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!

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!

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.

Here's our latest list of reported early admission rates for the Class of 2020.

This list includes several popular private and public schools, including Amherst, Bard, Boston College, Boston University, Bowdoin, Brown, Colorado College, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Davidson, Dickinson, Duke, George Washington University, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Hamilton, Harvard, Harvey Mudd, Johns Hopkins, Lafayette, Middlebury, MIT, Mount Holyoke, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Pitzer, Pomona, Princeton, Scripps, Stanford, Tufts, Union College, University of Georgia, UNC Chapel Hill, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, William & Mary, Williams and Yale. 

Click Continue Reading for the list.

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 2020 and the Class of 2019. 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 is more muted.  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 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.

College Kickstart subscribers: Class of 2020 admission rates are available for nearly 80 institutions and departments within those institutions in the latest release of College Kickstart.

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.

For those of you that have been waitlisted at one of your top choices, here's a list of 2015-16 waitlist statistics for several popular private and public schools, along with notification dates and latest status where available.  

Our sample of waitlist statistics from 160 private and public institutions paints the following picture:

• On average, 17 percent of students accepting a place on a waitlist were admitted

• 58 percent of the schools admitted 10 percent or less of the students accepting a place on the wait list last year

• 41 percent of the schools admitted 5 percent or less

• 12 percent admitted no one

There are several factors driving the low rates, including the size of the waitlist (often very large), and how well a school anticipates its admissions yield. 

Click Continue Reading for the list.

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!

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.

Here's an updated list of reported admission rates for the Class of 2019. This update adds several popular private and public schools to the list, including Clark University, DePauw, Oberlin, Smith, University of Richmond and Washington & Lee University.  

Click Continue Reading for the list.

U.S. News & World Report released their 2016 college rankings earlier today.  Nearly 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. 

With your college list more or less finalized, give some consideration to early admission—many schools offer it and can be a terrific way to boost odds and minimize wasted motion.  All you need to do is apply 45-60 days earlier than you normally would. 

Here's a list of competitive 4-year institutions offering early admission to applicants.  Depending on the school, these options range from Early Decision (binding) to Early Action (non-binding) and Restrictive Early Action (non-binding with restrictions on where else you can apply).  

The first wave of deadlines is coming up in November, so take a quick look to see if any of your schools offer something worth considering. Or click here to find out how College Kickstart can help you fully capitalize on it.

An update to College Kickstart 2015 has just been posted! 

This release features a new Plan Highlights page to help you get organized and track admission requirements for each school on your list.  We've also added two new MixFixer™ filters to help you find safeties, targets and reaches with greater ease, and updated our database with the latest admission rates for University of California campuses.  

Click on continue reading for the details. 

In search of colleges with more intimate learning environments?

Look no further, we've identified 50+ schools that fit the bill.  To make the grade, each school has to have at least 70% of their classes with fewer than 20 students and a student/faculty ratio lower than 10:1.

The result: an eclectic mix of private liberal arts colleges and universities where teachers are more likely to know your name, including several institutions featuring tutorial-style or self-directed study programs.

We've included admission rates, mid-50th percentile SAT and ACT scores and links to each school's website to help you explore the possibilities.

Click on Continue Reading for the details.