You’re welcome. 
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Anecdote of 2 (not data). Colleague’s twins went there and graduated last year. One did journalism, interned at and then after graduation got a full time job at one of the major channels in their (NYC) newsroom. The other one is doing post grad at a top university in the UK. Another friend has a kid there now who is doing a great coop at the moment. I do think this school punches above its rankings weight. (Ok so maybe anecdote of 2.5 as last mentioned not graduated yet)
(As for the app inducement, not the same college but D19 submitted an app to Fordham because they gave her a fee waiver and she didn’t do the optional supplement …and they offered her a place, with some merit $. So it’s not necessarily just a game to up applicant numbers.)
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From the 2023-2024 CDS, when 96,631 students applied:
Will be interesting to see what it is for this year. If you click on the post that I quoted, you will see more specific data and the source.
I’m sorry you are upset about northeastern University is doing so well. You seem to have some anger issues towards women, the way you addressed me. I think you’re breaking community guidelines the way you’re referring to women in a derogatory way. My information was supposed to be helpful for people here on this community. Colleges do evolve and northeastern is very hard academically. We are a proud household of two Ivy League schools, school-state schools and Northeastern. If you feel Northeastern University gamed the system, go ahead and feel that way. I wish you luck with your student.
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@Blossom said nothing derogatory about women. She was quoting a line from Shakespeare (Hamlet) that is commonly used to point out that someone is voicing an opinion so strongly that they cast doubt on their position.
I’m not voicing a position either way about Northeastern, but I wanted to defend @Blossom from accusations of sexism.
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Shelby, thanks.
I am female (not that it matters) and hold no animus towards Northeastern. I was merely trying to explain why the “Northeastern is the best” crowd often expresses frustration that the “Northeastern is gaming the system” crowd doesn’t understand their POV.
Moreover-- there are still zero posts (as far as I can tell) on this thread explaining that Northeastern has invested in cutting edge nano-technology labs, numerous named fellowships in various fields, now boasts 12 Nobel/Pulitzer/Fields medal winners among its faculty, has 10 “Macarthur Grant” winners among its young alums, and that last year 5 seniors won Marshalls/Rhodes/Fulbrights. I.e. nothing about academic rigor, and everything about high quality coops and high salaries.
Which is great, and I am thrilled that so many seniors see the value in the Northeastern model of education. But for the families looking for academic rigor, employment by investment banks is still not the be-all and end-all of their educational quest.
I had no idea the gender of the person who was offended by my quotation. But it is a very well known and NOT gender based observation by the Bard, even when used out of context as I did. If I have offended, apologies.
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What I don’t get from the last 10-15 posts is why people are assuming that gaming the system is a negative, or that anyone is attacking Northeastern. Props to them if they figured out how to better market themselves and to increase their standing by whatever metric is important to them. If they figured out “the system” and used it to their advantage, then that’s great - no one says taking advantage of an algorithm or loophole to achieve your desired goal is a bad thing. They marketed themselves smartly to attract the students they want - that’s great and just because they did that, doesn’t make it inherently bad. Northeastern has made a huge pivot in their recruitment model over the last 20+ years and it’s worked out for them.
And I don’t think anyone is arguing that their coops aren’t great for the students at the school, or that the school is somehow less than. It all seems good - but, like all schools, what is good for one student isn’t good for another. It doesn’t make the school good or bad, it makes the students, their needs and interests, different.
So Northeastern is likely great for some students, but not others. That’s normal. Why is this devolving into something negative?
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Right. This just refers to marketing and strategizing in a way that has attracted more applicants (with a possible rise in rankings due to increased selectivity).
If they have done this, good on them. They are playing the game well. That’s not a criticism.
This in no way detracts from the co ops or the classes or the overall experience students have. If anything, it is opening up that possibility to MORE and more DIVERSE students by getting their name out more.
I’ll be honest, lots of people here in the Bay Area had never really heard of Northeastern until a few years ago when they opened the Oakland campus. Even still, when my D was applying to colleges, her guidance counselor never said one word about Northeastern, nor was it on D’s radar screen whatsoever. It was pretty much unknown at her school - I don’t know about a single classmate of hers applying. Since then, I have seen the Northeastern folks out tabling at street fairs and I’ve seen their ads on local buses. Still not a ton of advertising, but enough that people are starting to hear about it and, I would imagine, students are starting to apply - that speculation borne out through the increased application numbers that originated this thread. And, if that’s the case, great. That’s not a bad thing.
And if that’s what they’ve done to increase applications, that again in no way diminishes the co ops or the quality of education. These are two separate issues, imo.
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It’s possible some folks feel bitterness toward Northeastern when they observe super high-stats kids getting deferred/waitlisted/denied, but then those same students are accepted to ivies. Most very selective schools (perhaps not all) also contain several supplementary essays; Northeastern doesn’t have this. I think bitterness is also because college app season is an emotional, frustrating process (omg I hate it! Want it to be over), and it’s nice to have some entity to blame. I have no solution, just my two cents.
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On these forums, Northeastern is hardly the only school that has suffered from excessive and sometimes abrasive boosterism that likely has the opposite effect from what the boosters intended.
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So maybe Northeastern does some yield protection (the kids getting in to Ivies and not Northeastern). That’s annoying, but they are hardly alone and, again, that’s a reasonable business model if you are the school. It’s frustrating as heck if you’re the parent/kid that wanted to get in and didn’t, and you have what seems to be the stats, but what can you do? That’s what’s wrong with the entire college matching process overall.
I think my “why all of this emotion” wasn’t so much towards the parents whose kids don’t get in, or are waiting to hear, or are frustrated with the process. We can all see that, and that’s true for every kid, applying everywhere. It was more for the crowd that seemed to assume that posters were saying something negative. Noting that a school is doing great at marketing isn’t a negative.
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They don’t list by job and many majors are restricted in data - but on the left side, you can put in school and major for 2022.
It’s hard to make heads or tails when they say $70K+ - is that $71K or $97K, etc.
Their % employed or pursuing more education all show in the 90s which is good but they use a 9 month after which is a bit long.
So one would have to compare to other schools - but nothing seems world beating.
But if someone has a fantastic experience - then it’s a great school. And for @Bostonwater, their student has a wonderful co op - and that’s fantastic!! Every school has the potential to be wonderful (or not) for every student - and in this case it’s been a home run thus far. Congrats to your student.
Starting Salaries - Career Outcomes at Northeastern University
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Yes—we know many happy students at Northeastern!
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Regardless of whether it’s called “gaming the system” or “superb marketing”, many other colleges could and should learn from what Northeastern has done.
This is expected to be the peak year for college applications, to be followed by an expected long, steady decline. This could lead to school closings for schools which been drawing only enough applicants to stay in business. In the new world of fewer applicants, many of these colleges could be closing their doors if they don’t find a better way to market themselves and reach a new a pool of prospective students. Northeastern’s model just might be the solution for them.
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It’s true - we send our kids to college to become successes. That means something different to @blossom than to me or others - and that’s ok.
But part of success is staying open and running your business, even a non profit, in a way that it can sustain.
Many colleges aren’t succeeding with the basics in regards to operation. Northeastern clearly excels here.
I can’t speak to the experience - but from a business operation, they seem to be doing well.
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This isn’t a new event in 2025, with a sudden surge. Northeastern is always among the private colleges with largest number of applications. Specific numbers from the most recent IPEDS year are below.
Private Colleges with Most Applicants in 2023-24
- NYU – 114k
- Northeastern – 97k
- USC – 81k
- Boston U – 80k
- Cornell – 66k
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I find the NEU story quite fascinating. I attended BU in the early 90s and both school have seen a very significant rise in their reputations over the past 20-30 years, NEU in particular. I think the more traditional campus (as compared to BU) is very desirable and the co-op program is a differentiator.
Schools like BC, BU, NEU and Tufts (among others) were poised to fill a gap: If you want to attend college in Boston but don’t have the grades for Harvard or MIT, what’s the next-best choice? These schools filled a demand in the market.
It makes me think about other “emerging” college markets like CA. Again, back in the 90s, USC was similar to BU or NEU–a perfectly fine school, but not especially selective or prestigious. But there was demand for another large (private) school in Los Angeles and USC was able to fill the void. Today, I think universities like LMU and Chapman will be the “next wave” in that if you don’t get into USC or UCLA–or if you want a mid-sized school–they offer a viable and increasingly appealing alternative. My D20 attended Santa Clara University, and again, if you want a school in the Bay Area but don’t get into Stanford of Berkeley, SCU is emerging as a strong option.
As others have pointed out, with increasing pressure on college to be “worth it” in terms of tuition, the co-op program offers an ROI proposition. Other colleges have strong employment outcomes and internship opportunities, but by developing and marketing the co-op as a specialized program, NEU has differentiated itself.
It’s ingenious, imo. I wonder if other colleges will follow suit.
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Looking at stats in more detail, Northeastern hasn’t had an abnormally large percentage increase over past 10 years compared to other colleges. For example, among colleges with 40k applicants, Northeastern’s 104% increase ranked 29th out of 72 – above average rate of increase, but not abnormally high. Some of the colleges with larger increases during this period include:
South New Hampshire – 918% increase in applications
UCM – 383% increase in applications
GeorgiaTech – 257% increase in applications
…
NYU – 150% increase in applications
Colleges with largest number of applications during the past 10 years were UCs + NYU:
UCLA – 73k application increase
UCSD – 70k application increase
NYU – 68k application increase
UCI – 65k application increaese
UCB – 64k applicat8ion increaes
Instead where Northeastern stands out when going further back. During the period from 2003 to 2013, the colleges with largest increases among colleges with 40k+ applicants in 2023 were:
Largest Application Increase % from 2003 to 2013
- UCM – Infinity% (0 to 14k)
- Alabama – 273% (8k to 31k)
- Vanderbilt – 216% (10k to 32k)
- Fordham – 183% (13k to 36k)
- Northeastern – 178% (17k to 47k)
In terms of absolute number of applications, Northeastern was number 1, surpassing even the UCs.
Largest Number of Applications Increase from 2003 to 2013
- Northeastern – 30k increase
- UCLA – 29k increase
- CSLB – 29k increase
- Drexel – 28k increase
- UCI – 26k increase
It seems that the big shift occurred during the 2003 to 2013 period. During this period, Northeastern had a corresponding rise through USNWR rankings, as listed below. Northeastern also was one of the earlier colleges to join the common app, and did so just as the applications and rankings increased. Northeastern also dramatically increased admission recruiting and started policies to avoid requiring/reporting stats for lower scoring students, during this period. It looks like a positive feedback loop.
2004 – Ranked #127
2006 – Ranked #115
2008 – Ranked #96
2010 – Ranked #80
2012 – Ranked #62
2014 – Ranked #49
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I understand now why your screen name is “Data”!
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It was actually a nickname I received years ago, based on similarities to the Star Trek character.
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