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 2021 and the Class of 2020. 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.

Relative to last year, the number of schools with notable changes has doubled.  Unfortunately, the news from the majority of schools listed is not in your favor, and depending on how you categorize schools, the change may be enough to turn a likely into a target or target into a reach.  On the flip side, we've also identified a few schools where rates have become more favorable due to declining applications or expanded admissions.  Regardless, take a moment to review the list—the last thing anyone needs at this point is a surprise!

College Kickstart subscribers: Class of 2021 admission rates have already been incorporated into the latest release of College Kickstart.

Click Continue Reading for the list.

U.S. News & World Report released their 2018 college rankings earlier today.  Over 1,800 schools were covered nationwide and evaluated on multiple measures of academic excellence and outcomes to produce the final rankings.

Princeton retains sole posession 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. 

Here's our latest list of reported overall admission rates for the Class of 2021. Results are now available for American, Boston College, Boston University, Bowdoin, Brown, BYU, Cal Poly SLO, Carleton, Claremont McKenna, Colgate, College of William & Mary, Colorado College, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Emory, Franklin Olin, George Washington, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Hamilton, Harvard, Harvey Mudd, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, Kenyon, Lehigh, Macalester, Middlebury, MIT, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Oberlin, Oxford at Emory, Pitzer, Pomona, Princeton, Scripps, Stanford, Swarthmore, Trinity College, Tufts, Tulane, Union College, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, University of Florida, University of Pennsylvania, USC, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Vassar, Wake Forest, Washington University in St. Louis, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Williams and Yale.

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

Click Continue Reading for the list.

Here's our latest list of regular decision notification dates for the Class of 2021.  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!

Emory College announced today it admitted 5,172 applicants to the Class of 2021.

A total of 23,694 applications were received for the year, up 19 percent from the previous year, resulting in an overall admission rate of 22 percent.  

Click here for the news release.

Here's our latest list of early notification dates for the Class of 2021.  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.

Good luck, seniors!

Emory College admitted 474 Early Decision I applicants to the Class of 2021.

A total of 1,493 ED1 applications were received this year, up 9 percent from the previous year.  The overall ED1 admission rate was 32 percent.

Click here for the news release.

Here's our list of reported overall admission rates for the Class of 2020. We've included results for nearly 100 popular institutions, including American, Amherst, Babson, Bard, Barnard, Bates, Boston University, Bowdoin, Brown, Bucknell, Butler, BYU, Caltech, Carleton, Carnegie Mellon, Claremont McKenna, Colby, Colgate, Colorado College, Columbia, Connecticut College, Cornell, Dartmouth, Davidson, Dickinson, Duke, Emory, Oxford at Emory, Fordham, Franklin Olin, George Washington, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Grinnell, Hamilton, Harvard, Harvey Mudd, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, Kenyon, Lafayette, Lehigh, Macalester, Miami - Oxford, Middlebury, MIT, Mount Holyoke, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Oberline, Occidental, Pepperdine, Pitzer, Pomona, Princeton, Rice, Scripps, Skidmore, Stanford, Swarthmore, Tufts, Union College, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, University of Chicago, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Maine, University of Maryland, UNC Chapel Hill, University of Pennsylvania, University of Richmond, USC, University of Virginia, Union College, Vanderbilt, Vassar, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Washington and Lee, Washington University in St Louis, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Whitman, William & Mary, Williams and Yale.  

Click Continue Reading for the list.

U.S. News & World Report released their 2017 college rankings earlier today.  Over 1,800 schools were covered nationwide and evaluated on multiple measures of academic excellence and outcomes to produce the final rankings.

Princeton retains sole posession 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. 

The Common App for 2016-17 is now live, and we've just wrapped up our analysis of the real number of short answer/essay prompts required for each school.  If you've been through this process before, you know that just because a school lacks a writing supplement doesn't mean there are no additional essays to complete.  Many schools in fact simply embed these prompts in the main application itself.

This post summarizes the prompts required for 200+ Common Application schools in our coverage universe.  Our definition of a prompt is a question that requires more than a one word or one sentence answer.  It's not perfect, but it should help you gauge the amount of writing you'll need to get through over the next few months.  It'll also help you identify schools that you can apply to without the need for extra essays!

Click on Continue Reading for the list.

Emory College announced today it admitted 4,927 applicants to the Class of 2020.

A total of 19,924 applications were received for the year, resulting in an overall admission rate of 25 percent.  

Click here for the news release.

Here's our latest list of regular decision notification dates for the Class of 2020.  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.

Good luck, seniors!

A group of 80 higher education institutions called the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success will be introducing a new alternative to the Common Application in 2016.  Designed to level the playing field for college admissions, the Coalition will deliver free tools to increase transparency around admissions and financial aid and promote awareness and engagement prior to senior year.

Details to come later this year, with more insight expected at this week's NACAC Conference in San Diego.

Click here for the press release or here for the related article from the Washington Post.

The Common App for 2015-16 was posted earlier today, and we've just wrapped up our analysis on the real number of short answer/essay prompts required for each school.  If you've been through this process before, you know that just because a school lacks a writing supplement doesn't mean there are no additional essays to complete.  Many schools in fact simply embed these prompts in the main application itself.

This post summarizes the prompts required for 200+ Common Application schools in our coverage universe.  Our definition of a prompt is a question that requires more than a one word or one sentence answer.  It's not perfect, but it should help you gauge the amount of writing you'll need to get through over the next few months.  It'll also help you identify schools that you can apply to without the need for extra essays!

Click on Continue Reading for the list.

Given how aggressive 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 2019 and the Class of 2018. 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.

Unfortunately, the news from the vast majority of schools listed is not good, and depending on how you categorize schools, the change may be enough to turn a safety into a target or target to a reach.  On the flip side, we have also identified a few schools where rates have gotten more favorable overall, or for a particular segment of applicants.  Regardless, take a moment to review the list—the last thing anyone needs at this point is a surprise.

Click Continue Reading for the list.