The University of Virginia announced today that it admitted 1,133 early decision applicants to the Class of 2028.  

A total of 4,465 early decision applications were received, resulting in an overall early admission rate of 25 percent.  The resident admit rate was 30 percent versus 18.5 percent for non-residents. 

Click here for the news article.

Harvard announced today that it admitted 692 applicants to the Class of 2028 under restrictive early action.  

A total of 7,921 early applications were receive, resulting in an early admission rate of 8.74 percent, up over last year's rate of 7.56 percent. 

Click here for the news release.

Yale announced today that it accepted 9.02 percent of applicants to the Class of 2028 under Single Choice Early Action.

At total of 709 acceptances were offered from a pool of 7,856 early action applicants.  20 percent of applicants were deferred, 70 percent were denied, and 1 percent were withdrawn or incomplete.

Click here for the article.

Emory University admitted Early Decision I applicants to the Class of 2028. 705 were admitted to Emory College, 364 to Oxford College and 205 to both.

A total of 2,704 early decision 1 applications were received for admittance to Emory College, Oxford College at Emory or both.  

Click here for the news release.

Duke announced today that it admitted 806 students via early decision (including QuestBridge scholars) to the Class of 2028.

A total of 6,240 applications were received, an increase of 28% from 2022, resulting in an early decision rate of 12.9 percent. 

Click here for the news release.

We're putting the finishing touches on the next edition of College Kickstart for High School Counselors and thought we'd give you a sneak peek.  In addition to expanded school coverage, more tags and improved performance, we've enhanced our test-optional and academic rigor capabilities, added decile analysis to CK 360™ and introduced a "standalone" version of CK 360™ for counselors in need of decision support tools to better advise students.

We're putting the finishing touches on the next edition of College Kickstart for Independent Educational Consultants and thought we'd give you a sneak peek.  In addition to expanded school coverage and more tags, we've enhanced our test-optional analysis and commentary and embedded hyperlinks into Personalized Plan PDFs.

We're putting the finishing touches on the next edition of College Kickstart for Students and Parents and thought we'd give you a sneak peek.  In addition to expanded school coverage and more tags, we've enhanced our test-optional analysis and commentary to help you decide whether to submit test scores.

The University of Georgia offered approximately 5,200 in-state early action applicants to the Class of 2028.

A total of 11,500 in-state applications were received, up 8 percent from the previous year, resulting in an in-state admit rate of 45 percent.  

Click here for the article.

Looking for a way to enhance admission odds without obligating yourself to attend?  Here's a list of colleges with early action admission rates that are at least 50% higher than their regular decision admission rates.  

Unlike Early Decision, Early Action is non-binding, so it nearly always works to your advantage.  And as the list shows, this advantage can be meaningful if you're a competitive applicant...all for simply applying 45-60 days earlier than normal.  

With most early action deadlines occurring in early November, the time is now to take a closer look. 

Looking for a way to enhance admission odds? Here's a list of schools with early decision admission rates that are at least twice as high as their regular decision admission rates.  

Because Early Decision is a binding commitment, it only makes sense if you're a competitive applicant, affordability isn't an issue, and you're absolutely certain it's the school for you. But as the list shows, there can be a meaningful advantage in applying this way if you are.  For example, at Barnard College, roughly 60% of the Class of 2027 was admitted through Early Decision, and the admission rate was 25% vs. 3% for those who applied via Regular Decision.  Or at Washington University in St. Louis, over 70% of the incoming class was admitted through Early Decision and the admission rate was 26% vs. 9% for those who applied via Regular Decision.  These are differences too big to ignore.

Note: most early decision deadlines occur in early November, so the time is now to consider if it makes sense for you. Click here for more information about early admission, and here to find out how College Kickstart can help you take full advantage. 

Did you know it's possible to be guaranteed admission to certain public universities based solely on your academic credentials?  

While institutions like the University of California won’t guarantee you admission to a specific campus, the good news is that most will based on some combination of class rank, GPA and test scores.

For example, if you’re a Texas resident interested in the University of Texas at Austin, a top 6% class rank will grant you automatic admission.

Better yet, assured admission often extends to non-residents as well. A 3.0+ GPA or Top 25% rank will assure admission to the University of Arizona, or a 3.25+ GPA will assure admission to the University of Kansas.

Of course, you’ll still need to complete an application and sweat the details, like making sure you’ve satisfied curriculum requirements and that your GPA is calculated appropriately. To help you understand the specifics, we’ve included links to program criteria for the public institutions listed.

If that’s still too much work, consider checking out College Kickstart. We track assured admission criteria for over 50 programs across the nation and will automatically flag situations where your academic credentials appear to meet assured admission criteria for schools on your list.  It's a great way to take some of the stress out of the process!  

Click on Continue Reading to see our list of selected institutions with assured admission programs.

Most schools have completed their updates for the 2023-24 admission cycle (Class of 2028), and several of the changes we've observed are worth noting. 

Roughly 30 schools have modified early admission options available to applicants this fall.  Notable changes include the addition of Early Action 1 at Marquette, Muhlenberg and St. Lawrence University, the removal of Early Decision at Virginia Tech and removal of Early Decision 2 at Baylor.

If you're considering early admission, be sure to check out our list as it may impact how you decide to apply this fall.   Note to our subscribers: the data has already been incorporated into the product, simply re-run College Kickstart to see how it impacts your plan.

Click on Continue Reading below for the details.

U.S. News & World Report released their 2024 college rankings yesterday.  Approximately 80% of the nearly 1,500 schools ranked returned their information, including 99 of the top 100 ranked national universities and 97 of the top 100 ranked national liberal arts colleges.

Significant changes were made to this year's methodology, including more emphasis on social mobility and outcomes and changes to weightings.

Princeton retains sole possession of the top spot for National Universities, and Williams College tops the list of Liberal Arts Colleges.  

Click on Continue Reading to see the rankings changes. 

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 USC, 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 2023-24 explicit merit scholarship deadlines and schools with generous merit aid are already incorporated into the product.

Click on Continue Reading below for the list.