That is incorrect. I believe that the number of “London Scholars” (intending to switch to Boston for sophomore year) is about 1000.
Northeastern London has a separate application process for students who intend to earn their degree in London (3 years). London graduates are guaranteed transfer to Boston to complete a fourth year and earn an American bachelor’s, although that is only an option.
It’s amazing to me that the NU Boston campus can accommodate all of these second years showing up from Oakland, London, NYC, elsewhere. I assume it’s because a reliably and similarly large number of second years are off campus, either at coops or studying abroad. And, likewise, throughout the rest of the Boston years. I can’t help but think it must have a significant effect on the social experience at Northeastern, both to have spent freshman year elsewhere and to have so many classmates head elsewhere throughout your experience. When I think about my D22’s experience at UCLA (2 years in the dorms, 2 years in an off campus apartment, one study abroad summer program), her most satisfying and enduring friendships were born her first year. This will be her 4th year living with her freshman year roommate and another floor mate. They’ve been through so much together. I know study abroad programs often result in those tight bonds, but do kids at Northeastern feel as connected to each other socially if they are always moving around? I have many friends whose kids love their NU experiences but this is something I don’t have a good read on.
That’s interesting! The presenter was an admissions officer and that is what she said… very clearly and multiple times. Maybe she’s new. I’ll edit my post, though.
NU is on my daughter’s list - so I’ve been reading ALOT. The NUin students - who do a first semester abroad - form a very tight cohort and often stay friends throughout the 4 years BUT they also said they made friends once they got to Boston. With the Co-op program - sometimes your friends are not local -but other Co-op students work in the Boston area so they are still on campus.
I haven’t read much about California or London or NYC -but extrapolating - sounds like the California group is basically an 800 person cohort -so they probably ‘take those friends with them’ when they go to Boston. Many, many students said that they made friends joining clubs -so there are always opportunities to meet new people.
I guess from what I’ve read - yes, it’s a bit of an issue with the ‘transitory-ness’ of the population -but with some effort - you can adapt. The students seem VERY happy and the retention rate from freshman year is PHENOMINAL which to me says everything I need to know.
On a personal note -my daughter has multiple friend groups -so for her, I don’t see if being an issue at all. If a bestie in one group is gone -she will still have people to hang out with (assuming she gets in at all!)
So, I can’t speak for northwestern but my D19 did a freshman year at a different campus and even with that being shortened by covid, made some long-lasting friends and then (apart from a covid distanced semester which was difficult as the first semester on the main campus) made durable friendships with others back on the main campus - through a variety of avenues including dorms, classes and other students working the same part-time job she did. They have all graduated now but still have a very close knit friend group including some of those freshman year friends but mostly people she met on the main campus. So, I don’t think it’s necessarily an issue.
Some programs put all the first semetser/year abroad or spring starts in the same dorms to help ease socially with others in similar ways, which I think must help too. D19 didn’t have that but still did fine.
I wonder if they were talking about all ‘special’ programs…all NUIN, the Oakland program (not part of NUIN), NYC scholars, London scholars?
No, she was talking about London specifically. Another parent asked questions about this particular point, which is why the numbers were repeated…
So strange! They aren’t too transparent with numbers, but I’ve always heard london scholars is 900-1000 students. But then they published this in the spring (which is why I think the AO doing the presentation was confused given 2,759 rounds to 3,000!). That global scholar number of 703 includes London and NY, so smaller than I thought/have heard. Maybe the 1,000 includes all London degree enrollees and London Scholars:
For the class of 2028, there were 2,759 first-year undergraduates admitted to the Boston campus, 635 in London, 460 students enrolled in Oakland, 703 students enrolled as Global Scholars and 1,537 students in the N.U.in program.
About ten years ago when Northeastern was rising dramatically in the US News rankings they were accused of “gaming the system” by publishing too many numbers/stats. Jibes such as 'low acceptance rate does not mean quality education" etc etc. Especially here on CC,
In recent years Northeastern has not widely promoted its stats but if you dig deeply into its website most information can be found.
Agree, hence the link I put in my post above. That global scholars number of 703 for Class of 2028, which would include both London and NYC) is smaller than both you and I had previously thought.
I feel like there is plenty of support on CC for Northeastern.
A few years ago, that was not always the case. I lost track of how many times CC’ers would post the link to the old Boston Magazine article about Northeastern gaming the rankings.
Agreed. But, it’s possible to think Northeastern is a great school, and also that they game the rankings. Plenty of schools do.
In a bit of poetic justice, in 2020 Northeastern purchased Horticultural Hall, a magnificent building on the corner of Huntington and Mass Aves. Boston Magazine had its offices in the lower level of the building. Their lease came up for renewal that summer and Northeastern told them no, this is an academic building now.
The article was very positive about the university, but they gave it a clickbait headline.
The nature of Northeastern, with alternating coop/academic terms, is one of the few things that has not changed over the decades. The admissions website, promotional brochures, on campus information sessions for prospective students etc. emphasize this non-traditional plan. So those who enroll are a self-selected group. And with social media, cell phones etc., long-distance connections are easier to maintain.
My longest friends from college are my sorority sisters. Some joined as freshman but several of us joined after we transferred to the university as soph’omores and I think a few as juniors, or even a few who joined and then transferred OUT of this school. There was a group of 4 who were all freshmen when they joined and remain BFFs, even though one transferred out after sophomore year.
Others I know remain close with friends made in special groups in college like marching band, a sports team, the newspaper, student government.
About 8 years ago a group of us wanted to have a reunion and our national sorority had no problem giving us a list of last known emails and phone numbers. With a little help from google, we were able to contact about 60 classmates pretty easily. I don’t think a college would give out that info for 'anyone who lived in “Smith Hall” or “majored in poli sci” (or at least I hope not).
Because my kids had to transfer high schools (3 different schools) I really wanted them to be able to stay at the same college for all 4 years, and they were able to do that. One has a lot of friends from her college (and married one) but the other doesn’t have that many (except that she went there for grad school too and has some friends from her program). She does have one friend from her sorority, but that girl went to the same grade school as my daughter and her mother and I were friends. She also ran into a sorority sister in a restaurant recently - several states away!
I was listening to a guy who graduated from Stanford in the '50s, and he said Stanford’s peer school at the time was Santa Clara.
I have a neighbor down the road who went to Stanford, I think she’s in her 70s now so probably a little later than that. She said to me “oh, when I went, just about everyone got in. Everyone I knew went to either Stanford or Cal”. She grew up in Sacramento I believe (so the other part of the story was that people tended to stay fairly local)
I know lots of folks in their 50s who have told me UCLA or UCBerkeley was their safety school as they knew they were going to get in. Professor and podcaster Scott Galloway (in his 60s?) has talked about how UCLA was 70%+ admissions rate in his day and not a hard admit for California kids at the time.
This is interesting. I wonder what colleges might be next to become the selective ones that kids will aspire to? I’d probably put Rutgers as one that’s getting there. Fordham seems like it could too.
I’m mid 50s - it was a hard admit when i was in HS.
UCSC and UCR were the safeties.
