AdmissionsConsultants College Blog

US News & World Report released its 2023 college rankings earlier this evening and Princeton University maintained its stranglehold on the top spot for the twelfth consecutive year. However, one did not have to look far to find changes to...

Princeton University announced it will offer full-ride scholarships to all applicants from families with incomes below $100,000. Previously, Princeton only offered these scholarships to admitted applicants from families with incomes below $65,000. To be clear, these full-ride scholarships will include...

Applications to the US Air Force Academy have been dropping at an alarming rate. While many other elite schools have seen record increases in applications, the military service academies have seen the opposite. Applications to the USAFA declined 28% last...

We don’t usually cover Greek fraternities and sororities. In fact, this may be the first-ever post on the topic for a company started in 1996! However, here we are. Let’s start a year ago, when USC banned all fraternity activities...

Yale and MIT were among the elite colleges that just lost their bid to end the class action suit against alleged admissions collusion. Judge Matthew F. Kennelly, a federal judge with the US District Court for the Northern District of...

A lawsuit filed in California Superior Court claims the use of the SAT and ACT tests is illegal for the University of California system. The case explains that standardized tests are biased and of little relevance when predicting academic success...

The University of California in-state acceptance rates rebounded in 2022 and, overall, were a bit above the in-state acceptance rates of 2019. This increase came even with an increase in applications to the University of California system and demonstrates the...

This year’s common application went live yesterday. Once again, it will be accepted by over 1,000 colleges and universities across the country. Last year, over 3 million college applicants used it. Chances are at least some of your school choices...

The Rochester City Newspaper published an article about a retracted letter of reference that was brought to our attention. The gist of the article is that a young lady at a private high school had a letter of reference retracted...

If you are against standardized tests such as the SAT, which just about everyone outside the test prep industry seems to be, you might be happy to hear that over 1,700 US colleges and universities will not be requiring the...

The University of Virginia announced that 1,109 applicants in the early decision round were admitted for its Class of 2026. The number of first-generation admits increased 68% just from last year. Nearly 3,500 ED applications were received this fall and...

The University of California made it very clear that it intends to maintain its test-free admissions for the foreseeable future when its senate rejected a proposal to allow students to submit their Smarter Balanced exam scores in their applications. Smarter...

Yale University received 7,313 early action (EA) applications for its class of 2026, an eight percent decrease from last year. Only last year’s Class of 2025 submitted more EA applications when 7,939 applied. While this year’s EA pool is a...

Stanford University announced it is extending its test-optional admissions policy for a third consecutive year in 2022-2023. The policy will apply to both freshmen and transfer applicants. The test-optional policy traces its origin to the COVID-19 outbreak and may be...

Amherst College announced it has eliminated admissions preferences for legacy applicants. Currently, 11% of Amherst’s admits are legacy applicants and the policy had been in place since the 1920s. Amherst has always maintained that the legacy admits adhered to the...

US News & World Report released its 2022 college rankings today and Princeton University held the top spot for the eleventh consecutive year. There was a three-way tie for second place between Columbia, Harvard, and MIT. Yale rounded out the...

For quite some time now, we have been blogging about the increasing trend of colleges becoming test-optional. According to the Times of India, over 1,600 US colleges are now test-optional and that represents over two-thirds of the country’s 2,330 bachelor-degree...

Niche.com ranked Stanford University as the most selective university for 2022. With a 4% acceptance rate and a widespread, national appeal, it’s easy to see how the school earned the top spot for this metric. However, please take this ranking...

Student admission workers at Hamilton College are seeking to unionize. Consequently, the United Food and Commercial Workers has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to represent the students. While we have previously blogged about graduate student...

An amended state budget bill introduced on Friday would see UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC San Diego all reduce the number of out-of-state and international applicants admitted. The result would be more in-state applicants admitted to these three top public...

The Insider is reporting that UC Irvine and UC Riverside have been favoring wealthy Chinese applicants by garnering special considerations to students from the Pegasus California School, an elite Chinese high school that “guaranteed parents, in writing, that every graduate...

The big news in college admissions this week is the College Board’s announcement that it is discontinuing its subject tests and the 50-minute essay section of its flagship SAT test. This announcement was not surprising and, in our not-so-humble opinion,...

Parents of younger children often ask us what sport should their child play to maximize their college admission chances. It’s a great question. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a great answer. That is if you define ‘great’ with a specific one-word...

Yale University admitted 10.5% of a record 7,939 early action applicant pool for the Class of 2025. This represented a 38% increase in the early action applicant pool of 5,777 from last year. Director of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan announced,...

On May 21, the University of California announced it was conducting a feasibility study for creating a new standardized test for college applicants. The UC further announced that if such a new test was not ready in time for the...

The University of Virginia received a record number of early decision and early action applications for its Class of 2025. The 2,918 early decision applications and 28,884 early action applications represented 35% and 15% increases over last year, respectively. It...

The ACT agreed to pay $16 million to California students with disabilities. This is the aftermath of the 2018 class-action federal lawsuit filed in California that alleged the ACT violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ACT did not admit...

Clemson University received a record $60 million gift from South Carolina real estate developer W.O. “Billy” Powers. Powers attended Clemson in the 1950s, but did not graduate from the school. However, he did receive an honorary doctor of humanities degree...

The Washington Post published an article about whether or not the pandemic-driven move to test optional will lead to permanent test-free admission. In other words, will colleges drop the SAT and ACT requirements after the pandemic ends? We will stick...

US News & World Report released its 2021 college rankings. Princeton, Harvard, and Columbia took the top three spots, respectively, in the national university rankings. Among liberal arts colleges, Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore took the top three spots, respectively. In...

Yale University saw a nearly sevenfold increase to 341 students who took gap years in the incoming Class of 2024. By comparison, only 51 students in the Class of 2023 chose to pursue gap years. This reduced the number of...

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman issued a preliminary injunction barring the University of California system from using the ACT or SAT for admission. Judge Seligman felt the test-optional policy gave college applicants with access to testing centers during...

The University System of Georgia announced it was waiving standardized tests for the Class of 2021 in light of the pandemic. As a result, the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech, as well as the 26 other colleges in the...

In the wake of the pandemic and the havoc it has wreaked on the availability of ACT and SAT tests, the NCAA has waived the test requirements for the Class of 2021 athletes at Division I and Division II schools....

The University of Notre Dame announced its incoming Class of 2024 remains larger than expected. The expected incoming class of 2,150 to 2,180 will be roughly 100 more than last year — the number Notre Dame was hoping to maintain...

The 2020-2021 Common Application launches tomorrow, August 1. The launch shouldn’t surprise parents who have previously worked with older offspring. The three main differences are the letter of reference mechanism has received a face lift, a new mobile app will...

A lawsuit spearheaded by Public Counsel through its project, Opportunity Under Law, against the University of California system is claiming that the UC’s new test-optional policy is discriminatory. Back in the spring, the UC Board of Regents voted to make...

Unfortunately, this weekend was a nightmare for many prospective college applicants. And not for the reasons that would probably jump to your mind immediately that may relate to the pandemic or the widespread civil unrest. Nope. This nightmare was strictly...

Faculty at Washington and Lee University voted to drop Robert E. Lee’s name from the school. Three tenured African-American faculty members voted to drop both Lee’s and Washington’s names from the school. Economics professor Jim Casey explained the rationale behind...

Dartmouth College is allowing Class of 2024 students to defer for one year. This should be great news for waitlisted applicants.

The admissions yield at Harvard University, which peaked at nearly 84% last year has dropped to 81% for the Class of 2024. While we have worried a drop was possible due to the extremely liberal leanings of the university and...

Northwestern University was one of two top colleges that announced they will not require the SAT or ACT from the Class of 2021 today. The other top college was Princeton. Princeton was the eighth and final Ivy League college to...

Harvard University was ranked the top university in the world for the ninth consecutive year by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR). The CWUR bills its rankings as the largest academic ranking of global universities. Their rankings are based...

The University of Southern California announced that it was offering free tuition to families with incomes below $80,000 starting this fall. The move should help USC attract more diverse and talented applicants and could, hopefully, kick off a new round...

Harvey Mudd has dropped the SAT subject test effective this fall. Hence, the Class of 2025 will be the first that won’t have to worry about the two SAT subject tests Harvey Mudd has traditionally required. Thyra Biggs, vice president...

Johns Hopkins made some waves when they announced they had quietly dropped their legacy admissions a few years ago. Furthermore, the school announced it was pleased with the results. The school claimed it was able to increase its diversity without...

Harvard University announced the early acceptance rate for its Class of 2024 climbed to 13.9%. Harvard admitted 895 of its 6,424 EA applicants yesterday. The 0.5% EA acceptance rate increase was the first increase since 2013. While Harvard admitted fewer...

The University of Georgia received 16,585 early admission applications for the Class of 2024. This was down just a bit from last year. However, due to a projected increase in applications, the EA acceptance rate dropped to 42.4%. The mid...

Our college admissions timeline has been updated for recommended applicant activities for November and December to help you stay on the right path whether you are a current applicant or prospective applicant for next year. As always, please don’t hesitate...

The college admissions scam has led California to legislate three new laws. The first law limits the timeframe within which colleges in California can admit applicants who do not meet their eligibility standards. Additionally, schools in the state must disclose...

The ACT announced some major changes to its test starting in September 2020. In efforts to make the test more “applicant friendly” — and more competitive in the standardized testing market — the ACT will allow students to retake individual...

Cornell University‘s College of Arts and Sciences announced that, with the “broad support” of its faculty, it was dropping the SAT Subject Test requirement. And, with that announcement, Cornell no longer requires the SAT Subject Test. (The subject tests are...

Earlier today, Stephen Semprevivo became the third parent sentenced in the college admissions scam. The same judge who sentenced Felicity Huffman to 14 days two weeks ago, handed down a four-month sentence to the Los Angeles-area executive. Once again, the...

Add Sacramento State to the list of schools that has accidentally admitted the wrong group of applicants. In their case, however, the students who were accidentally emailed acceptances were already on the waitlist. Furthermore, Sacramento State routinely offers many of...

Felicity Huffman was sentenced to 14 days of prison time for her role in the college admissions scandal that has dominated news headlines for the past six months. She was also fined $30,000, placed on a one-year probation and must...

US News and World Report has released its 2020 college rankings. For the ninth consecutive year, Princeton University held the top spot. Rounding out the top five were Harvard (second) and Columbia, MIT and Yale which all tied for third...

The New York Times published an editorial that calls for ending the current system of legacy admissions. For the record, let us unequivocally state that we too are against legacy admissions. To the surprise of almost no one, most Americans...

Colorado College announced it has become a test optional school for all applicants (freshmen and transfers) effective with applicants for the Fall 2020 term. Up until now, Colorado College employed a ‘flexible testing’ admissions model. In other words, applicants had...

Well that didn’t take long. The College Board admitted its adversity score was a mistake. Consequently, the adversity score is being shelved. Earlier today, David Coleman, the College Board’s CEO stated, “The idea of a single score was wrong. It...

We updated our college book review pages. We have reviews for books related to the college selection process, SAT test prep, SAT Subject Test prep, ACT prep, Advanced Placement prep, PSAT prep, financial aid and college success. Several times a year,...

Princeton Review released its 2020 college rankings. These rankings aren’t followed nearly as closely as the US News & World Report rankings that the colleges seem to care most about. The PR rankings do, however, cover 62 categories and involve...

When we haven’t been talking to applicants, we’ve been very busy updating the 75 school profiles of our top national universities, liberal arts colleges and pubic universities. While we update each individual profile at least three times per year, the...

The University of Pennsylvania received a record 2,951 transfer applications this past admission season. Consequently, the school also a record-low transfer acceptance rate of 5.9%. Of the 174 transfer applicants admitted, 116 will enroll this fall. Hence, Penn’s transfer yield...

Rowan College and Cumberland County College officially merged earlier today. The new college’s name is Rowan College of South Jersey. This merger is just the latest in a trend of mergers of smaller colleges. Financial pressures and declining enrollments are...

There is no shortage of federal investigations into the college admissions scandals. This time, a federal grand jury is investigating the admissions scandal at Harvard involving the fencing coach. It seems embattled head fencing coach Peter Brand now has more...

About a year ago, University of Chicago became test optional. It was an historic moment. Simply put, Chicago became the first top-ranked national private university to drop the standardized test requirement. Additionally, the school was open it did so with...

The University of Rochester became the latest school to go test optional. It became test flexible back in 2011. That meant applicants who didn’t take the SAT or ACT could submit another standardized national or international test such as an...

The College Board can’t seem to catch a break. Most recently, their adversity score didn’t exactly get the warm reception they must have anticipated. Now, we learn that the SAT Biology Subject Test was leaked. Bob Schaeffer, of the National...

Over the weekend, the New York Times reported the FBI is investigating the T.M. Landry College Preparatory School. If the name sounds familiar, it’s the private school in Louisiana that boasts of how many minority and underprivileged students it gets...

Currently, public universities are seeing enrollments drop by an average of 1.9%. However, Virginia Tech has a different type of dilemma. That is to say, it has too many students. The school received over 30,000 applications and made offers it...

Earlier today, the University of Virginia announced it was adding an early decision option for applicants beginning this fall. The application deadline will be October 15 and the notification deadline will be December 15. Furthermore, if you submit your financial...

We just released our newest video. This one breaks down the early admission options and helps you select the one that is best for your unique candidacy. We hope you enjoy it. You can subscribe to our Youtube channel by clicking...

The ACT has come out against the SAT’s adversity score. In a recent blog post, ACT CEO Marten Roorda confirmed the ACT will not be following this route. Let’s be clear. This is great news! The SAT has taken significant...

The non-profit College Board, which administers the SAT, is adding an ‘adversity score’ to test takers’ score reports. Quite simply, the College Board is concerned about how income inequality influences test results. The idea of the adversity score is to...

Georgetown University yielded 1,585 commitments from 3,206 admission offers for the Class of 2023. This resulted in a 49.4% yield. It is also a bit below last year’s 51% yield. As a result, the school will be turning to its...

Princeton University once again admitted 13 transfer applicants in its second year of reinstatement. This year, the number of applicants fell from 1,429 to 1,003. Consequently, the acceptance rate rose from 0.9% to 1.3%. Once again, Princeton clearly reiterated, it...

Harvard University saw its yield rise to nearly 83% for the Class of 2023. For comparison purposes, the esteemed university yielded 81.7% of its admits for the Class of 2022. We’ve seen one demographic turn down Harvard offers with any...

The Washington Legislature approved a plan that guarantees free tuition to all state residents with family incomes below $50,400. As a result, budgetary constraints will longer exclude any qualified residents. In other words, the waitlist for the state’s Need Grant...

College of the Holy Cross is inching away from its need-blind admissions policy. The school cited ballooning financial aid expenditures. In the last four years, those expenditures increased from $49 million to $67 million. It turns out Holy Cross has...

Siena College and Albany Law School have signed an agreement creating a five-year program that awards an undergraduate degree as well as a J.D. degree. To shave two years off completion time, admitted students will study year round. Additionally, they...

The University of Virginia is one step closer to opening its School of Data Science. Yesterday, the school’s Faculty Senate approved the school’s general structure. Consequently, the next step is to gain approval from the State Council of Higher Education...

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article about a new competitor to the SAT and ACT generated a lot of buzz. Additionally, it generated a lot of questions to us. The questions were mostly variants of, “Should my student take it?” First,...

The press is loving this. A seemingly endless cycle of college admissions scam news that currently captures the public’s attention. So, yesterday, federal prosecutors announced a former registrar at Delaware State University admitted to accepting $70,000 in bribes. Crystal Barr,...

William & Mary received a record 14,670 applications for its Class of 2023. (Actually, this was a very small increase over the 14,644 applications for its Class of 2022.) While the school didn’t give out much information, it made “over...

Haverford College admitted a record-low 16.1% of its Class of 2023 applicants. The school received nearly 5,000 applicants. These applicants represented 40 states and 32 foreign countries. Furthermore, 49.2% of those applicants self identified as students of color. Jess Lord,...

It seems Harvard University has become embroiled in its own college admissions scandal. Earlier this week, Harvard learned of a questionable real estate transaction involving its fencing coach. Various media claim the coach, Peter Brand, sold his home for nearly...

The University of Chicago admitted a record-low 5.9% of its Class of 2023 applicants. Additionally, the school received a record number of applications. Dean of Admissions Jim Nondorf simply stated the school received “almost 3,000” more applications than last year....

Dartmouth College admitted a record-low 7.9% of its Class of 2023 applicants this year. Dartmouth received a record 23,650 applications this year. This year, 51% of domestic applicants self identified as people of color. Additionally, 16% of the admits are...

The Cold, Hard Facts Columbia University admitted a record-low 5.1% of its Class of 2023 applicants. Additionally, applications rose to a record 42,569 from 40,203 for the Class of 2022. By comparison, the acceptance rate for that Class of 2022...

Earlier today, University of Pennsylvania released its regular admissions decisions for its Class of 2023. The overall acceptance rate dropped to 7.4% from 8.4% last year. However, while applications hit a record high, they only represented a 1.1% increase over...

Earlier today, Brown University released its admissions decisions for its Class of 2023. The university admitted 6.6% of its applicants overall and 4.8% of its regular decision applicants. Both of these acceptance rates were record lows. These are also significant...

Earlier this evening, Harvard University admitted a record-low 4.5% of its Class of 2023 applicants. The 1,950 admits represent every US state as well as 89 foreign countries. The Mid Atlantic was the most represented region at 21.7% of all...

Earlier this evening, Princeton University extended admissions offers to 5.8% of its Class of 2023 applicants. This acceptance rate is a bit higher than last year’s record-low 5.5%. Of course, that was due to a 7.3% drop in application volume...

Yale University admitted 2,178 applicants out of a record pool of 36,843. Consequently, its acceptance rate dropped to 5.9% from 6.3% last year. These admitted applicants represent all 50 states as well as Washington, DC and Puerto Rico. They also...

Cornell University extended admissions offers to 5,183 students a few hours ago. Cornell received 49,118 applications for its Class of 2023. This was a slight decline from last year’s 51,328 from prospective members of its Class of 2022. However, Cornell...

University of Virginia extended 9,726 admission offers to a record 40,869 applicants for its Class of 2023. This year’s acceptance rate of 23.8% is significantly lower than last year’s acceptance rate of 26.5%. This acceptance rate drop applied to both...

A record 30,017 prospective Class of 2023 students applied to the Emory University College of Arts and Sciences. Consequently, the acceptance rate plummeted from 18.5% last year to 15% this year. As Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Enrollment and Dean...

Middlebury College admitted 1,175 applicants from its record Class of 2023 applicant pool of 9,750. As a result, the school’s acceptance rate fell from 16.7% last year to 15.9% this year. For comparison purposes, Middlebury accepted 19.0% of its Fall...

The University of Southern California received over 67,000 applications for its Class of 2023. This year, the acceptance rate fell to 11%. For historic perspective, the acceptance rate was in the mid 40% in the late 1990s. Two years ago,...

Tomorrow marks the one-week anniversary of the massive college admissions scandal announcement. While the dust is obviously still settling, we see three early lessons, or takeaways. First, testing accommodations will likely become even harder to obtain. This one hurts. For...

What happened “The largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted.” Those aren’t our words. That is a direct quote from United States attorney, Andrew Lelling. The forty arrested participants read like a “who’s who” of Hollywood stars and wealthy executives. (Felicity...

Georgia Tech received 36,936 applications for its Class of 2023. That represents a roughly 4% increase from last year. Since the school isn’t growing its student body, the acceptance rate dropped yet again. Overall, the acceptance rate dropped to 18.8%....

It seems hackers broke into three college databases and tried to sell the application feedback to the applicants. The three colleges were Grinnell, Hamilton and Oberlin. Furthermore, the main commonality appears to be that all three liberal arts colleges use...

The Common Application and CollegeNET just agreed to a confidential settlement. And, just like that, nearly five years of antitrust litigation ended with a screeching halt. What we do know is The Common Application will “modify certain of its challenged...

Princeton University applications for the Class of 2023 dropped 7.3%. However, the 32,808 applications still represents the second highest application volume in the school’s history. We believe the drop is inconsequential. Furthermore, we believe Princeton will admit yet another very...

First of all, we strive to be politically neutral. We seek to avoid controversy. Furthermore, we simply wish to report facts. However, with all the recent news involving race in college admissions, we decided to address this in a blog....

Duke University announced its smallest tuition increase in over 20 years. The 3.9% increase should be more than offset by an anticipated 4.2% increase in the financial aid endowments. Click on the “Financial Aid” tab of the hyperlinked Duke University...

Applications to Harvard University rose 1.4% to a record of 43,330. International applications remained strong. Additionally, the application growth was strong in the South. Harvard also reported minority applications increased. Not surprisingly, applications from prospective computer science majors experienced the...

We received a call from an ambitious mother. She asked which vacation would be best for her daughter’s college applications. It was a bit of an unusual query. Consequently, after some open-ended questions, we learned the mother read an article...

According to the ACT’s latest report, “Rural Students: Technology, Coursework and Extracurricular Activities,” rural students suffer a distinct disadvantage. The lack of high-speed, broadband Internet access is hindering rural students. Specifically, this is affecting their ability to participate in online...

Middlebury College received a record 9,750 applications for its Class of 2023. Additionally, the school also received a record number of applications from students of color. Two regions drove the 5.6% growth in applicants. Firstly, there was a 16% increase...

The College Board announced students will be required to register for the Advanced Placement (AP) exams by November 15. Currently, schools must order their AP tests by late March and set their own deadlines for their students. Students who register...

Dartmouth College received a record 23,641 applications for its Class of 2023. Expanded recruitment programming and the revamped admissions website and social media platforms largely drove the 7.3% increase from the 22,005 applications received last year. Dartmouth expects the 574...

The UC Application now allows 2020 (Class of 2024) applicants to count computer science as a science requirement. Up to now, it has been counted as an elective. The expansion of the “Category D” choices will make it easier to...

Hamilton College received 8,338 applications. That is a 33.6% increase for its Class of 2023. Bear in mind last year’s 6,240 applications was a record as well! The school further reported that the applicants hailed from 49 states and 121...

Hampshire College, a small private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts opened in 1970. And it may be closing soon. This past Friday, its board of trustees voted not to accept an incoming class for this fall. However, the school...

University of Virginia admitted 6,550 of its 25,126 early action applicants for its Class of 2023. The 26.0% acceptance rate was down slightly from last year’s 27.5% acceptance rate. Early applications increased by 17%. Consequently, the school was able to...

The February edition of our Insider Edge newsletter will be published on Monday. In addition to exclusive savings offers, this month’s issue will include: Acing Your College Scholarship Essays! Why College Admissions Interviews are Important College Post of the Month...

Boston College announced that it will be replacing its early action admissions with binding early decision admissions starting next year for the Class of 2024. Are you are a high school junior with interest in Boston College? Now is the...

Boston College saw early action applications increase by over 53% from 10,350 last year to 15,862 for the Class of 2023. The average ACT score for admitted applicants increased from 33 last year to 34 this year and the average...

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill filed written documents in court asking that a lawsuit from the Students for Fair Admissions group be dismissed. If that group’s name looks familiar, it may be because it is the same group that sued...

Somerset County Judge Michael Rogers of New Jersey has ruled that a New Jersey teen can sue the ACT and the clause that limits test takers to binding arbitration (thus forfeiting their right to sue) is “unconscionable” and “void as...

The Common Application announced earlier today that the 2019-2020 common application essay questions will remain the same again this year. The organization cited “extensive counselor feedback” and “the added benefit of consistency” as the main reasons. For whatever it’s worth,...

Georgia Tech released its Class of 2023 early action decisions and admitted about 4,000 applicants. EA applications rose 12% to 20,289 and the in-state and out-of-state acceptance rates were 39.6% and 14%, respectively. Early action isn’t binding and, historically, Georgia...