We're putting the finishing touches on College Kickstart for Independent Counselors and thought we'd give you a sneak peek of what's in store for 2018, including expanded assured admissions coverage, more flexible personalized plan printing and a 15 student plan.

With 2018 right around the corner, we thought it was time to give you a sneak peek of some of the cool new capabilities we've got in store for rising seniors and parents this January.   

Here's a good article from the New York Times that sheds some light on the various competiing objectives that colleges need to balance in their admissions processes and how colleges like Connecticut College, Olin College of Engineering, MIT and Yale are exploring new ways to create more holistic pictures of applicants within that context.

Click here for the article.

With the University of California application now open for submissions, it's time to make sure everything is in order.  

Here are six tips for freshman applicants, courtesy of the University of California:

Here's another useful post from Will Dix regarding the need for clarity from colleges when it comes to test-optional admissions and when to take advantage of it.  The post, entitled Hofstra Opts For Application Clarity Over Obscurity (Other Schools Should, Too), commends Hofstra for providing unusually clear recommendations for when it makes sense to submit test scores and when it doesn't.  

Click here to check out the article and recommendations.  We think you may find this helpful as you consider what to do for test-optional schools on your list.

The University of California announced today that it is accepting extensions for Fall 2018 applicants affected by natural disasters.  

For those requesting the extension, the deadline will be extended from November 30, 2017 to December 15, 2017.  You will need to email your request to ucinfo@applyucsupport.net with the header "Extension Request – Weather/Fire Event" and provide context in the "Additional Comments" area of the Personal Insight section.

Click here for the details.

If you're in the hunt for merit scholarships, be sure to stay on top of explicit deadlines a school on your list might have.

In some cases, like Boston University and the University of Richmond, it's a hard deadline that you have to meet in order for you to be considered at all.  In others, like Indiana University and many other public institutions, it's a "priority" deadline that maximizes your chances of merit aid before the money runs out.  Either way, merit aid continues to be an excellent way for good students to defray the cost of an education.  

We've compiled a list of selected schools in our coverage universe with explicit deadlines, along with some stats to help you gauge the size and breadth of the institution's merit offerings.  We've also included links to each school's scholarship page for easy access to the details.

Most of these schools automatically consider you for merit scholarships without the need for an additional application.  

Click on Continue Reading below for the list.

Here's our latest list of reported early admission rates for the Class of 2021.

This list includes several popular private and public schools, including Barnard, Boston College, Boston University, Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Claremont McKenna, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Davidson, Duke, Emory, Emory (Oxford), Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Hamilton, Harvard, Harvey Mudd, Johns Hopkins, Middlebury, MIT, Northwestern, Notre Dame, NYU, Pitzer, Pomona, Princeton, Rice, Scripps, Trinity College, University of Georgia, UMass Amherst, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virgina, Vanderbilt, Wesleyan, William & Mary, Williams and Yale. 

Stanford and the University of Chicago don't plan to release statistics until the end of the admissions cycle.

Click Continue Reading for the list.

All admissions data updates are now complete for the 2017-18 application cycle. As always, we've enriched the data in several ways to make College Kickstart even more effective for you as you finalize your college plans.  This includes the incorporation of key 2017-18 admission plan changes and application requirements, more departmental coverage and more resident/non-resident admission rates for the public institutions we cover.  Better yet, we've incorporated the latest Class of 2021 admission rates for several institutions we track, many of which have material year-over-year changes you probably don't want to be surprised by.

Click on continue reading for the details.

Given how sophisticated colleges have become in recruiting applicants, it's dangerous to rely on old admissions data.  

We've taken a look at our coverage universe and identified schools with notable admission rate differences between the Class of 2021 and the Class of 2020. In addition to providing the admission rates, we've included some commentary to explain why as well as a link back to the source article.

Relative to last year, the number of schools with notable changes has doubled.  Unfortunately, the news from the majority of schools listed is not in your favor, and depending on how you categorize schools, the change may be enough to turn a likely into a target or target into a reach.  On the flip side, we've also identified a few schools where rates have become more favorable due to declining applications or expanded admissions.  Regardless, take a moment to review the list—the last thing anyone needs at this point is a surprise!

College Kickstart subscribers: Class of 2021 admission rates have already been incorporated into the latest release of College Kickstart.

Click Continue Reading for the list.

With the fall application cycle now in full swing, it's important to keep an eye on interview requirements for the schools on your list—especially if they're looking for evidence of demonstrated interest.  

To make this easier for you, we've compiled a list of popular schools where interviews are required or strongly recommended, along with the degree to which the institution considers demonstrated interest as part of the evaluation.  

In cases like Hillsdale College where interviews are highly recommended and demonstrated interest is very important, it's a good bet than an interview is worth your time.  On the flip side, if interviews are optional and demonstrated interest isn't considered, booking an interview is less critical.  The devil is in the details, so to help you figure out your strategy we've also included a link to each listed school's interview policy.  Do keep in mind that interview requirements may often vary by major.

Click on Continue Reading for the list.

U.S. News & World Report released their 2018 college rankings earlier today.  Over 1,800 schools were covered nationwide and evaluated on multiple measures of academic excellence and outcomes to produce the final rankings.

Princeton retains sole posession of the top spot for National Universities, and Williams College tops the list of Liberal Arts Colleges.  

Click on Continue Reading to see the rankings changes. 

Tired of Googling constantly for the latest application requirements? Look no further — let College Kickstart help you stay on top of your game. 

In search of schools with no extra Common App essays?  Look no further, check out our list of popular schools here, updated for the 2017-18 application season.  

The list includes schools that simply require the base essay as well as others offering "optional" essays which you might want to complete anyway to strengthen your application.  If you're a student or parent with a College Kickstart Plus or Premium subscription, this information is already available to you as part of our application requirements tracking feature.

Click on Continue Reading for the list.

Still looking for essay ideas?  Check out this article from the New York Times for tips on how to create a winning essay admissions officers will love.   

Click here for the article.