AdmissionsConsultants College Blog

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

According to the ACT’s latest report, “Rural Students: Technology, Coursework and Extracurricular Activities,” rural students suffer a distinct disadvantage. The lack of [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]