The Northeastern University of today has its eye on a deadline for 2008. Though five years away, work has already begun to reach eight goals set for the university in terms of enrollment and enticing the most talented students possible.

The Northeastern University of tomorrow has already surpassed five of these eight goals.

Not only is the incoming freshman class for the academic year 2003-04 more talented than ever in terms of academic excellence, Senior Vice President for Enrollment Management Philomena Mantella said the students are more passionate than ever.

“The interest is incredible. In my communications with prospective students and their families, the reason that they are choosing us, they are saying informally, that it is what we do in terms of co-op and integrating our academics,” Mantella said. “It is our campus and it’s the people here. They are impressed with our students. And they are impressed by our faculty and staff and how much we care about our undergraduates and how much we’re willing to partner. And they are saying that is above and beyond what they are experiencing at other schools. They are sure they are going to get this wonderful education because of what we do academically in the classroom and how we combine that with co-op.”

As of now, 3,300 students have paid deposits. Mantella said this is not the final class size as the university expects to experience “melt,” meaning the number will decrease, either from students who “double-deposited” or whose college aspirations change. By the fall semester, Mantella anticipates a class in the high 2900s, comparable to last year’s freshman class.

In terms of academic excellence, the mean SAT score rose from 1148 last year to 1201 this year. Mean GPA also increased this year from 3.17 to 3.5.

“I mean in many ways this class hits, in our university action assessment plan we have about eight goals that we try to hit with our entering class, and this hits about five of the 2008 goals,” Mantella said.

Some of the goals hit by this year’s incoming class include the number of applications accepted which increased by 26 percent, netting 21,500 applications in total. Mantella said the university’s goal was to get 21,000 by 2008, a goal that has obviously been met.

The mean SAT scores also eclipsed expectations to accept more students that were in the top 10 percent of their graduating class. The goal for 2008 was 28 percent, which was blown away by this year’s figure of 35 percent.

As for the 2008 university action assessment plan, Mantella said it is a trajectory plan that will help the university map its progress over the next five years.

The incoming freshman class is still concentrated in the Northeast, but the numbers seem to be spreading out across the Eastern Seaboard. The mid-Atlantic states saw the biggest growth with 32 percent, while 35 percent of the class is from Massachusetts.

An area where the university lost some ground was the international student population, with a 3.1 percent decrease of one percent from last year. Mantella said this year the university was shooting for five percent.

Mantella said that informally she has heard that other schools also saw a drop because of the war. Most schools are trying to recover from that as well as the compounding effects of September 11.

“We may have to intensify our efforts and look at new regions where sometimes, regions just do cut off, their visa requirements shift,” Mantella said. “So we’ll have to look at that a little more carefully.”

Diversity also saw a drop this year.

“In terms of diversity, 21 percent of the class [are minorities] instead of 22 percent last year. We made a big leap in our diversity last year and improvement even the year before,” Mantella said. “So our objective was to not lose ground [in] diversity as we went about achieving all of our other goals so, we feel pretty good about 21 percent [but] we’d like it to be 22 or 23.”

Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Ronne` Patrick emphasized that although the percents dropped, the size of the class as a whole, increased.

“Which really suggests that the next period, the next three or four months that you hold onto the class, becomes very important, particularly the smaller percentages you are trying to hit,” Mantella said. “If we lost eight international students we would have less than three percent. Which means we’ll have work to hold onto these achievement levels and to shape the class, I’m sure we’ll be focused on all of these numbers in terms of holding a position or improving a position.”

When Patrick and Mantella talk about shaping the class, they mean so in a very literal fashion. All 21,500 applications were read by full and part-time readers and each application was coded. What the university was most concerned with, Patrick said, were students who carry leadership traits, and being able to accept students who posses a wide array of talents and strengths.

“It’s no longer about admitting students who are academically eligible to be here,” Patrick said. “It’s about admitting students who are academically eligible who are going to contribute to the institutional goals who are going to make this an exciting campus, participate in our community.”

Patrick said that although the university is looking for academically strong students, and SAT scores and GPA rank high on the list of priorities, essays can be a student’s saving grace.

“It can make a difference. When we are reading an application, we are also shaping the class, we are looking for interesting people who will bring different things to Northeastern. We have essays, you read about the student and you become an advocate for the student.”

Patrick said that if members of the review committee see a student who they feel has a strong desire or a drive but the numbers don’t quite match up, the essay can play an integral part. If the essay is strong sometimes NU staff will call the student or a guidance counselor and speak to them directly.

If a question comes up, Patrick said she does not hesitate to pick up the phone and call the student.

“It’s more than just GPA and SAT scores. It is a very personal process. We are working very hard to make it an even more personal process.”

After crunching numbers and coding applications, the biggest surprise to both women was the overall interest. Based on other universities in the area, NU expected to see a five percent increase – instead it jumped 26 percent, which Mantella called “a real shock.”

“This is clearly the largest display of interest and the best yield across the board. The best movement in terms of becoming a more national institution,” Mantella said. “We’re feeling really good.”

Casting co-op, the campus and Boston aside, Mantella is convinced that students are coming to NU for one important reason.

“But they like us, they just … really like the people and I think that is very important as we continue to attract really talented students, and continue to attract them. That the human piece, the human aspect of Northeastern, remains.”