Barnard announced a 24 percent increase in early decision applicants for Class of 2023.  

Overall, 1,235 applications were received for the year compared to 993 for the Class of 2022. 

Click here for the news release.

Johns Hopkins admitted 641 applicants to the Class of 2023 under early decision.  

A total of 2,068 early decision applications were received, resulting in an early admission rate of 31 percent.

Click here for the news release.

Columbia University announced it received 4,461 early decision applications for the Class of 2023, up 9 percent from the previous year.  The actual admission results were not provided.  

Click here for the news release.

Harvard announced earlier today that it admitted 935 applicants to the Class of 2023 under restrictive early action.  

A total of 6,958 early applications were received, resulting in an early admission rate of 13.4 percent. 

Click here for the news release.

Brown accepted 769 applicants to the Class of 2023 under early decision.  

The total number of early decision applicants was 4230 this year, up 21 percent and resulting in an early admission rate of 18 percent.

Click here for the news release.

The University of Pennsylvania admitted 1,279 early decision applicants to the Class of 2023.  

Early decision applications totaled 7,110, resulting in an admission rate of 18 percent.

Click here for the news release.

Duke admitted 882 applicants to the Class of 2023 under early decision.  

The total number of early decision applicants rose 19 percent to 4,852 this year, resulting in an early admission rate of 18 percent.

Of those admitted, 714 will be attending the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, while the remaining 168 will matriculate at the Pratt School of Engineering. 

Click here for the news release.

Oxford College at Emory admitted 256 Early Decision I applicants to the Class of 2023.

A total of 1,910 applications were received for admittance to Emory College, Oxford College at Emory or both.

Click here for the news release.

Emory College admitted 559 Early Decision I applicants to the Class of 2023.

A total of 1,910 applications were received for admittance to Emory College, Oxford College at Emory or both.  

Click here for the news release.

Princeton University admitted 743 single choice early action applicants to the Class of 2023.  

A total of 5,335 applications were received, resulting in an early admission rate of 13.9 percent.

Click here for the news release.

The University of Georgia offered approzimately 7,500 early action applicants to the Class of 2023 from a pool of nearly 17,000 applicants.

Click here for the article.

The University of California has extended the application deadline for those affected by the recent wildfires from November 30th to December 15th. 

Affected applicants MUST file a request for extension.  

For instructions on how to request the extension, click here.

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.

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 2022 and the Class of 2021. 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.

Unfortunately, this year's notable changes are all about falling admission rates.  Each of the schools listed have reported year over year application growth, and many cases this is coupled with a decline in admitted students.  While some institutions admitted fewer students to compensate for overenrollment last year, we suspect others have done so as a result of higher proportions of applicants being admitted through early decision/early action programs. 

Depending on how you categorize schools, the admission rate change may be enough to turn a likely into a target or target into a reach.  Regardless, take a moment to review the list—the last thing anyone needs at this point is a surprise!

College Kickstart subscribers: Class of 2022 admission rates have already been incorporated into the latest release of College Kickstart.

Click Continue Reading for the list.

With the fall 2018-19 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.