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.

Here's our initial list of early decision and early action notification dates for the Class of 2028.  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 where available, as well as last year's notification dates for reference.   Bookmark this page, as we'll be updating it frequently over the next 30 days.

Good luck, seniors!

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? 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.

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.

Tired of Googling constantly for the latest application requirements? Look no further — let College Kickstart help you stay on top of your game. 

Hot off the press!  We've had a chance to review the preliminary Fall 2023 admissions data released recently by the University of California and we thought it would be helpful to summarize it and share our key findings.  

Overall freshman admission rates increased systemwide from 60 percent to 63 percent year-over-year, fueled by a 2.1 percent decline in applications and 3.3 percent increase in acceptances. 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 rates at a couple of UC campuses.

Click on Continue Reading for the details.

QUESTION: what happens when a college wants a balanced class but has to draw on a much smaller male applicant pool?

ANSWER: higher admission rates for guys!

We looked at several popular coed institutions and searched for places where there was a 20% or greater admission rate advantage for male applicants.  The result: an intriguing list of 12 schools to consider.

The majority of the schools on the list are liberal arts colleges, but you'll also be surprised to see names like Baylor and Cal State Long Beach.    

To help you categorize schools into likelies, targets and reaches, we've included admission rates, mid-50th percentile SAT and ACT scores.  We've also provided links to each school's website to help you explore fit.  

Click on Continue Reading for the details. 

QUESTION: what happens when a college wants a balanced class but has a much smaller female applicant pool to draw on?

ANSWER: higher admission rates for females!

Like our previous post, we looked at several popular coed institutions and searched for places where there was a 20% or greater admission rate advantage, this time for women.  The result: a list of 51 schools for qualified applicants to consider.

The list is dominated by institutions strong in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), but you'll also find some unexpected names like Grinnell College and Kenyon College.    

To help you categorize schools into likelies, targets and reaches, we've included admission rates, mid-50th percentile SAT and ACT scores.  We've also provided links to each school's website to help you explore fit.  

Click on Continue Reading for the details. 

Trying to understand how demonstrated interest factors into a college/university you're considering?  Then check out our list of institutions where demonstrated interest is deemed important or very important.  

To compile the list, we've identified every school in our coverage universe where the Common Data Set entry for "level of applicant's interest" is reported as important or very important.  Note that the Common Data set defines four options—very important, important, considered and not considered—and that inconsistencies are likely to exist in the way colleges define these terms.  

Nevertheless, the list remains a great way to get a better sense for where visiting a campus (virtually), taking advantage of an optional interview or completing an optional essay prompt may more strongly weigh on your candidacy for admission. 

Click on Continue Reading for the list.