The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA recently published The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2014, a survey of 150,000+ first-time, full-time students at over 200 four-year U.S colleges and universities.

The study covers a broad range of topics, including college admissions.  What's clear is that students are applying to more schools than ever, they're getting into their top choice schools less frequently, and that early admission is becoming a very important consideration in choosing colleges.  

Click on the Continue Reading link below details.

The University of Virginia reported earlier that it admitted 4,856 Early Action applicants to the Class of 2019.

A total of 16,092 EA applications were received this year, resulting in an EA admission rate of 30% overall.  Virginia residents accounted for 27% of the applicant pool and 42% of the admitted pool.  The early action admission rate for residents was 47% versus 24% for non-residents.  

Click here for the news release.

We're pleased to announce the availability of College Kickstart 2015 release 1.1.  In addition to updated admissions data for 75+ schools, this release features a new and improved MixFixer™ to help you "bulletproof" your college list with ease.

What's a MixFixer?

MixFixer is the fastest and easiest way to set your college list up for success.  It kicks in once College Kickstart has graded your list and recommended ways to strengthen it.  MixFixer does three things:

• It categorizes. MixFixer automatically categorizes every school in our database into safeties, targets and reaches based on school admission rates and your academic profile.  

• It filters. MixFilter provides filters to help you quickly narrow down your choices.

• It corrects. MixFilter helps you take corrective action by adding schools of interest to your list and re-running the analysis.  Improve that D- to an A in no time!

What's new?

This release includes several new filters that you've asked for, in addition to a new special filter that will help you locate "good value" schools:

• Filter by school size.  You can now filter schools by the total undergraduate population.  Three options are offered: small (<2,500 undergrads), medium (2,500-10,000) and large (10,000+).

• Filter by setting.  You can also filter by school setting: rural, suburban and urban.

• Filter by geographical region. You can narrow down schools by geography, including the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South, Midwest, Mountain and Pacific regions.

• Filter by indebtedness.  Is a public school cheaper than a private school?  Not always, after you factor in financial aid.  One useful way to figure out bang for buck is to find schools that leave you with little debt after graduation.  In other words, schools that are either cheap to begin with our schools that are terrific with financial aid and in particular, scholarships/grants.  Our new indebtedness filter looks specifically for schools that on average leave those taking financial aid with less than $20,000 of debt at graduation.  That's all four years.  Check it out, you'll be surprised by the results!  

Getting Started

To access MixFixer, run Kickstart and simply click on the Find Safeties, Find Targets or Find Reaches button in the List Check tab.

This article from Allan Schwarz of the New York Times highlights one of the downside impacts of modern day college admissions.  

In a survey conducted by UCLA of over 150,000 college freshmen, 9.5 percent of respondents reported having "frequently felt depressed" during the past year, up from 6.1 percent just five years ago.  A significant factor: being overwhelmed by schoolwork and other commitments.

Click here for the article.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reported today that it admitted 6,235 Early Action applicants to the Class of 2019.

A total of 17,149 EA applications were received this year, resulting in an EA admission rate of 36%.  

Click here for the news release.

Amherst College announced that admitted 172 Early Decision applicants to the Class of 2019.

A total of 482 ED applications were received this year, resulting in an ED admission rate of 36%. Of the remaining candidates, 187 were deferred to regular admission and 123 were rejected.   

Click here for the news release.

Vanderbilt University reported today that it admitted 22.5% of Early Decision I/II applicants to the Class of 2019. 

Click here for the news release.

Emory College admitted 478 Early Decision I applicants to the Class of 2019.

A total of 1,253 ED1 applications were received this year, up 9.6% from the previous year.  The overall ED1 admission rate was 38%.

Click here for the news release.

Emory College admitted 184 Early Decision I applicants to the Class of 2019.

A total of 453 ED1 applications were received this year, up nearly 50% from the previous year.  The overall ED1 admission rate was 41%.

Click here for the news release.

Several top colleges and universities—including the University of Chicago, Duke, Columbia, Bates, Washington University in St. Louis, UPenn, Vanderbilt and Yale—took the unusual step of extending deadlines to college applicants this past January.  This article from Janet Lorin of Bloomberg questions whether this was for the benefit of the applicants or out of self-interest to juice up their application submissions and fees.

At the heart of the matter is whether colleges have become too sales-driven in their quest for lower admit rates and higher prestige. One can't help but feel that we're in an arms race that's creating too much collateral damage in the form of frazzled college applicants and families. 

Click here for the article.

Common sense prevails!  The Obama Administration is relenting on their recent proposal to tax 529 savings plan withdrawals.  

Check out the latest New York Times article for the details.

The Obama Administration is proposing a significant change to 529 college savings plans—to make withdrawals taxable.  

Of course, this would apply only to new contributions, but regardless this feels like a terrible policy move for advocates of affordable education.

Check out this New York Times article for more insight and perspective.

Here's an article from Daniel Goldstein at Marketwatch entitled, "10 things the college admission office won't tell you."  It attempts to shed insight on topics such as grade inflation, essay authenticity, perceived exclusivity and need-aware admissions.

Click here to read the article

Several colleges are now attempting to cast a wider net with respect to financial aid.  The beneficiary: the middle class.  

This article from the Wall Street Journal outlines some of the initiatives being taken by public and private schools throughout the nation to earmark more grant aid to families earning between $65,000 and $150,000 per year.

Click here to read the article.

The title of this Bloomberg/BusinessWeek article leaves a lot to be desired, but it does correctly point out that affordability issues can often prevent applicants from applying to binding early decision programs because they won't be able to shop around for the best financial package.  

More importantly, the article does reinforce our strong belief that every rising senior needs to consider the possibility of applying early given how favorable the admission rates can be.  It may not always be appropriate—tools like College Kickstart can help you figure this out—but it should never be ignored. 

Click here for the article.