Here's a useful series of articles from the Washington Post for those of you about to embark on the college admissions process.  It chronicles the admissions journey of a high school senior, Samantha Fogel, and includes perspectives from her high school counselor as well as parents.  

1. Getting started
2. Parenting the college applicant
3. The search process
4. Deciding where to apply first
5. How not to bomb the college essay 
6. Dealing with deferral
7. Making the college decision

The National Association for College Admissions Counseling released its 2014 State of College Admissions report last Thursday.  

We had an opportunity to review the 72 page report and took away some key points about overall application and early admission trends.  

The findings strongly reinforce the need for students and families to actively evaluate early admission opportunities as an integral part of their college plan.  

Click on Continue Reading below for the summary.

In this Los Angeles Times article, Carla Rivera writes about the rising number of college applicants taking advantage of early admission programs to remove stress and uncertainty from the admissions process.

The article also looks at early admission from the school perspective, and why/why not schools choose to participate.  

With admission rates falling and the number of early admission programs on the rise, we maintain that every college applicant needs to at least consider the possibility of applying early.  It may not always be appropriate, but when it is, it's a valuable way of maximizing odds and minimizing wasted motion for simply applying 60 days earlier than normal.   

Read the early admission article now

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.

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.

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.

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.

Colby College has admitted 188 Early Decision I applicants to the Class of 2019.  

A total of 373 ED1 applications were received this year, up 22% from the previous year.  The ED1 admission rate was 50%, down from last year's ED1 rate of 54%.   

Click here for the news release.

Early admission results continue to roll in.  Here's a summary of what's been reported as of 5:00pm PST December 20:

Middlebury College announced today that it admitted 280 early decision applicants to the Class of 2019.  

A total of 667 early action applications were received this year, down slightly (3%) from last year.  The early decision admission rate remained steady at 42%.

Middlebury expects admitted early decision applicants to comprise 40% of the targeted class size of 690.  

Click here for the news release.

The University of Notre Dame announced today that it admitted 1,400 early action applicants to the Class of 2019.  

A total of 4,700 early action applications were received this year, resulting in an early admission rate of 30%.  Total early action applications were up 4% over the previous year, despite the university changing its early action process to restrictive early action.   

Click here for the news release.

Northwestern University admitted 1,011 early decision applicants to the Class of 2019.  

A total of 2,793 early decision applications were received this year, down slightly from last year's record 2,863, resulting in an early admission rate of 36%. 

This year's early admittees are expected to comprise 49% of this year's targeted class.

Click here for the news release.

The University of Pennsylvania admitted 1,316 early decision applicants to the Class of 2019.  

With early decision applications up 6% from the previous year to 5,489, this year's admission rate fell slightly from 25.3% to 24%.

This year's early admittees are expected to comprise 54% of this year's targeted class of 2,420.

Click here for the news release.