Boston University vs. Northeastern University

Northeastern is the tougher admit by a wide margin: it took about 5.2% of applicants last cycle against BU's 11.1%. It also fielded the bigger pool, roughly 98,425 first-year applications to BU's 78,769, and extended only about 5,133 offers where BU made 8,749. Both schools went test-optional and both rate course rigor and academic GPA as very important, so a strong transcript moves either application.

On the CS-and-engineering front, Northeastern leans much harder into both fields. Computer and information sciences account for about 16% of its degrees and engineering another 18%, so together they cover roughly a third of everything it grants, all plugged into the co-op program. BU spreads those same fields across a broader mix, computing near 8% of degrees and engineering near 8%, sitting behind business, the social sciences, and communications. A student set on a CS- or engineering-centered, work-integrated path will find the deeper bench at Northeastern, while BU houses the fields inside a wider catalog.

Sticker prices nearly match, but Northeastern covers more of the need it identifies. Tuition and required fees come to about $69,289 at Northeastern and $68,102 at BU, with on-campus housing and food adding roughly $22,048 and $19,020. Northeastern meets 100% of demonstrated financial need for first-year students against about 97% at BU, and a larger share of its first-years carry need-based aid, about 50% to BU's 43%. BU writes the bigger average need-based package, near $68,216 versus Northeastern's roughly $60,416, so a high-need applicant should weigh the actual offers, not the published price.

BU hands you a target; Northeastern keeps it vague. BU reports an average admitted GPA near 3.9, and among the small group of enrolled students who reported class rank, 92% landed in the top tenth. Northeastern lists no single average GPA on its Common Data Set, though among the roughly 22% who reported rank, about 69% placed in the top tenth and 94% in the top quarter. Either way you want top grades in the hardest courses on offer; BU simply names the number.

With three early plans to BU's two, Northeastern opens more early doors. It runs binding Early Decision I and II alongside a nonbinding Early Action plan, so you can get in early without locking yourself in. BU sticks to binding Early Decision I and II with no Early Action option. Last cycle BU's Early Decision round pulled 6,854 applications and admitted 1,936, while Northeastern's drew 3,466 and admitted 1,492. Reserve a binding ED application for the school that already tops your list; Northeastern's Early Action lets you go early and keep your options open.

At about 22,695 undergraduates to BU's 18,805, Northeastern runs larger. BU keeps the more intimate teaching scale with a 10-to-1 student-faculty ratio next to Northeastern's 16-to-1. Both house nearly every first-year on campus and both hold onto and graduate students at a high clip, a 97% first-year retention and 91% six-year graduation rate at Northeastern against 95% and 89% at BU. What sets them apart is BU's smaller classes versus Northeastern's bigger, co-op-driven undergraduate body.