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Articles tagged with: UMass Amherst

15 July 2024

Great Colleges for Nursing Majors

Posted in Your College List

Nursing

Are you interested in pursuing a bachelor of science in nursing directly out of high school? These degrees can prepare you for the NCLEX-RN exam as well as prepare you for future nursing training.

Thousands of colleges across the United States now offer Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) programs that are available to high school seniors applying to colleges. In the last decade, as the number of BSN degrees offered has grown, the amount of open nursing jobs has also increased and is projected to continue growing by 6% over the next decade (Association of Colleges of Nursing).

We’ve put together a list of 28 great nursing programs using a variety of sources. Continue reading to learn more about each.

22 May 2024

Class of 2028 Waitlist Notification Dates and Stats

Posted in Class of 2028, Waitlist

UPDATE #3 (6/27)

Waitlist Trends (Class of 2026 vs Class of 2027)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.

02 April 2024

Class of 2028 Regular Decision Notification Dates

Posted in Class of 2028

UPDATE #23 (4/2)

student-questionsHere'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!

10 July 2023

Great Colleges for Climate Action and Environmental Studies

Posted in Your College List

Climate Action and Environmental StudiesMany 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.

22 May 2023

Class of 2027 Waitlist Notification Dates and Fall 2022 Stats

Posted in Class of 2026, Waitlist

UPDATE #2 (5/22)

Waitlist Trends (Class of 2025 vs Class of 2026)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.

03 April 2023

Class of 2027 Regular Decision Notification Dates

Posted in Class of 2027

UPDATE #66 (4/3)

student-questionsHere'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!

09 February 2023

Colleges Where Female Applicants Have an Edge

Posted in Your College List, Class of 2028

student-female

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. 

08 February 2023

Colleges Where Demonstrated Interest is Important or Very Important

Posted in Your College List

strategizeTrying 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. 

23 September 2022

Early Admission Plan Changes for the Class of 2027

Posted in Early Admission, Class of 2027

college kickstart logoMost schools have completed their updates for the 2022-23 admission cycle (Class of 2027), 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 switch from early action to restrictive early action at Caltech and the addition of early action at USC, Clemson and Florida State.

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.

25 June 2022

Class of 2026 Waitlist Notification Dates and Stats

Posted in Class of 2026, Waitlist

UPDATE #3 (6/25)

Waitlist Trends (Class of 2024 vs Class of 2025)For those of you who have been waitlisted at one of your top choices, here's our initial update of Class of 2026 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 2025 waitlist statistics from 120 private and public institutions.  Our analysis paints the following picture:

  • The number of students admitted from the waitlist declined 46 percent year over year from 61,000 for the Class of 2024 to 33,000 for the Class of 2025
  • On average, 15 percent of Class of 2025 students accepting a place on a waitlist were admitted, down from 32 percent in for the Class of 2024
  • Students admitted from the waitlist accounted for 13 percent of Class of 2025 enrollments, down from 27 percent for the Class of 2024
  • 61 percent of the schools sampled admitted 10 percent or less of the students accepting a place on the waitlist for the Class of 2025 (vs. 28 percent for the Class of 2024)

As expected, surge in waitlist activity brought on by the pandemic to more normal levels with the Class of 2025, as institutions worked through a surge in gap year deferrals, vaccinations kicked into gear and students were finally able to return to campus. We anticipate waitlist activity to continue to moderate 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.

24 March 2022

Class of 2026 Regular Decision Notification Dates

Posted in Class of 2026

UPDATE #47 (3/24)

student-questionsHere's our updated list of regular decision notification dates for the Class of 2026.  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!

30 June 2021

Class of 2025 Waitlist Notification Dates and Stats

Posted in Class of 2025, Waitlist

UPDATE #3 (6/30)

Waitlist Fall 2020 DistributionFor those of you who have been waitlisted at one of your top choices, here's a list of 2020 waitlist statistics for several popular private and public schools, along with notification dates and latest status where available.  

Our sample of waitlist statistics from 100 private and public institutions paints the following picture:

  • The number of students admitted from the waitlist rose 97 percent year over year from 22,223 in 2019 to 43,867 in 2020
  • On average, 29 percent of students accepting a place on a waitlist were admitted in 2020, up from 18 percent in 2019
  • 33 percent of the schools admitted 10 percent or less of the students accepting a place on the waitlist last year (vs. 48 percent in 2019)
  • 17 percent of the schools admitted 5 percent or less (vs. 29 percent in 2019)
  • 3 percent admitted no one (vs. 8 percent in 2019)

These results come as no surprise given the uncertainty brought on by the pandemic last cycle. That said, we strongly caution against assuming a similar level of waitlist activity this cycle as much of this uncertainty is now behind us and most schools are resuming normal operations.

Be sure to bookmark this page as we expect to be updating status over the next several weeks.

Click Continue Reading for the list.

16 June 2021

Top Artificial Intelligence Programs for Undergraduates

Posted in Your College List

Top Artifical Intelligence Programs for UndergraduatesInterested in studying “the skill of the century” and accessing a global market that is worth over $300 billion? Look no further than artificial intelligence (AI) and check out our latest list of colleges with strong undergraduate AI programs in the United States.

The term “artificial intelligence” was coined as early as 1956 and refers to the broad concept of making it possible for machines to perform human-like tasks, such as solving problems, making decisions, understanding language, and processing sounds and images. However, AI only became increasingly popular recently, and along with this rise in popularity came spikes in investment, which led to rapid growth in the AI industry.

Studying AI prepares students to solve problems across a variety of fields and introduces them to a huge job market that continues to expand today. Drawing from U.S. News, TechTarget, CSRankings, Computer Science Degree Hub, Great Value Colleges and Value Colleges, we've curated a list of some of the top undergraduate programs in artificial intelligence across the nation. This list also covers information about the overall admission rates and profiles, offered AI programs, curriculum, and research opportunities and facilities for each listed institution.

Click on Continue Reading to see our list of top undergraduate AI programs nationwide.

31 March 2021

Class of 2025 Regular Decision Notification Dates

Posted in Class of 2025

UPDATE #57 (3/31)

student-questionsHere's our updated list of regular decision notification dates for the Class of 2025.  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!

23 June 2020

Class of 2024 Waitlist Notification Dates and Stats

Posted in Class of 2024, Waitlist

UPDATE #3 (6/23)

waitlist1920indexFor those of you who have been waitlisted at one of your top choices, here's a list of 2019 waitlist statistics for several popular private and public schools, along with notification dates and latest status where available.  

Our sample of waitlist statistics from 132 private and public institutions paints the following picture:

  • The number of students admitted from the waitlist more than doubled year over year from 9,882 in 2018 to 21,180 in 2019
  • On average, 15 percent of students accepting a place on a waitlist were admitted in 2019, up from 7 percent in 2018
  • 48 percent of the schools admitted 10 percent or less of the students accepting a place on the waitlist last year (vs. 70 percent in 2018)
  • 27 percent of the schools admitted 5 percent or less (vs. 44 percent in 2018)
  • 7 percent admitted no one (vs. 12 percent in 2018)

Given the uncertainty caused by COVID-19, we fully expect the rise in waitlist activity to continue for 2020 (Class of 2024).

Be sure to bookmark this page as we expect to be updating status over the next several weeks.

Click Continue Reading for the list.

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