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19 September 2016

Notable Admission Rate Changes for the Class of 2020

Posted in Class of 2020

surprised-student

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 2020 and the Class of 2019. 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 is more muted.  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 safety into a target or target to a reach.  On the flip side, we have also identified a few schools where rates have gotten more favorable overall, or for a particular segment of applicants.  Regardless, take a moment to review the list—the last thing anyone needs at this point is a surprise.

College Kickstart subscribers: Class of 2020 admission rates are available for nearly 80 institutions and departments within those institutions in the latest release of College Kickstart.

Click Continue Reading for the list.

18 September 2016

At Last, Your Financial Aid Ordeal Has Gotten Easier

Posted in Class of 2021, Financial Aid

nytBeginning this year, you'll be able to file your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form as early as October 1st.  Here's a good article from the New York Times which details some of the changes you should be aware of.

28 August 2016

Colleges with Strong Engineering Programs

Posted in Your College List

teacher-classroomIn search of colleges and universities with strong engineering programs?

Look no further, we've identified 60+ schools that fit the bill.  To make the grade, we looked for public and private institutions that granted engineering degrees to 10% or more of its graduates last year and were consistently ranked highly by a variety of third party sources.

There are plenty of household names like MIT, Caltech and Stanford on the list, in addition to several lesser known gems.  If you're 100% certain about engineering, you might consider schools like Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering or Webb Institute, or if you're looking for engineering in a liberal arts setting, consider checking out Harvey Mudd, Swarthmore, Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh, Trinity or Union Colleges.  

To help you categorize schools into safeties, targets and reaches, we've included admission rates, mid-50th percentile SAT and ACT scores.  We've also provided links to each school's website to help you explore fit.

Click on Continue Reading for the details. 

11 August 2016

Common App Extra Essay Requirements (2016-17)

Posted in Your College List, Class of 2021

commonapplogoThe Common App for 2016-17 is now live, and we've just wrapped up our analysis of the real number of short answer/essay prompts required for each school.  If you've been through this process before, you know that just because a school lacks a writing supplement doesn't mean there are no additional essays to complete.  Many schools in fact simply embed these prompts in the main application itself.

This post summarizes the prompts required for 200+ Common Application schools in our coverage universe.  Our definition of a prompt is a question that requires more than a one word or one sentence answer.  It's not perfect, but it should help you gauge the amount of writing you'll need to get through over the next few months.  It'll also help you identify schools that you can apply to without the need for extra essays!

Click on Continue Reading for the list.

11 July 2016

Money Magazine College Rankings (2016-17)

Posted in Your College List, Class of 2021, College Rankings

moneymagMoney Magazine just released its college rankings for 2016-17. Nearly 2,000 schools were evaluated based on 24 factors along three dimensions: educational quality, affordability and outcomes. The result: 736 schools that deliver a great education at an affordable price, with good outcomes post graduation.

The top of the list:

Click here for the rankings or here for the methodology.

 

07 July 2016

University of California Fall 2016 Admission Trends

Posted in Your College List, Perspectives

ucHot off the press!  We've had a chance to review the Fall 2016 admissions data released yesterday by the University of California and thought it would be helpful to summarize it and our key findings.  

Long story short, overall freshman admission rates are up as the University of California makes good on its plan to enroll an additional 10,000 California undergraduates over the next three years.  And while the emphasis was on admitting more California residents for the Fall 2016 class, we suspect a "new normal" has appeared that creates more room for non-residents as well.  If you're an out of state or international student, pay close attention...there appears to be a window of opportunity to take advantage of favorable odds at several UC campuses.

Click on Continue Reading for the details.

06 July 2016

Forbes Releases 2016 College Rankings

Posted in College Rankings

forbesForbes released its list of top ranked colleges for 2016. 

The Forbes ranking methodology is driven by student satisfaction (25%), post-graduate success (32.5%), student debt (25%), graduation rate (7.5%) and academic success (10%).  

At the top of this year's list are:

  1. Stanford University
  2. Williams College
  3. Princeton University
  4. Harvard University
  5. MIT
  6. Yale University
  7. Pomona College
  8. Brown University
  9. Wesleyan University
  10. Swarthmore College

 

Click here for the full list.

29 June 2016

The Pros and Cons of Strategizing for College

Posted in Perspectives

strategizeHere's a great article from Willard Dix in Forbes about the pros and cons of strategizing for college. Long story short, there's no magic formula for getting into a dream school, so keep things in perspective, focus on the basics and try not to get too carried away!

Click here for the article.

09 June 2016

How to Tackle California's New Personal Insight Questions

Posted in Perspectives

campus admissionado 

The following post was written by Anna Carapellotti and appeared originally on the Admissionado College Admissions blog.

Those of you with your heart set on attending one of the Universities of California may have already noticed that they have replaced the personal statement this year with eight “Personal Insight” questions, from which you must choose four to answer. Each response is limited to 350 words, and their hope is that this format gives you a “clearer guidance and more flexibility in the kind of information you want to share.”

So, how should you approach these new questions? Let’s take a look at what they are and some strategies you could use to maximize your answers.

31 May 2016

University of Chicago Admits 2,482 Applicants to the Class of 2020

Posted in Class of 2020

uchicagoThe University of Chicago announced today that it admitted 2,482 students to the Class of 2020.  

Applications totaled 31,411, resulting in an overall admission rate of 7.9 percent.  

The reported yield for the Class of 2020 was 66 percent.

Click here for the news release.

 

17 May 2016

Excerpts from this year's best graduation speeches

Posted in Perspectives

obamagradCourtesy of CNBC, here are some nuggets of wisdom from several of this year's notable commencement speakers, including Sheryl Sandberg, Jane Goodall, Lin Manuel-Miranda, Mike Krzyzewski, and last but not least, President Obama.  Enjoy!

Click here for the article.

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