Here's our updated list of early decision and early action notification dates for the Class of 2029.  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!!

 

U.S. News & World Report released their 2025 college rankings this morning.  Nearly 1,500 schools were ranked based on 17 factors, with the methodology mostly unchanged from the previous year.  

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. 

While the vast majority of institutions in our coverage universe offer some form of test-optional admissions, some have completely eliminated standardized testing from consideration—even if you submit scores.

Click on Continue Reading to see our list of schools offering test-blind/score-free admissions for the 2024-25 cycle. For your convenience, we've included admit rates and links to each school's standardized test policy details 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.

With the fall 2024-25 application cycle approaching, it's important to keep an eye on interview requirements for the schools on your list—especially if they're looking for evidence of demonstrated interest.  

For example in cases like Hillsdale College where interviews are encouraged and demonstrated interest is very important, it's a good bet that taking advantage of an optional interview — in-person or virtual — is worth your time and may more strongly weigh on your candidacy for admission.

To compile this list, we first surveyed every school in our coverage universe where the latest Common Data Set entry for "level of applicant's interest" was reported as important or very important.  We then identified the schools where interviews are offered, encouraged, or required. 

 The devil is in the details, so to help you figure out your strategy we've also included a link to each listed school's interview policy.  Do keep in mind that interview requirements may often vary by major.   Also 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.

This information is current as of 6/26/2024.

College Kickstart subscribers: this information is already available to you in the Summary and Requirements views.

 

Click on Continue Reading for the list.

For those of you who have been waitlisted at one of your top choices, here's our initial update of Class of 2028 waitlist notification dates and status where available.  

To get a sense for what's happening at the macro level, we took a look at recently released Class of 2027 waitlist statistics from 84 private and public institutions.  Our analysis paints the following picture:

• The number of students admitted from the waitlist increased 134 percent year over year from 19,000 for the Class of 2026 to 44,000 for the Class of 2027

• On average, 23 percent of Class of 2027 students accepting a place on a waitlist were admitted, down from 19 percent in for the Class of 2026

• Students admitted from the waitlist accounted for 15 percent of Class of 2027 enrollments, up from 8 percent for the Class of 2026

• 42 percent of the schools sampled admitted 10 percent or less of the students accepting a place on the waitlist for the Class of 2027 (vs. 67 percent for the Class of 2026)

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 reported overall admission rates for the Class of 2028. Results are now available for American University, Amherst College, Auburn, Barnard, Boston College, Boston University, Bowdoin, Brown, Bucknell, BYU, Carleton College, Colby, Colgate, Colorado College, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Elon, Emory, Fairfield, Florida State, Fordham, Franklin & Marshall, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Harvard, Holy Cross, Howard, Johns Hopkins, Lafayette, Lehigh, Macalester, MIT, Northwestern, Notre Dame, NYU, Oberlin, Rice, Santa Clara University, Swarthmore, Tufts, Tulane, University of Georgia, University of Miami, University of Richmond, University of Southern California, University of Tennessee - Knoxville, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Wellesley, Wesleyan, William & Mary, Williams College 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 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, along with the notification dates from last year.  Bookmark this site, as we'll post updates often.

Good luck, seniors!

Here's our updated 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!

 

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. 

While the vast majority of institutions in our coverage universe offer some form of test-optional admissions, some have completely eliminated standardized testing from consideration—even if you submit scores.

Click on Continue Reading to see our list of schools offering test-blind/score-free admissions for the 2023-24 cycle. For your convenience, we've included admit rates, test score ranges and links to each school's standardized test policy details 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.

Many students care deeply about the environment and sustainability and want to incorporate their passion about the Earth into their college experience. But how to choose a college that best facilitates that?

Colleges' commitment to climate action manifests in a variety of ways. Many colleges focus on implementing sustainability on campus, so students can rest assured that not only is their day-to-day life at the institution they attend eco-friendly, but also that their college is upholding a commitment to care for the environment alongside the students. Some colleges prioritize funding environmental research. Colleges tackle this from different angles, including politics, economics, engineering, ecology, earth science, and more. The research a college conducts is important for prospective undergraduates to consider because they will get to learn directly from the faculty responsible for such meaningful work and may even have the opportunity to contribute to the research themselves. Finally, although most colleges offer some course of study related to the environment, certain colleges go above and beyond, whether that be through the breadth of courses and educational resources focused on sustainability, the strength and rigor of one particular program, or the number of majors beyond environmental science that relate to climate action.

From a multitude of sources with differing perspectives and priorities, we've comprised a list of the 30 best colleges for climate action. Continue reading to learn more about each.

Here's our updated list of reported overall admission rates for the Class of 2027. Results are now available for American University, Amherst College, Barnard College, Bates College, Boston College, Boston University, Bowdoin, Brigham Young University, Brown, Bryn Mawr, Bucknell, Carnegie Mellon, Colby College, Colgate, Colorado College, Columbia University, Cornell, Dartmouth, Denison, Duke, Elon, Emory College and Oxford at Emory, Fairfield University, Florida State, Fordham, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Harvard, Holy Cross, Johns Hopkins, Lehigh, Macalester, Middlebury, MIT, Northwestern, Notre Dame, NYU, Pitzer College, Rice, Santa Clara University, Smith College, Swarthmore, Tufts, Tulane, University of Georgia, University of Richmond, University of Southern California, University of Vermont, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, VillanovaWellesley, Wesleyan, Williams College 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 who have been waitlisted at one of your top choices, here's our initial update of Class of 2027 waitlist notification dates and status where available.  

To get a sense for what's happening at the macro level, we took a look at recently released Fall 2022 waitlist statistics from 101 private and public institutions.  Our analysis paints the following picture:

• The number of students admitted from the waitlist declined 3 percent year over year from 26,000 for the Class of 2025 to 20,000 for the Class of 2026

• On average, 19 percent of Fall 2022 students accepting a place on a waitlist were admitted, unchanged from the previous year

• Students admitted from the waitlist accounted for 8 percent of Fall 2022 enrollments, down slightly from 9 percent for Fall 2021

• 62 percent of the schools sampled admitted 10 percent or less of the students accepting a place on the waitlist for Fall 2022 (vs. 57 percent for the Fall 2021)

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 2027.  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!

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.