Oh sweetie…thanks for being so honest with your feelings…I certainly understand your anger and confusion. I suspect Cameron121^ is correct…the difference in admission probably has to do with which program/major/school you and your classmates were applying to. You clearly have wonderful talents and abilities (the therapeutic riding speaks to my heart!) - please don’t allow this blip to shake your confidence. As I have always told my daughters regarding colleges and jobs - take both the yays and the nays as a blessing. If they say no, move on to the next thing and it is bound to be the better thing for you. Best of luck in all your endeavors!
I help out with admissions sessions for the College of Science, and they say that although admissions are done by college instead of university-wide, there isn’t a difference in admissions criteria between colleges. From the perspective that there aren’t different requirements for different colleges (i.e., if College of Engineering students were required to have taken calculus), this is true. But that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily equally as easy to get into each college, especially given an individual’s background. They also consider whether it looks like you’re prepared for the program you apply for. If you applied for engineering, for example, and had focused in high school on upper level social sciences instead of science classes, that might pose a concern for them.
I have no idea what might be at play in your particular situation, but I’m trying to come up with possibilities since you seem like a very qualified student. But as everyone else has said, the process is truly subjective with a zillion uncontrollable factors at play even if you did your absolute best to get to this point.
@Tkat97 the only thing that sticks out is the 630 math (below 25%). NEU is very SAT/ACT conscious and high GPA does not seem to make up for a low-ish CR+M score. I doubt NEU cares about the high writing score since it is not a component in the rankings.
Still you sound like a generally qualified candidate- more so than others that have posted on this forum. I am very surprised at the low (~3.5 UW) GPAs that have gotten accepted, with merit aid also.
If you guys want to feel better, go take a look at the case western Rd results thread. I can’t believe the stats of some of the kids who were denied or waitlisted.
That means so much, thank you @BPearlman97. Hopefully I get some good news in the future.
@Cameron121, my major was cognitive psychology and computer science. I suppose my math score likely hurt me there, but I have such excellent grades in Psych (AP) that i thought it would pull me through. I guess I should’ve chosen a different major, sigh. @dyslexicmom
There are plenty of activities kids can do that aren’t through their local high school, so your friends might have more on their apps than you know.
Try to be excited about the schools that do accept you. There are likely going to be kids who are disappointed that they didn’t get acceptances to some of the schools that accept you.
@austinmshauri, in this case theyre my friends and told me.
Well, that was helpful of them. I hope it was before their acceptances came in. You got some scholarships to other schools, though, right? Congrats on those. Admissions are so difficult. There are so many of you bright, talented students that it must be difficult for adcoms to choose. Try not to take it too personally. I’m sure you’ll do great wherever you land.
Thank you so much @austinmshauri
@Tkat97 I posted this link for a California student who was waitlisted to a UC school last week. It is a very good article from the New York Times “How to Survive College Admissions Madness”.
This is taken from a Boston Globe Magazine article from November 2014
"Last year, Northeastern received its highest number of applications, almost 50,000 for 2,800 spots. That’s nearly five times more than in 1990. Enrolled students were more qualified than ever before, with average SAT scores up 22 points from the previous year. "
I hope these help. A few weeks back my own kid was rejected from one of her schools, and she is over it now.
A lot of people with similar stats don’t get into Northeastern. Like many people in this thread I would point my answer at your essay. The admissions staff does genuinely read the essay. They do really analyze every word you say and get nit-picky. You can say as much as you want that this decision is phony but that isn’t going to change anything. This is a college that continuously gets more and more competitive and people with good scores are going to get rejected. Sure someone with a similar set of scores and activities probably did get accepted but that’s the way the process goes.
@beeandpuppycat ok i’m not trying to be pretentious, but my essay was good! Writing is my greatest strength, its my thing! I’ve won awards in poetry and written short stories. I’m a huge literature fan and have the highest averags of my AP English Lit and Composition class. Teachers asked for copies of my essay to use as examples in the future! If i had any weakness, it was not my essay; which was very well written, metaphorical, and insightful. I just don’t want to be stripped of the one quality i’m actually very confident of. I believe at this point that it was my math score that killed me.
I’m just trying to give you an answer. The world isn’t fair. I feel like this entire thread seems to be you trying to get some sense of validation. You can’t change anything at this point and I doubt you’re going to get any other answers besides the one given to you in this forum.
@beeandpuppycat. I know, I really am desperately seeking validation and likely won’t get it. But trust me, my essAy was not the issus. I’m willing to accept my math score killed, which hurts because I brought it up significantly. It’s just a difficult thing to accept that my math score alone changed the possible course of my life. But that’s college admissions for you, i guess.
Tkat, I don’t know why you were waitlisted. Your GPA is better than my D’s and she got in. All I can think of is that maybe they thought you were using them as a match/safety and are trying to protect their yield. Sometimes AO’s look and see what schools you are applying to from your FAFSA, and compared to your stats, and what you say you want to do, and guess whether you would actually go to their school if accepted. I remember your thread about your parents not wanting you to apply to your dream schools. Did you? If so, could NEU have thought you would pick Yale or Tufts? I’m not saying this is the reason, just another possibility??? Could there have been anything in your recommendations that would lead them to believe your true goals were elsewhere? Honestly, I don’t know. I do think you’ll have some great choices in a couple of weeks, however. Condolences for your pain, and in the grand scheme of things this is a tiny blip and you can still achieve all of your dreams.
@redpoodles , I haven’t heard back from Tufts or Yale yet. Thank you for your post and for having interest in me, it really means alot. I don’t understand the decision they made and likely never will. The unfortunate thing is I forget nothing and things rest on my conscience for years, sigh.
Have you ever tried yoga? keep it in mind as you get older. It helps you let go of things that are bothering you, in the strangest but most wonderful way.
What school in neu did you apply for?
The business school rejected 3 of my friends who have 2200+, at least 3.6 gpa and we come from a pretty prestigious high school in nyc. That’s why we always should keep our minds open to different schools and also should apply to multiple targets and safeties. We will never know what admission officers are thinking.