the Northeast–and, more importantly, the accompanying surge in crime rates–made today’s “hot” schools like Columbia and Penn very unappealing destinations for many students. (Their relatively high admissions rates at the time reflected this slackening of demand.) In the post-GI-Bill but pre-China phase of American higher education, the “Ivy” brand was not itself enough to push a school into the top ten. We should be wary of projecting today’s “taken for granted” assumptions about prestige into the past.
@homerdog, @sevmom, W&M is a great school. S21 was accepted OOS. He narrowed his decision from several to W&M and Wake Forest. Very similar on some levels, very different on others.
The similarities which drew him to it in the first place : small to midsize, undergraduate and residential focus, great overall academics, great business school, highly selective (wants the challenge being surrounded by really smart kids, small classes, beautiful “traditional” campus.
Differences: sports scene spectator- both D1 but no comparison between ACC and Colonial or whatever leagues W&M plays in. Sports scene participate - S is an athlete and loves playing. Wake’s student body is far more aligned with that. School spirit - Wake feels more like a big school because the campus gets behind their sports teams. Heavily attended, tailgates, etc. W&M is far more quiet and serene.
Both have really smart and talented kids. He attended both admitted student days to help make his decision. Liked the kids at W&M, very nice and welcoming. Was impressed with lots of things but thought it was very earthy crunchy (not bad but not him). He would have adjusted to it but it was like a 6.5 - 7 on a scale of 1-10. Wake was a 9 or 10. Second he got there he knew.
Fast forward to now - whole dorm floor hangs out, goes to games together (never misses a game). Guys play a lot of pick up ball in spare time . Very social and active. Plenty of academics and conversations but that active, exciting vibe. He felt W&M would be fun but more like his high school where academics were the only thing that mattered.
@TomSrOfBoston
That shouldn’t be a knock on Emory. The state of Ga stated that if any ga school integrated their campus, they would be barred from government funding. Emory sued and won.
@VANDEMORY1342 not a knock, just an historical fact.
Spot on. Vandy and Chicago in particular have been red hot, but other urban schools like Tulane and Rice are also benefiting from the swing toward urban schools. A quick skim over CC shows an overwhelming preference for urban schools. (Mind you, I’ve never seen the appeal of urban colleges, but to each his own.)
Schools in more rural locations like Dartmouth have seen fairly stagnant application growth and are really going to have to up their game if they want to stay competitive, I think.
Kids can live and work in a city any time in their lives. So interesting that many of them want to go to school there as well.