(09-23-2026 12:31 PM)AGGIE2039 Wrote: (09-23-2026 10:42 AM)J.B. Wrote: I'm not buying Northeastern being ranked that high. Their low acceptance rate is a bit of a scam.
I'm thrilled to see Drexel being ranked as high as 80.
How is it a scam? Please explain.
Tough to explain with in my own words, so I am using the assistance of AI here.....
it is the product of an aggressively optimized "gamification" strategy designed to lower its reported admissions percentage. While the ~5.2% to 5.6% acceptance rate published on its Common Data Set is statistically real based on the formula they use, the school uses highly specific institutional reporting and application rules to artificially expand its applicant pool and shrink its official acceptance numbers.
No Supplemental Essays: Unlike almost all Ivy League or top-20 schools, Northeastern University requires no additional essay prompts beyond the generic Common App personal statement. This minimal friction allows tens of thousands of students to apply with "one click" as a safety fallback, driving total application volume past 105,000 applicants.
The Boston Campus Data Loophole: The headline-grabbing ~5% rate only counts students admitted directly to the main Boston campus. Thousands of other applicants are accepted into satellite alternative programs like N.U.in, Global Scholars, or its campuses in Oakland, London, and New York. Because these students spend their first semester or year away from Boston, the university does not report them in its main freshman data pool, leaving the true institution-wide acceptance rate significantly higher (estimated by analysts to sit between 10% and 20%).
Test-Optional Buffering: By remaining test-optional, they receive a massive deluge of applications from students who might otherwise be discouraged by average SAT/ACT score medians. This inflates the denominator of the equation while allowing the school to selectively admit high-scoring profiles to boost external rankings.
In my own words....I'm not saying it's not a strong institution...I just question whether it's properly ranked around other closely ranked colleges.
