Northeastern University Overview

Northeastern University is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Boston, Massachusetts. The location of Northeastern is great for students who prefer living in an urban area.

What Is Northeastern University Known For?

• The 2% student loan default rate at Northeastern is better than the national rate of 10.1%. That's a good sign that you may be able to pay off student loans easier than your peers at other schools can.
• Although it may not be available for every major, the doctor's degree is the highest award a student can attain at Northeastern.
• For the 2017-2018 academic year, 75% of the faculty were full-time.
• After graduation, Northeastern bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $67,400 a year. That's about 65% more than their peers at other schools.

Northeastern University Rankings

According to our 2022 analysis, Northeastern is ranked #77 out of 2,587 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation. Northeastern also holds the #12 spot on the Best Colleges in Massachusetts ranking.

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

Northeastern has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#44	Best Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#66	Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Northeastern.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#1	Best Human Services Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Other Public Administration Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#8	Best Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#10	Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#15	Best Law Enforcement & Firefighting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#15	Best English Language & Literature Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#16	Best Communication & Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#22	Best Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#30	Best Business, Management & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#39	Best Computer & Information Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Northeastern has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#8	Best Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting Schools	College Factual
#13	Best Physical Sciences Schools	College Factual
#16	Best Communication & Journalism Schools	College Factual
#27	Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Schools	College Factual
#30	Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools	College Factual
#61	Best Business Schools	Business Degree Central

Where Is Northeastern University?

Contact details for Northeastern are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115-5005
Phone:	617-373-2000
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/northeastern
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/northeastern

How Do I Get Into Northeastern?

You can apply to Northeastern online at: https://www.commonapp.org/

Admission Requirements for Northeastern

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	recommended
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into Northeastern?

The acceptance rate at Northeastern is 20%, which means the school is highly selective when deciding who will be admitted and who won't. Even if you have great grades and test scores, that may not be enough. So be sure to look for ways to make your application memorable.

Approximately 47% of accepted students are men and 53% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 21%, and the acceptance rate for women is 20%.

Average Test Scores

About 54% of students accepted to Northeastern submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 690 and 750. Math scores were between 720 and 790.

Northeastern received ACT scores from 31% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 33 and 35. Math scores were between 30 and 35. Composite scores were between 33 and 35.

Can I Afford Northeastern University?

The overall average net price of Northeastern is $57,809. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Northeastern, approximately 36% of students took out student loans averaging $8,697 a year. That adds up to $34,788 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Northeastern is 2.2%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Northeastern University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 15,156 undergraduate students at Northeastern, with 15,131 being full-time and 25 being part-time.

There are also 7,749 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 15,131 full-time undergraduates at Northeastern, 49% are male and 51% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Northeastern University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	2,629
Black or African American	621
Hispanic or Latino	1,375
White	6,796
International Students	2,426
Other Races/Ethnicities	1,284

Geographic Diversity

Massachusetts students aren't the only ones who study at Northeastern University. At this time, 48 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 146 countries are represented at Northeastern. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and Taiwan.

Online Learning at Northeastern University

In 2019-2020, 11,053 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at Northeastern has changed over the last few years.

Online Affordability Rankings of Northeastern

The following table shows how Northeastern is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Systems Engineering	#32	#32
General Engineering	#53	#53

Online Growth Rankings of Northeastern

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Northeastern University was 52.8%. This is the #645 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Northeastern regardless of major.

The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of Northeastern majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Criminal Justice & Corrections	24%
Engineering	8%
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting	24%
Systems Engineering	2%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at Northeastern ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at Northeastern.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Systems Engineering	#13
General Engineering	#15
Engineering	#55
Criminal Justice & Corrections	#146
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting	#197

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

Northeastern University Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
General Business/Commerce	939	0	156	0	1,095
Computer Engineering	109	0	577	11	697
Computer Information Systems	314	0	306	13	633
Mechanical Engineering	250	0	123	14	387
General Engineering	0	0	265	2	267
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	71	0	42	142	255
Electrical Engineering	84	0	140	20	244
Nursing	121	6	91	4	222
Other Engineering	64	0	139	3	206
Law	0	0	0	200	200
Economics	159	0	37	4	200
Industrial Engineering	68	0	110	6	184
Chemical Engineering	128	0	46	7	181
Civil Engineering	81	0	91	5	177
Communication & Media Studies	173	0	0	0	173
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	58	0	0	95	153
International Business	140	0	6	0	146
Political Science & Government	130	0	9	2	141
Health & Medical Administrative Services	129	0	0	0	129
Child Development & Psychology	112	0	6	6	124
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	118	0	0	0	118
General Biology	101	0	6	4	111
Accounting	0	0	111	0	111
Criminal Justice & Corrections	59	0	36	3	98
Mathematics	87	0	1	3	91
International Relations & National Security	78	0	8	0	86
Natural Resources Conservation	66	0	7	0	73
Finance & Financial Management	0	0	70	0	70
Computer Software & Applications	8	0	59	0	67
Design & Applied Arts	49	0	15	0	64
Systems Engineering	0	0	63	0	63
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	58	0	1	0	59
Chemistry	41	0	7	10	58
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	0	14	30	14	58
Physics	29	0	8	10	47
Computer Systems Networking	0	0	45	0	45
Sociology	31	0	8	5	44
Music	33	0	10	0	43
General English Literature	23	0	13	3	39
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	14	0	18	5	37
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences	34	0	0	0	34
General Architecture	33	0	0	0	33
Journalism	20	0	12	0	32
History	20	0	7	4	31
Architectural Sciences & Technology	0	0	28	0	28
Graphic Communications	1	0	26	0	27
Operations Research	0	0	23	0	23
Applied Mathematics	0	0	19	0	19
Legal Research	0	0	17	0	17
General Visual & Performing Arts	16	0	0	0	16
Human Services	15	0	0	0	15
Communication Sciences	5	0	0	9	14
Architectural History	11	0	0	0	11
Communication & Journalism (Other)	0	0	11	0	11
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	11	0	0	0	11
Philosophy	10	0	0	0	10
Public Administration	0	0	10	0	10
Pharmacology & Toxicology	0	0	8	1	9
American Sign Language	9	0	0	0	9
Fine & Studio Arts	7	0	2	0	9
Taxation	0	0	8	0	8
Information Technology	2	0	6	0	8
Public Health	0	0	5	3	8
Student Counseling	0	0	7	0	7
Environmental Design	0	0	6	0	6
Information Science	6	0	0	0	6
Robotics Engineering	0	0	6	0	6
Health & Physical Education	0	0	6	0	6
Biological & Biomedical Sciences (Other)	5	0	0	0	5
Entrepreneurial Studies	0	0	5	0	5
Allied Health Professions	0	0	5	0	5
Legal Professions (Other)	0	0	0	4	4
Area Studies	3	0	0	0	3
Systems Theory	0	0	1	2	3
Drama & Theater Arts	3	0	0	0	3
Other Visual Art	0	0	3	0	3
Landscape Architecture	2	0	0	0	2
Human Computer Interaction	0	0	2	0	2
Geological & Earth Sciences	2	0	0	0	2
Other Social Sciences	2	0	0	0	2
Urban Studies	0	0	2	0	2
Other Public Administration	2	0	0	0	2
Romance Languages	1	0	0	0	1
Medical Illustration & Informatics	0	0	0	1	1
Religious Studies	1	0	0	0	1
Anthropology	1	0	0	0	1
Public Policy	0	0	1	0	1
Business Administration & Management	0	0	0	0	0
Ethnic Studies	0	0	0	0	0
Foreign Language, Literature & Linguistics (Other)	0	0	0	0	0
Mental & Social Health Services	0	0	0	0	0
Liberal Arts General Studies	0	0	0	0	0
General Psychology	0	0	0	0	0
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	4,147	20	2,886	615	7,668

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By (User:Piotrus) under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.