Amherst College announced today that it admitted 180 early decision applicants to the Class of 2020. 

Early decision applications fell 6 percent to 454, resulting in an early admission rate of 40 percent. Students admitted early decision will account for 38 percent of the targeted incoming class of  472 students.   

Click here for the news release.

George Washington University (GWU) announced last week that it plans to admit 841 early decision applicants to the Class of 2020.  

Early decision applications rose 30 percent to 1,373 this year, resulting in an early admission rate of 61%.  Students admitted early decision will account for 30-35% of the targeted incoming class of 2,500-2,600 studenets.   

Click here for the news release.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reported today that it admitted 6,948 Early Action applicants to the Class of 2020.

A total of 19,842 early action applications were received this year, up 16 percent from the previous year, resulting in an early action admission rate of 35 percent.  

Click here for the news release.

Bowdoin College announced that it admitted 207 early decision I applicants to the Class of 2020.  

A total of 614 early decision I applications were received this year, resulting in an early admission rate of 33%.   

Click here for the news release.

Cornell accepted 27.4 percent of applicants to the Class of 2020 under early decision.  

The total number of early decision applicants grew 7 percent to 4,833 this year.

Of the remaining applicant pool, 23.6 percent were deferred to regular decision and 50 percent were denied admission.   

Click here for the news release.

The University of Virginia announced today that it admitted 5,203 early action applicants to the Class of 2020.  

A total of 16,768 early action applications were received this year, resulting in an early admission rate of 31%.  Total early action applications accounted for over 50 percent of the total applications received for the year.  The targeted size of the class is expected to be approximately 3,675.  

Click here for the news release.

Boston College announced today that it admitted 2,700 restrictive early action applicants to the Class of 2020.  

A total of 8,600 early action applications were received this year, resulting in an early admission rate of 32%.  Total early action applications accounted for approximately one-third of the total applications received for the year.   

Click here for the news release.

Later today, a new report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education called "Turning the Tide" will be introduced.  Backed by 50 admissions deans and educators from well-known colleges and universities, the report recommends ways to tone down the frenzy of college admissions.  

Coverage is provided in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, but we find this segment from the CBS Morning News to be most insightful.  

We are excited to tell you that College Kickstart for Counselors is up and running and just in time as you gear up with your Juniors.

We appreciate the feedback from the counselors who participated in our pre-release pilot. Their suggestions were valuable and encompassed independent counselors as well as college counselors at private and public high schools. See what they have to say in these videos and quotes.

Tufts announced yesterday that early decision applications rose to 2,070 for the Class of 2020, up 12 percent from last year.  The institution expects to enroll roughly half of its targeted class of 1,325 through its two early decision rounds.

Overall applications grew to 20,160 as of January 14th, up 6 percent from the previous year.   

Click here for the news release.

In celebration of the new year, we've introduced several important refinements and a "premium" edition of College Kickstart for students and parents.  These refinements should make College Kickstart even easier to use, help ensure that schools of interest are likely to meet affordability constraints, and help you locate safety schools with generous merit packages.  

Click on Continue Reading below for more.

Confused about your new PSAT scores?  You're not alone.  Here are three articles we think can help you get a better handle on it all:

• An article from the College Board comparing the old and new PSAT formats
• An article from the Washington Post that explains what you need to know in simple, straightforward terms.
• An alternative article from examiner.com and Compass Education Group  

The University of California today announced freshman applications for the Fall of 2016 grew to over 166,000, up 5.2 percent from the Fall of 2015.  Transfer applications grew to nearly 40,000, up 11.8 percent year over year, resulting in a record 206,00 applications for the year.

All nine campuses reported increases in freshman applications, ranging from 4.7% growth at UC Berkeley and UCLA, to 11.8 percent growth at UC Merced.

Click here for the University of California press release, or here for the detailed breakdown by campus and residency.

Georgia Tech announced today that it admitted 4,424 early action applicants to the Class of 2020.  

Early action applications grew 27 percent this year to a record 14,861, resulting in an early action admission rate of 30 percent.  

Click here for the news release.