Are Ivy League schools overrated?  William Deresiewicz, who taught at Yale from 1998 to 2008, sure thinks so: 

Click here to read his article in the The New Republic, entitled "Don't Send Your Kid to the Ivy League."

Thought this article really captured the "zeitgeist" of college admissions today.  There's a vicious cycle at work where teens see 5% admission rates at Stanford and Harvard, and 90,000+ applicants at UCLA and start to feel it's a crapshoot so they end up applying to more schools to hedge their bets.  Of course, this just makes admission rates worse and so the cycle continues.

Where did the days of 3 applications and a typewriter go? 

Click here to read the article.

Today Harvard announced that it accepted 2,023, or 5.9 percent of 34,295 students who applied for admission to the Class of 2018.  This number includes 992 students admitted through its early action program.

The admit rate for applicants considered under regular decision was 3.1%, compared to an admit rate of 21% for students who applied early action.

Click here for the news release.

Columbia University announced today that it admitted 2,291, or 6.94 percent of the 32,967 students who applied for admission to the Class of 2018.  

Click here for the news release.

This afternoon, Yale announced that it had admitted 6.26 percent of its applicant pool to the class of 2018.  A total of 1,935 students were admitted from an applicant pool of 30,932.  

Click here for the news release.

Princeton announced today that it admitted 1,939 students, or 7.28 percent of its applicant pool of 26,641 to the class of 2018.  Of the 1,939 admitted, 714 applied through single-choice early action and were admitted in December.

Click here for the news release.

Dartmouth announced today that it offered admission to 2,220 students, or 11.5 percent of the 19,296 applicants to the Class of 2018.  Of the 2,220 admitted, 469 were admitted in December through its early decision option.  

Click here for the news release.

Brown announced today that it made 2,619 offers of admission for the Class of 2018. This represents 8.6 percent of the 30,432 students who applied.  Brown anticipates an incoming class of 1,560 in the fall.  583 of the 2,619 admitted were admitted in December through early decision.

Click here for the news release.

Cornell announced today that it admitted 6,014 applicants, or 14 percent of the applicant pool for the Class of 2018.  A total of 43,041 applications were received this year, up 7.6 percent from the previous year.  Of the 6,014 accepted, 1,325 were admitted in December through early decision.

Click here for the news release.

Today Harvard announced that it accepted 2,023, or 5.9 percent of 34,295 students who applied for admission to the Class of 2018.  This number includes 992 students admitted through its early action program.

The admit rate for applicants considered under regular decision was 3.1%, compared to an admit rate of 21% for students who applied early action.

Click here for the news release.

Northwestern announced today that it admitted a record-low 12.9 percent of applicants for the Class of 2018.  3,440 acceptance letters were sent Thursday to regular decision applicants, in addition to 930 acceptances to students who applied early decision.  The overall acceptance rate dropped one percentage point from last year.

Click here for the article

University of Pennsylvania announced today that 9.9 percent of its applicant pool of 35,868 were admitted to the Class of 2018. 

Click here for the article

Admissions decisions were made available to applicants for the Class of 2018 today.  1,419 were admitted from a total of 18,357 applicants for an overall admission rate of 7.7 percent.

Click here for the MIT news release

University of California admission decisions have started rolling out in earnest.  Here are the official dates for both freshmen and transfers:

Today the College Board announced a series of actions designed to expand access and level the playing field for all aspiring college applicants.  These actions include:

• A major redesign of the SAT format planned for Spring 2016
• A partnership with Khan Academy to provide free test prep materials in support of the new test format
• College application fee waivers for income-qualifying applicants

SAT changes include:

• Three sections: Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, Math, and Essay
• A return to the 1600 scale, with a separate score for the essay section
• Elimination of point deductions for wrong answers

Click here for the College Board press release or here for Wall Street Journal coverage of the announcement.