Even as a first grader, Hana Nobel said her investigative spirit was what buoyed her pursuit in always “exposing the truth.”

So when it came time to pen her Northeastern admissions essay, Nobel said her topic came easily. While the New Jersey native could’ve touched on her community service – in high school she was heavily involved in helping children with special needs and with the crisis in Darfur – she opted for a less conventional path.

“I’m Jewish, so I had a really ridiculous essay about how in first grade, I attacked the Easter Bunny to show all the other kids that he was a fraud,” said the international affairs major.

Nobel said her essay was what helped her become part of the 35 percent of applicants admitted this fall, the lowest acceptance rate in Northeastern’s history, said Ronne Turner, dean of Admissions and New Student and Family Services. This is a slight dip from last year’s 39 percent of accepted students. For the 2008-09 school year, the university received close to 36,000 applications to fill 2,800 slots, she said. The volume of applications is the fourth highest in the country, a position Northeastern has held for three years.

Turner pointed to a variety of factors that contributed prospective students’ interest in Northeastern, which include its co-op program and location in a major metropolitan city. Nobel said she hadn’t heard of co-op before applying, but that it was important for her to have work experience in college. She’s looking forward to the opportunity to broaden her cultural horizons in Boston.

“I’m from a pretty homogenous town in New Jersey, so I’m excited to meet people from all over the world,” she said.

In recent years, the university has made a stronger push to increase its presence domestically and internationally. Turner said the admissions office dispatches officers in regions across the country and travels to about 35 countries around the world. This year, about 1,270 students outside the United States were admitted; a 100 percent increase from last year, she said.

Yet Northeastern has a relatively low profile outside of New England, Turner said. On the West Coast and in the Midwest, a network of regional coordinators and Northeastern alumni organize a series of high school receptions and interviews to introduce Northeastern beyond the local sphere.

Holly Jamison, a Los Angeles native, was mostly drawn to Northeastern for its co-op program, which she said “felt like that was going to get me really far in terms of my career.” She’s currently an undecided major, but she said she’s leaning toward graphic design.

Her high school extracurricular activities included Girl Scouts, drama club and basketball, but she said her independent streak is what she thinks set her apart from other applicants.

“I feel like I have a strong sense of self,” she said. “Not that I know who I am yet, because I’m still growing up