<p>I was answering a question about a financial aid matter on another school's forum and while there a thread caught my eye since it was asking to compare three schools, one of which was Northeastern.</p>
<p>After reading the thread there were some comments I asked for clarification on since they involved NEU and their involvement in at some point lying about salaries perhaps by using salaries of part time students-not sure if this is still going on or was in the past since I know little about the history of the school. The poster went on to say they believe they still fudge data. Included in this were nice things said about the school as well-but my concern is when I asked for clarification of some statements I found troubling I was dismissed as some sort of internet troll.</p>
<p>I decided then to come here and ask people who know about this school and it's history to enlighten me. I certainly want the truth-I have no interest in seeing my son attend a school that is less than honorable. In order not to continue this discussion on another school's thread I decided to start one here and welcome any and all comments.</p>
<p>What is Northeastern then? Is it a legitimate university that is steadily on the rise academically or is it a creature of marketing and perhaps creative reporting? I welcome hearing from those who know the past about the school and what has been going on in the last decade or so-my goal here isn't to sell the school or advertise for it but to have a legitimate discussion about it for better or worse.</p>
<p>My direct knowledge of Northeastern goes back over 40 years. I have no idea what this refers to. Northeastern is certainly a “legitimate” university and has been since its founding in 1898. I am clueless about what information you are looking for with this thread. Could you elaborate?</p>
<p>Are you suggesting that NEU isn’t a legitimate university ?
I am not sure what salaries you are inquiring about …are you asking about the salaries of students on co-op, or the potential salaries of graduates ? </p>
<p>My knowledge is based on my daughter who will be graduating in less than a month.
Her experiences with the university have been nothing but positive . She made good
money on her co-ops ( 2 ) , wonderful connections, had job offers from both of her co-op jobs, both with well respected hospitals within Boston.
NEU has opened many doors for her and paved the way for a fulfilling career in the field of medicine.
She has no regrets for going there and neither do we as parents.</p>
<p>To be very clear I know NEU is a legitimate university-my son attends the school.</p>
<p>The word legitimate should have been used not asking if it was a legitimate university but if the numbers it submits are legitimate numbers or are they gaming the rankings system by playing games with data and fudging numbers? Have they ever been caught lying about information on salaries of graduates?</p>
<p>In short is NEU what it appears to be to me, my son, and the thousands of students who attend or is its reputation being artificially enhanced by rankings that are being driven by numbers that aren’t accurate?</p>
<p>I did encounter these charges on another thread, asked for clarification particularly since it was stated by a poster there that they (the poster) had caught them lying about salaries, and when I asked for some evidence was answered by being dismissed.</p>
<p>Those seem to me to be pretty serious charges to be making on a public forum so I though I would ask them here to get further information. If they are true I would be very concerned as the parent of an NEU student=I hope that clears this up. </p>
<p>People come here for help with choices-I saw information that troubled me and just want to get some answers. If what I read was simply one person’s misguided opinion I would like to know that as well.</p>
<p>Personally I think all colleges fudge their #'s one way or another. Statistics can be maneuvered in many ways; ie when a college says their accepted GPA is 3.8 for example, note that the word accepted does not mean matriculated – things like that. </p>
<p>Also, % of students who graduate with a job - those statistics are vague and I think those kinds of numbers include kids who are working but may not be working in their major - it is misleading - but not an overt lie. </p>
<p>I remember taking my son(s) on college tours and asking them to break down #'s - and they wouldn’t…was telling to me (This was not Northeastern by the way).</p>
<p>Meh. I graduated in 2011. All of my friends-both my age and older- have been steadily and well employed since graduation, unless they are in grad school/off traveling/doing something else by choice (essentially, none of them are struggling and unemployed, although I will say I know a small number of people who have had to live at home in order to make loan payments).</p>
<p>That being said, I think that all numbers of salaries and % employment for new grads should be taken with a major grain of salt. I think all schools probably fudge these to some extent. When I registered to graduate sometime in late april, I was asked to fill in an optional survey about my post-grad job. This is the only time, ever, that I have given northeastern information about what I did after I graduated and what my salary was. Considering that in April, not many students have jobs 100% lined up (maybe they’re deciding between job offers, maybe they’re planning to take the summer off before going to work, maybe they’re working at an old co-op temporarily while looking for jobs, maybe they’re going to grad school and therefore have a $0 future income and no job), I can’t imagine this survey gives northeastern very useful/accurate data.</p>
<p>Maybe they are fudging numbers, but I doubt there’s any blatant lying going on. Anecdotally, I’d say NEU grads are doing just fine, so any creative math the school is pulling isn’t going to be terribly misleading.</p>
<p>Northeastern has risen up in the rankings in the last 10-15 years and continues to jump in the rankings every year. They have never, however, been accused of cheating or manipulating numbers in that time period.</p>