By Miharu Sugie, News Staff

The number of undergraduate applicants for Northeastern’s 2014-2015 academic year surpassed all previous years; those who applied are more geographically diverse, and their academic scores are higher than ever.

There were a total of 47,322 applicants for last fall, but this year, a record-high of 49,822 applied for fall 2014. Only 2,800 seats were open.

In addition to more high-level faculty and funds for research, Northeastern Vice President of Enrollment Management Jane Brown said that the university is attracting academically stronger students. In fact, the mean SAT score for admitted students rose to 1421 from last year’s 1400 and the mean GPA increased from 4.0 to 4.1, according to the university.

“Northeastern has a tremendous momentum,” Brown said. “What attracts students and others is the learning model that we have at Northeastern and the advantage students have when they can have when they integrate their academic work with real-work experience.”

As Brown said, the university’s co-op program has garnered much attention. Northeastern’s national ranking has risen in recent years. Last fall, US News & World Report ranked Northeastern No. 49 in the 2014 National Universities Rankings.

This type of publicity has attracted more international students, as can be seen in the Institute of International Education’s 2012 Open Door Report. Northeastern was ranked the seventh most popular higher education institution in the US, among international students. And the fall 2014 applicants show that the university is attracting more geographically diverse young adults. Last year, students from 143 different countries applied but this year, students from 156 different countries applied.

There was also an 8 percent increase in US applicants outside of New England, amounting to 75 percent of the applicant pool. According to Brown, there was an increase in applicants from areas near Northeastern’s satellite campuses in Seattle, Wash. and Charlotte, NC.

“Our activity in those areas have resulted in an increase in applicants,” Brown said. “People in those areas are more familiar with Northeastern and our programs, even though our campuses in those areas are for graduate students. But what we do see as a real advantage as an undergraduate is we are developing more co-op opportunities in those areas.”

An increasingly academically competitive and diverse class can greatly enrich Huskies’ college experience, according to Brown.

“Learning is about outside and inside the classroom and in both settings, you learn from each other,” Brown said. “With students coming in academically accomplished and in a number of other ways, that makes the intellectual community at Northeastern a very rich place to be.”