Duke announced today that it received 5,036 early decision applications for the Class of 2025, up 18 percent year over year.

With 840 students admitted, resulting in an early decision rate of 17 percent. The slightly lower than normal number of admitted students this year is due to more Class of 2024 students taking a gap year.

Click here for the news release.

The University of Notre Dame announced it admitted 1,672 restrictive early action applicants to the Class of 2025.  

A total of 7,744 early applications were received, up 6 percent year over year, resulting in an overall admission rate of 22 percent.    

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Harvard announced today that it admitted 747 applicants to the Class of 2025 under restrictive early action.  

A total of 10,086 early applications were received, up 57 percent year over year, resulting in an early admission rate of 7.4 percent. 

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Brown accepted 885 applicants to the Class of 2025 under early decision.  

Early decision applications totaled 5,540 this year, up 22 percent and resulting in an early admission rate of 16 percent.

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The University of Pennsylvania admitted 1,194 early decision applicants to the Class of 2025.  

Early decision applications totaled 7,962, up 23 percent year over year, resulting in an admission rate of 15 percent.

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Dartmouth accepted 566 applicants (including 21 matched through QuestBridge) to the Class of 2025 under early decision.  

Early decision applicants totaled 2,664, up 29 percent year over year, resulting in an acceptance rate of 21 percent.

Dartmouth anticipates these early admits will account for 49 percent of this year's targeted class of 1,150.    

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Yale announced today that it admitted 837 applicants to the Class of 2025 under Single Choice Early Action.

A record 7,939 applications were received, up 38 percent year over year, resulting in an early admission rate of 10.5 percent.  50 percent of applicants were deferred, 38 percent were denied, and 1 percent were withdrawn or incomplete.

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Johns Hopkins admitted 520 Early Decision I applicants to the Class of 2025.  

Early decision applications were up 11 percent for the year.

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The University of Virginia announced today that it admitted 968 early decision applicants to the Class of 2025.  

A total of 2,937 early decision applications were received, up 38 percent year over year, resulting in an overall early admission rate of 33 percent.  The resident admit rate was 39 percent versus 26 percent for non-residents. Early decision acceptances are expected to represent roughly 26 percent of the targeted class size of 3,750.  

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Emory University admitted 769 Early Decision I applicants to the Class of 2025. 614 were admitted solely to Emory College, 337 solely to Oxford College and 182 to both.

A total of 1,975 applications were received for admittance to Emory College, Oxford College at Emory or both.  

Click here for the news release.

Georgia Tech announced that it admitted 2,330 Early Action 1 applicants to the Class of 2025.  Early Action 1 is for Georgia residents only.  

Early Action 1 applications exceed 6,000, resulting in an admission rate of 38 percent.

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The University of Georgia offered 8,086 early action applicants to the Class of 2025.

A total of 20,901 applications were received, up 27 percent from the previous year, resulting in an admit rate of 39 percent.  

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Attention College Kickstart subscribers! We’ve enhanced our test-optional recommendation engine to help you better handle the growing list of schools going test-blind for the 2020-21 admission cycle.

Click Continue Reading below to learn more.

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 sampling of 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.  

College Kickstart subscribers: full listings of 2020-21 explicit merit scholarship deadlines and schools with generous merit aid are already incorporated into the product.

Click on Continue Reading below for the list.

Seniors—in search of a better way to navigate college admissions madness?

Take charge with College Kickstart!

Given a list of schools you have in mind and your academic credentials, we'll help you craft a personalized plan in no time flat. That includes:

• Ensuring your list is balanced and set up for success
• Capitalizing on odds-boosting early decision/early action opportunities
• Creating an action plan to minimize wasted effort
• Finding schools with great need and merit-based aid
• Tracking key application requirements

Better yet, we've enhanced our capabilities to help you better navigate the uncertainty brought on by COVID-19. That includes active tracking of test-optional schools, recommending situations where test-optional makes sense for you and where in-person or virtual interviews are still required or recommended. And if you haven't been able to take an SAT or ACT, you'll also be able to run College Kickstart with just your GPA or class rank.

With early admission deadlines looming, now's the time to let College Kickstart make a difference for you. It's easy to use, a great reality check and available for less than the cost of an application.