Columbia University announced it received 3,520 early decision applications for the Class of 2020, up 4.4 percent from the previous year.  The actual admission results were not provided.  

Click here for the news release.

Duke admitted 813 applicants to the Class of 2020 under early decision.  

The total number of early decision applicants grew 11% to 3,455 this year, resulting in an early admission rate of 23.5%.

Early decision admits will comprise 48 percent of this year's class, unchanged from last year. 

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Brown accepted 669 applicants to the Class of 2020 under early decision.  

The total number of early decision remained steady at 3,030 this year, resulting in an early admission rate of 22%.

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Northwestern received 3,022 early decision applications as of the November 1st deadline, an increase of approximately 12 percent from the previous year.  According to Michael Mills, the associate provost for university enrollment, the acceptance rate for early decision candidates is likely to be similar to last year.  Mills also expects early decision admits to make up 45-50 percent of the incoming freshman class.

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The University of Pennsylvania reported a slight rise in Early Decision applicants for the Class of 2020.  A total of 5,629 early decision applications were received this year, up 140 from last year.

Decisions will be posted on Friday, December 11.

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When does it make sense to take advantage of early admission?

Here's an article from the Boston Globe, complete with perspectives from admission directors from Boston College, Babson College, Wheaton College and UMass Lowell. 

Click here for more.

Here's an updated list of reported early admission rates for the Class of 2019.

This list includes several popular private and public schools, including Amherst, Bates, Boston College, Boston University, Bowdoin, Brown, Colby, Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Davidson, Duke, Emory, Emory (Oxford), George Washington, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Hamilton, Harvard, Harvey Mudd, Johns Hopkins, Kenyon, Middlebury, MIT, Northwestern, Notre Dame, NYU, Pitzer, Pomona, Princeton, Rice, Stanford, Trinity College, Tufts, University of Chicago, UNC Chapel Hill, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Williams and Yale.

Click Continue Reading for the list.

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.   

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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.