Here's our updated list of early decision and early action 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 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!

Here's our initial list of reported early decision and early action admission rates for the Class of 2024.

This list includes results from Barnard, Boston College, Boston University, Brown, Colby, Colgate, Colorado College, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Emory, Emory (Oxford), Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Lafayette, Middlebury, MIT, Providence College, Rice, Santa Clara, University of Georgia, University of Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Villanova, Washington University in St. Louis, Wesleyan, William & Mary and Yale.

Bookmark this page, as we'll be updating it frequently over the next several weeks.

Click Continue Reading for the list.

U.S. News & World Report released their 2021 college rankings earlier today.  Over 1,400 schools were covered nationwide and evaluated on multiple measures of academic excellence and outcomes to produce the final rankings.

This year's methodology includes consideration of new student debt metrics, social mobility and inclusion of test-blind institutions. The weighting of outcomes has also increased.

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. 

Most schools have completed their updates for the Class of 2025 admission cycle (2020-21), and several of the changes we've observed are worth noting. 

Roughly 25 schools have modified early admission options available to applicants this fall.  Notable changes include the temporary suspension of Restrictive Early Action at Princeton, the introduction of an Early Action 2 option specifically for non-resident applicants at Georgia Tech, a new Early Action option at Macalester and new Early Decision 2 options at Baylor, Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, University of Rochester and Villanova.

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.

As we entered 2020, roughly one-third of the schools in our coverage universe offered some form of test-optional admissions. That figure cleared 70 percent in June and is now hovering at 90 percent with the holdouts largely in the South, particularly the public universities in Flordia and Georgia.

To help you keep up with the changes, we're actively tracking test-optional policies for several popular institutions we cover. As always, the definition of "test-optional" varies by institution and often has strings attached so pay close attention to the details.

Click on Continue Reading to see our list of test-optional schools and the type of test-optional policy they employ.  For your convenience, we've included admit rates, test score ranges and links to each school's standardized test policy 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.

For 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.

Here's our initial list of reported overall admission rates for the Class of 2024. Results are now available for American University, Amherst College, Barnard College, Boston College, Boston University, Bowdoin, Brown, Caltech, Carleton, Colby, Colorado College, Columbia, Dartmouth, Davidson, Duke, Emory, Georgetown, George Washington University, Georgia Tech, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Macalester, Middlebury, MIT, NYU, Northeastern, Northwestern, Notre Dame, NYU, Oxford College at Emory, Princeton, Rice, Swarthmore, Tufts, Tulane, University of Chicago, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Villanova, Washington University in St. Louis, Wellesley Wesleyan 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.

The Coronavirus outbreak has caused many colleges and universities to cancel campus tours, information sessions and other admission-related activities.

To make life easier for you as you plan your spring break travel, here's the latest status on campus visit availability for several popular colleges and universities we cover.

As you know, the situation changes rapidly so bookmark this page as we'll be updated statuses regularly.

Click on Continue Reading below for the list.

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 the University of Richmond, 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 2019-20 explicit merit scholarship deadlines and schools with generous merit aid are already incorporated into the product.

Click on Continue Reading below for the list.

U.S. News & World Report released their 2020 college rankings earlier today.  Over 1,400 schools were covered nationwide and evaluated on multiple measures of academic excellence and outcomes to produce the final rankings.

Approximately 13 percent of institutions were reclassified to changes in the underlying Carnegie classification system in 2018.

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. 

For those of you that have been waitlisted at one of your top choices, here's a list of 2018 waitlist statistics for several popular private and public schools, along with notification dates and latest status where available.  

Our sample of waitlist statistics from 138 private and public institutions paints the following picture:

• On average, 11 percent of students accepting a place on a waitlist were admitted

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

• 57 percent of the schools admitted 5 percent or less

• 24 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 updated list of reported early decision and early action admission rates for the Class of 2023.

This list includes results from Boston College, Boston University, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Emory, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Middlebury, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Princeton, Rice, University of Georgia, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Villanova, Washington University in St. Louis and Yale, along with partial data from Barnard, Bowdoin, Columbia, Grinnell, NYU, Trinity College, Tufts and the University of Miami.  While Stanford has released decisions, results will not be released.

Bookmark this page, as we'll be updating it frequently over the next several weeks.

Click Continue Reading for the list.

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 the University of Richmond, 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 list of selected 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.  

Click on Continue Reading below for the list.

U.S. News & World Report released their 2019 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.

Social mobility indicators were added this year, while the acceptance rate was eliminated as a factor and others like expert opinions and test scores were reduced in weighting.

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. 

Here's our latest list of reported overall admission rates for the Class of 2022. Results are now available for American University, Amherst, Barnard, Boston College, Boston University, Bowdoin, Brown, Carleton, Chapman, Claremont McKenna, Colby, Colgate, Colorado College, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Davidson, Denison, Duke, Emory, Emory (Oxford), George Washington, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Hamilton, Harvard, Harvey Mudd, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, Lafayette, Lehigh, Macalester, Middlebury, MIT, Northeastern, Northwestern, Notre Dame, NYU, Olin, Pepperdine, Pitzer, Pomona, Princeton, Santa Clara, Scripps, Stanford, Swarthmore, Trinity, Tufts, Tulane, Union, 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 Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, University of Richmond, University of Rochester, USC, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Vassar, Villanova, Virginia Tech, Washington University in St. Louis, Wellesley, Wesleyan, William & Mary, Williams 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.