Northeastern eyes dorms

today
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jass said:
I used to think the drinking age should be 18.

Then I spent a week in an english college. Never seen so much drinking before. Everybody had an open bottle on their nightstand. Every evening was time for drinks at the pub.

With an age of 21, there might be heavier drinking on weekends, but theres very little during the week.
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My mileage varied, but it could be a north/south thing: in my experience at the University of York (limited, mind you, a brief visit with a friend) it seemed that the alcohol drinking was on par with that at my big state school that i was studying at, they just drank better beer. With that the beer had more alcohol, and there seemed to be much more of a consciousness of the different alcohol by volume ratings of the different beers they drank (they wanted more bang for their buck). The most noteworthy difference to me was the fact that at about 3 or 4 am the parties kept on but everyone it seemed started brewing tea, a few guys would also start searching for marmite and bread to make sandwiches--very bizarre, but from what i could tell very routine.

Could be I was with the outliers though...
 
http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...011/01/24/applications_to_northeastern_surge/

Applications to Northeastern surge
Job edge, outreach raise co-op school?s cachet

Admissions staff at Northeastern University say the academic caliber of the prospective students has also risen. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff)
By Tracy Jan
Globe Staff / January 24, 2011
E-mail|Print|Reprints|Comments (56) Text size ? +

Northeastern University, once a commuter school accepting nearly all Bostonians who applied, received more applications this year than any other major private college in the area, and perhaps even the nation ? fueled by a big increase in international students.

A record high of nearly 43,000 hopefuls applied to Northeastern for 2,800 spots in the incoming freshman class ? a 15 percent surge of applicants from last year and nearly triple the number from a decade ago, according to university officials, who plan to formally announce the figures today.

While other major Boston-area institutions, including Harvard, Tufts, Brandeis, Boston College, and Emerson, have experienced double-digit increases in applications as high school seniors apply to more colleges, the rise at Northeastern stands out because of its sheer size.

The university, known for its century-old co-op program that gives students full-time work experience, has seen a steady rise in applications over the past four years. But the huge leap this year was surprising and noteworthy, said Philomena Mantella, senior vice president for enrollment.

?It comes down to our relevance as a university,?? Mantella said. ?Experiential learning really resonates with this generation, especially in this economy, with their concerns about job opportunities and getting an edge up. We are just so well positioned for today?s prospective students.??

The number of international applicants has jumped by more than 42 percent in one year, to 4,438, Mantella said. Last July, the university for the first time hosted an admissions conference for more than 700 high school counselors from abroad.

Another reason for the upswing: The university this year began allowing students to graduate in four years, instead of its traditional five-year commitment ? and still squeeze in two six-month stints of on-the-job training ? in an effort to attract higher achievers who may be eager to move on to graduate school.

Prospective students, Mantella said, are also lured by the university?s growing global reach and overseas connections, offering more opportunities for students to not only study, but also work abroad. Northeastern?s 15,000 undergraduates have been placed in co-ops in 69 countries on all seven continents, including Antarctica.

Some of the largest increases in applicant interest have been in the emerging fields of behavioral neuroscience, digital arts, health, sustainability, and security ? areas in which Northeastern has recently developed degree programs, Mantella said.

College counselors in top area high schools, including Boston Latin and Newton North, say local interest in Northeastern has always been high, but that many universities that used to be primarily regional are now national and international. Added to Northeastern?s list of pluses is the urban university?s spruced-up campus, including new dormitories.

?Students these days want urban in large part,?? said Brad MacGowan, college counselor at Newton North High School. ?The buildings and the campus are also much more attractive and impressive now.??

Northeastern is not simply getting more applicants, Mantella said; it has become increasingly selective as the university?s reputation has skyrocketed among a stronger, more diverse pool of prospective students. The academic caliber of applicants has risen, with the number of students scoring more than 1,400 on the SAT jumping by 37 percent. And more African-American and Hispanic students are applying than ever before, university officials said.

Northeastern received applications from 666 high schools that had never previously sent candidates to the school. Most of the rise in US applicants has come from California, Illinois, Ohio, and Oregon.

?Clearly Northeastern has growing momentum, reflecting the stronger global reach that we have,?? Mantella said. ?This increase among applicants who have many choices is really quite exciting.??

Northeastern?s application increase vaulted it over neighboring Boston University, which, in previous years, was one of only three private colleges in the country, along with New York University and the University of Southern California, that drew more applicants than Northeastern.

USC expects to receive about 38,000 applications this year. NYU will not release its application number until today.

But by no means is BU?s popularity diminishing. This year it attracted its highest number of applicants, 41,700 students, up 9 percent from the previous year. Like Northeastern, BU is also seeing a significant rise in its number of international students as well as students from underrepresented minority groups, along with an increase in applicants? academic qualifications.

Emerson, too, has drawn a greater number of minority applicants due to a renewed focus on diversifying the communication and performing arts campus in downtown Boston. Last year the college paid for guidance counselors from high schools serving predominantly urban, minority students to fly to Boston and get acquainted with the college?s professors and academic programs, said MJ Knoll-Finn, Emerson?s vice president of enrollment.

It has also begun sending its students back to their own high schools for targeted recruiting. The strategies helped lead to a 21 percent jump in minority applicants over last year, she said.

Applications, particularly at more selective schools, typically go up each year, as it has become easier for students to apply to more schools, using electronic submissions and the Common Application. The College Board recommends that students apply to between five and eight colleges, but in the Northeast, students typically apply to seven to 10 schools, said Richard Doherty, president and CEO of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts.

Many of the state?s private colleges are reporting steady application increases, he said, though official numbers will not be collected until the spring.

?I think the reason for it is that families and students just understand that in this tough economy, education matters in terms of being able to get jobs, especially in Massachusetts, which has such a knowledge-based economy,?? Doherty said.

More telling, in coming months, will be schools? acceptance rates ? and, of those lucky enough to gain admission, how many students actually choose to enroll.
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It doesn't say it in the article, but NYU announced today that it received 42,242 applications for the next freshmen class. With a few hundred more applications than NYU, Northeastern has now officially received more applications than any private university in the United States... and for fewer spots as well! The race is on!
 
A thing occured to me while reading this. Don't colleges usually require a process fee of say $100 to aply? So they make 4.3 million off of people just asking if they could be given the oppertunity to give them 200K. Higher education has some very interesting dynamics to it.
 
I'm fairly certain there must be some cost to processing all those applications.
 
GW2500 said:
A thing occured to me while reading this. Don't colleges usually require a process fee of say $100 to aply? So they make 4.3 million off of people just asking if they could be given the oppertunity to give them 200K. Higher education has some very interesting dynamics to it.
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The application fee is $70; however, it can be waived. I work part-time at the NU visitor center and I can tell you that the money from those application fees is well spent. Not only does it go toward paying the 30+ admissions counsellors that have the arduous task of reading those 43,000 applications every year, but also goes to maintaining the visitor center, hosting open houses, welcome days, paying support staff, and other program-related expenses.
 
Yes, I agree there is cost associated w/ processing 43K applications. But like the last post says, it pays for more than just the cost of processing the application. I'm not saying its necesarily bad, people choose to apply. Its just in general business, one dosn't often have to give money to see if they can later give substantial money to a seller of good/service. And the point I'm really trying to make is schools like NEU (and really most 4 year schools) get paid when you ask to go there, get paid big time when you go there, and then got the nerve to ask for more money (for fun apparently) when you leave. Not too many other industries can claim they get paid for before, during, and after you used their service. And depending on your degree , which in all fairness the student chooses, it might be a horrible return on investment.
 
BU gets a lot of applicants because it's everyone's safety, NEU for similar reasons, and NYU because its a dream school
 
jass said:
I used to think the drinking age should be 18.

Then I spent a week in an english college. Never seen so much drinking before. Everybody had an open bottle on their nightstand. Every evening was time for drinks at the pub.

With an age of 21, there might be heavier drinking on weekends, but theres very little during the week.
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There might be less drinking during the week...but the ER rooms might be busy as hell!


Besides, Canada's drinking age is 18 and my buddy from Montreal and he took me up there one weekend, and there wasn't an entire balston of young Quebecers drinking themselves up into a sulfur. It was actually the American kids who couldn't handle their booze and were laughed out of Jazz Fest. Wasn't us though.
 
BarbaricManchurian said:
BU gets a lot of applicants because it's everyone's safety, NEU for similar reasons, and NYU because its a dream school
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Best of luck with your college admissions, but don't be too hasty assuming that you will get into a school because its perceived as a "safety." The only real safety schools these days are community colleges.
 
BU has an acceptance rate of 58%, Northeastern's rate is 38%. Northeastern's freshman stats are slightly higher than those for BU. That difference in acceptance rate of 20 points tells me that a lot of students, parents and guidance counselors still think of Northeastern as a safety school for BU, which it is not and has not been for years.

There must be a lot of applicants denied admission to Northeastern who thought it would be an easy acceptance. That must be crushing!

It also looks like Northeastern has good connections at the Globe. When BU announced its figures a few days ago there was no Globe coverage and BU is mentioned in this article as an afterthought.

Also take a look at Northeastern's write up in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the primary trade paper for higher education:
http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/pdfs/ChronicleArticleOnceLocalNowGlobal.pdf This is read by the people who do the Peer Assessment portion of the USNWR rankings.
 
As I pretty much live on the NEU campus, I hope this growing academic attractiveness translates into a more interesting/hipper urban environment. Street/cafe life is pretty non-existant considering all the schools, conservatories and cultural institutions in the area. Espresso Royale Caffe is about the only decent coffee shop in the whole area. Not much in the way of trendy shopping or bookstores, either. :(
 
Tombstoner said:
As I pretty much live on the NEU campus, I hope this growing academic attractiveness translates into a more interesting/hipper urban environment. Street/cafe life is pretty non-existant considering all the schools, conservatories and cultural institutions in the area. Espresso Royale Caffe is about the only decent coffee shop in the whole area. Not much in the way of trendy shopping or bookstores, either. :(
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It's unfortunately not going to happen. This area of Boston is filled with long-time Bostonians who absolutely don't want this "hipper urban environment" to occur. It was a struggle equal to the grade of Mission Hill (clever way of saying really uphill) to even get dorms built. Boston is supposedly "America's College Town," but they don't want more student life anywhere in this city.
 
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