Will I get in as a transfer?

Maxiumus
Sun, 23 Apr 2006 08:19:25 +0000

“- It is expected that you would transfer to a more “prestigious” university, not the other way around (northeastern is ranked 115 by us news)”

Rankings Smankings!

You should take the rankings with a grain of salt because they do not provide an accurate picture of what is good school. Here’s why:

The U.S. News methodology is flawed because it assumes that all colleges are following a traditional academic curriculum (i.e. comparing apples to apples). But Northeastern does things quite differently. It is one of only a handful of schools to have a fully integrated co-op program (i.e. it is an orange). For example, the way the current methodology works, the rankings make it appear as if Northeastern has a high student/faculty ratio. But this is only because U.S. News assumes that all students are on campus taking classes at the same time. This is far from the case; nearly half of the upper-class students are off campus interning at companies (unlike most schools, Northeastern students follow rotations where they alternate semesters of academics with semester long internships related to their major). Anyone who knows Northeastern knows that class sizes are actually on the small side (esp. upperclass courses). The amount of money spent per student and faculty resources rank also seem low in comparison to other schools in the top 60, but again this is only because U.S. News assumes that all students are on campus at the same time using resources. Students who are on co-op should be excluded because they do not pay tuition while they’re interning. Northeastern really has more money to spend on the students who are on campus taking classes. Again, anyone who has visited Northeastern recently knows that the school has plenty of money. All the facilities are new and the professors, administrators, etc. are earning top dollar.

Another flaw in the U.S. News rankings methodology is the use of a six year graduation retention rate. Again, U.S. News assumes that all schools are following a traditional four year academic model. But again, Northeastern does things differently. A very large number of NEU students choose the five year co-op program (a four year program is available but for some reason it is less popular). Northeastern also offers a six year PharmD program. Obviously, Northeastern’s graduation stats would be significantly higher if U.S. News factored this into the rankings. But they don’t.

Northeastern’s rating, although still top tier (under the new ranking system), simply does not add up. Still, even with its nontraditional curriculum, Northeastern has been climbing in the rankings. This is primarily because the university has made significant gains in selectivity. Northeastern should continue to rise as it becomes more nationally known. This year, the university received 6500 EA apps out of a total of 27,000 apps which is a new record. The university is also in the process of hiring 100 new star faculty. The new faculty will significantly lower the university’s student/faculty ratio (this should make up for the shortfall in the rankings).

As a side note, the university administration has been lobbying U.S. News to make some changes to their rankings methodology so that it takes into account the university’s nontraditional academic curriculum. So who knows, Northeastern may finally get the credit that it deserves.

**As another side note, external research funding to Northeastern increased by a whopping 45% this year. The increase can be attributed to the ambitious faculty hiring plan. All these new star profs that the university has been hiring are bringing their research grants with them.