Admissions & selectivity
Northeastern University Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at Northeastern?
Northeastern’s reported acceptance rate is 5.2%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 5.2%
Source: College Scorecard · Fall 2024 admissions. Acceptance rates can change from year to year; this figure does not predict the current or next admission cycle.
Source: Northeastern University Common Data Set 2024-25, C1 · first-time, first-year students.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
Northeastern University admits 5.2% of applicants, a rate far below the median of 47.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported 98,397 applicants and 5,132 admitted students.
What SAT and ACT scores do enrolled Northeastern students report?
In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported that 24% of enrolled first-year students submitted SAT scores, ranging from 1450 to 1520. ACT submitters, who made up 7% of the class, ranged from 33 to 35.
Among enrolled first-year students who reported a class rank, 69% placed in the upper tenth of their high-school class and 94% placed in the upper quarter. Applicants should compare their own scores against Northeastern University's 1450 to 1520 SAT range and 33 to 35 ACT range as context, not as a minimum.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Northeastern. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
24% of entering students submitted SAT scores
- 25th percentile
- 1450
- Median
- 1490
- 75th percentile
- 1520
CDS 2024-25 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
7% of entering students submitted ACT scores
- 25th percentile
- 33
- Median
- 34
- 75th percentile
- 35
CDS 2024-25 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Source: Northeastern University Common Data Set 2024-25, C9 · Enrolled first-time, first-year score submitters.
Who enrolls at Northeastern?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 12.3%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 39.2%
- First-year retention
- 96.9%
Retention source: College Scorecard; full-time first-year retention.
About these student measures
The entering-student group includes part-time entrants as well as other attendance patterns.
An estimated 39.2% of undergraduates at Northeastern University arrive as transfers or part-time students, so many students begin their coursework elsewhere before finishing here. 12.3% receive Pell Grants.
The university enrolls 17,326 undergraduates overall. That combination means the campus includes both direct entrants and students who started elsewhere.
In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported 3,420 transfer applicants, 675 admitted, and 288 enrolled. Pell-eligible applicants should estimate their own net price using the cost calculator.
Completion and persistence figures are high for the first-time full-time cohort, with a 90.5% six-year graduation rate above the peer median of 80.0% for comparable institutions. The first-year retention rate is 96.9%, also above the peer median of 90.1%.
These measures describe returning after the first year and completing within six years, respectively. Pell recipients in that cohort have a 60.5% six-year completion rate, below the overall rate by 30.0 percentage points.
Enrolled students can expect that most first-time full-time classmates return for a second year and that the overall cohort's completion rate exceeds the comparable-institution median. High overall persistence and completion sit alongside a lower completion rate for Pell recipients.
Data & methodology
Sources and reporting periods: methodology.
Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.
Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.
Admission rates describe past applicants, not an individual’s chance of admission; confirm requirements and deadlines with the institution.
Figure notes link to sources and limitations. About College Azimuth.