Is it significantly harder to get into MIT than Northeastern for college admissions?

Yes, MIT is significantly harder to get into than Northeastern. Both schools are selective, but MIT sits in a different tier of admissions difficulty, with a much smaller class, a far more self-selecting applicant pool, and an academic profile that is unusually concentrated at the very top. In practice, admissions officers and counselors would not view these two schools as similarly difficult reaches.

One major difference is the applicant pool itself. MIT attracts a very high proportion of students with exceptional math, science, and research backgrounds, including applicants with national or international level achievements. Northeastern also draws many strong students, but its pool is broader and less dominated by that kind of extreme academic specialization.

Another concrete factor is institutional scale and mission. MIT enrolls a relatively small undergraduate class and is highly focused, especially around STEM, which limits available spots and raises the bar for fit and distinction. Northeastern is larger and has more room across a wider set of programs, so even though admission can still be very competitive, the level of scarcity is not the same.

At MIT, top grades and rigorous coursework are close to the starting point, not the thing that sets someone apart, and many academically outstanding applicants are still denied. At Northeastern, very strong academics matter a lot too, but the admissions hurdle is not as extreme, so a high-achieving applicant is more likely to be in realistic contention rather than needing to stand out among an unusually concentrated group of near-perfect candidates.