Hot off the press!  We've had a chance to review the Fall 2021 admissions data released recently by the University of California and thought it would be helpful to summarize it and share our key findings.  

Overall freshman admission rates are down for residents, out of state and international students across the board thanks to test-blind admissions and an 18 percent year-over-year rise in total admits. If you're an out of state or international student, pay close attention...there continues to be a window of opportunity to take advantage of favorable odds at several UC campuses.

Click on Continue Reading for the details.

Honors programs are a terrific way for academically talented students to reap the benefits of a liberal arts education within the context of a large research institution.

To give you a better sense for how this can enrich your college experience, we’ve compiled a list of undergraduate honors programs from top public and private universities across the nation. We've included admission profiles where available, program benefits, whether an extra application is required and a link to each institution's offering for more details.

Click on Continue Reading to see our list of top undergraduate honors programs now.

For those of you who have been waitlisted at one of your top choices, here's a list of 2020 waitlist statistics for several popular private and public schools, along with notification dates and latest status where available.  

Our sample of waitlist statistics from 100 private and public institutions paints the following picture:

• The number of students admitted from the waitlist rose 97 percent year over year from 22,223 in 2019 to 43,867 in 2020

• On average, 29 percent of students accepting a place on a waitlist were admitted in 2020, up from 18 percent in 2019

• 33 percent of the schools admitted 10 percent or less of the students accepting a place on the waitlist last year (vs. 48 percent in 2019)

• 17 percent of the schools admitted 5 percent or less (vs. 29 percent in 2019)

• 3 percent admitted no one (vs. 8 percent in 2019)

These results come as no surprise given the uncertainty brought on by the pandemic last cycle. That said, we strongly caution against assuming a similar level of waitlist activity this cycle as much of this uncertainty is now behind us and most schools are resuming normal operations.

Be sure to bookmark this page as we expect to be updating status over the next several weeks.

Click Continue Reading for the list.

Here's our updated list of regular decision notification dates for the Class of 2025.  As many of you know, schools often post results in advance of their "official" notification dates, so we've compiled the most recently updated dates for you here, along with the notification dates from last year.  Bookmark this site, as we'll post updates often.

Good luck, seniors!

As we entered 2020, roughly one-third of the schools in our coverage universe offered some form of test-optional admissions. That figure cleared 70 percent in June and is now hovering at 90 percent with the holdouts largely in the South, particularly the public universities in Flordia and Georgia.

To help you keep up with the changes, we're actively tracking test-optional policies for several popular institutions we cover. As always, the definition of "test-optional" varies by institution and often has strings attached so pay close attention to the details.

Click on Continue Reading to see our list of test-optional schools and the type of test-optional policy they employ.  For your convenience, we've included admit rates, test score ranges and links to each school's standardized test policy to help you find suitable candidates for your college list.

College Kickstart subscribers, this is automatically updated and visible as part of the requirements view.

Hot off the press!  We've had a chance to review the Fall 2020 admissions data released recently by the University of California and thought it would be helpful to summarize it and share our key findings.  

Overall freshman admission rates are up for residents, out of state and international students across the board thanks to a 10 percent year-over-year rise in total admits. If you're an out of state or international student, pay close attention...there continues to be a window of opportunity to take advantage of favorable odds at several UC campuses.

Click on Continue Reading for the details.

Honors programs are a terrific way for academically talented students to reap the benefits of a liberal arts education within the context of a large research institution.

To give you a better sense for how this can enrich your college experience, we’ve compiled a list of undergraduate honors programs from top public and private universities across the nation. We've included admission profiles where available, program benefits, whether an extra application is required and a link to each institution's offering for more details.

Click on Continue Reading to see our list of top undergraduate honors programs now.

For those of you who have been waitlisted at one of your top choices, here's a list of 2019 waitlist statistics for several popular private and public schools, along with notification dates and latest status where available.  

Our sample of waitlist statistics from 132 private and public institutions paints the following picture:

• The number of students admitted from the waitlist more than doubled year over year from 9,882 in 2018 to 21,180 in 2019

• On average, 15 percent of students accepting a place on a waitlist were admitted in 2019, up from 7 percent in 2018

• 48 percent of the schools admitted 10 percent or less of the students accepting a place on the waitlist last year (vs. 70 percent in 2018)

• 27 percent of the schools admitted 5 percent or less (vs. 44 percent in 2018)

• 7 percent admitted no one (vs. 12 percent in 2018)

Given the uncertainty caused by COVID-19, we fully expect the rise in waitlist activity to continue for 2020 (Class of 2024).

Be sure to bookmark this page as we expect to be updating status over the next several weeks.

Click Continue Reading for the list.

Here's our initial list of reported overall admission rates for the Class of 2024. Results are now available for American University, Amherst College, Barnard College, Boston College, Boston University, Bowdoin, Brown, Caltech, Carleton, Colby, Colorado College, Columbia, Dartmouth, Davidson, Duke, Emory, Georgetown, George Washington University, Georgia Tech, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Macalester, Middlebury, MIT, NYU, Northeastern, Northwestern, Notre Dame, NYU, Oxford College at Emory, Princeton, Rice, Swarthmore, Tufts, Tulane, University of Chicago, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Villanova, Washington University in St. Louis, Wellesley Wesleyan and Yale.  Latest year application totals are available for many more.

Bookmark this page as we'll update frequently as more institutions report results. 

Click Continue Reading for the list.

Here's our updated list of regular decision notification dates for the Class of 2024.  As many of you know, schools often post results in advance of their "official" notification dates, so we've compiled the most recently updated dates for you here, along with the notification dates from last year.  Bookmark this site, as we'll post updates often.

Good luck, seniors!

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 2023 and the Class of 2022. 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.

This year's notable changes are primarily about falling admission rates with a smattering of rising rates at BYU and three University of California campuses.  For institutions with declining admission rates, much of this is attributable to year over year application growth and declines in admitted students.  While some institutions admitted fewer students to compensate for overenrollment the previous year, we suspect others have done so as a result of admitted higher proportions of applicants 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 2023 admission rates have already been incorporated into the latest release of College Kickstart.

Click Continue Reading for the list.

Hot off the press!  We've had a chance to review the Fall 2019 admissions data released recently by the University of California and thought it would be helpful to summarize it and share our key findings.  

Overall freshman admission rates are up for residents and steady for out of state and international students as the University of California continues to settle on a new normal that accommodates a larger mix of non-residents.   If you're an out of state or international student, pay close attention...there continues to be a window of opportunity to take advantage of favorable odds at several UC campuses.

Click on Continue Reading for the details.

Here's our latest list of reported overall admission rates for the Class of 2023. Results are now available for American University, Amherst, Barnard, Boston College, Boston University, Bowdoin, Brown, Carleton, Colby, Colgate, Colorado College, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Emory, Fordham, Franklin and Marshall, George Washington University, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Hamilton, Harvard, Harvey Mudd, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, Lehigh, Macalester, MIT, Middlebury, Mount Holyoke, Northeastern, Northwestern, Notre Dame, NYU, Oxford at Emory, Pitzer, Princeton, Rice, Santa Clara, Scripps, Swarthmore, Tufts, Tulane, University of Chicago, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Pennsylvania, University of Richmond, University of Southern California, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Vassar, Wake Forest,  Washington and Lee, Washington University in St. Louis, Wellesley, Wesleyan, William & Mary, Williams and Yale.  Latest year application totals are available for many more.

Bookmark this page as we'll update frequently as more institutions report results. 

Click Continue Reading for the list.

For those of you that have been waitlisted at one of your top choices, here's a list of 2018 waitlist statistics for several popular private and public schools, along with notification dates and latest status where available.  

Our sample of waitlist statistics from 138 private and public institutions paints the following picture:

• On average, 11 percent of students accepting a place on a waitlist were admitted

• 71 percent of the schools admitted 10 percent or less of the students accepting a place on the wait list last year

• 57 percent of the schools admitted 5 percent or less

• 24 percent admitted no one

There are several factors driving the low rates, including the size of the waitlist (often very large), and how well a school anticipates its admissions yield. 

Click Continue Reading for the list.

Here's our latest list of regular decision notification dates for the Class of 2023.  As many of you know, schools often post results in advance of their "official" notification dates, so we've compiled the most recently updated dates for you here, along with the notification dates from last year.  Bookmark this site, as we'll post updates often.

Good luck, seniors!