Admissions Blog

Undergraduate Admissions Uncensored

Notre Dame Now Accepting Summer 2023 Pre-College Program Applications

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Applications for Summer 2023 programming on University of Notre Dame’s campus, online, and abroad are now live – even though it’s only October 2022!

High school freshmen, sophomores, and juniors are eligible to apply for these programs, which introduce participants to college life, give students a chance to earn college credit, and provide Notre Dame a valuable revenue stream. With that said, financial aid and grants are also available.

The selection of programs is quite impressive, and now that the shadow of the pandemic has lifted, I encourage students who are interested to take a serious look at Notre Dame’s impressive international offerings in Italy, South Africa, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Yet, the Indiana-based and online programming offerings are intriguing as well since they seem to be taught by Notre Dame faculty. The most important consideration of students making summer plans is to engage in challenging opportunities in which they have real interest. Sometimes that interest is new and can’t be explored during the school year. Other times that interest is ongoing and the opportunity represents a new way to pursue it relative to the way the student has pursued it so far. In either case, the student will get more out of the experience if he or she is truly invested in the content the program is going to explore, and Notre Dame certainly provides a lot of content that would be interesting to a lot of students.

Related: How to Avoid Bad-Pre-College Programs

Often the most selective summer programs fill up by December of January; therefore, if certain summer programs with Notre Dame or other universities are of interest to you, remember the oft-repeated maxim, “the early bird gets the worm,” and don’t wait to apply tomorrow – do it today. Good luck.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Impressive Acceptance Rate Transparency

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Let’s face it, these days so much of the world of undergraduate admissions is smoke a mirrors. Which makes it particularly noteworthy when a big institution like University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign goes out of its way to be transparent about the fact that it’s a university made up of many different acceptance rates, not just one top-line number. As this site has pointed out for years, many colleges like to cherry pick data to impress or intimidate, which leaves those in the know to have to explain there’s often more to the story. If only more colleges behaved as transparently as University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)!

Acknowledging that it’s first year on the Common App shook things up quite a bit, UIUC has now officially shared that received over 63,000 applications, during the 2021-2022 admissions cycle, which is a robust thirty-three percent increase over the 2020-2021 admissions cycle, which was UIUC’s last pre-Common App. As a result, UIUC became much more selective statistically: it only admitted admitting forty-five percent of applicants during the 2021-2022 admissions cycle compared to roughy sixty percent of applicants during the 2020-2021 admissions cycle. In fact, Director of Undergraduate Admissions, Andy Borst, shared, “We came in over our original target, and more international students accepted their offer of admission and enrolled than what we anticipated.”

UIUC now publishes its admit rate by college and for its Computer Science-related programs. Check out these numbers for 2021-2022:

College Admit Rates (First-Choice Major Only)

College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences: 42.8%

College of Applied Health Sciences: 45.5%

College of Education: 51.7%

College of Fine & Applied Arts: 49.5%

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences: 49.8%

College of Media: 38.4%

Division of General Studies: 48.9%

Gies College of Business: 27.0%

Grainger College of Engineering: 23.0%

School of Information Sciences: 68.1%

School of Social Work: 46.9%

Computer Science Programs

Computer Science: 6.7%

Computer Science + X Programs: 25.4%

In terms of acceptance rate by residency, another trove of data colleges routinely hide from the general public, UIUC is not shy about laying it all out there:

Residency Applicants Admits Acceptance Rate
Illinois Resident 25,944 14,589 56.20%
Non-Resident 21,216 7,749 36.50%
International 16,097 6,016 37.40%

While UIUC remains test optional, the university also revealed the percentage of applicants who submitted ACT or SAT scores by college. Over seventy percent of accepted Engineering applicants submitted test scores while fewer than thirty percent of accepted Education and Social Work applicants submitted scores. Wow! Even with these vast disparities, the middle fifty percent of accepted Engineering students earned between 1440 and 1530 while the middle fifty percent of Education students earned between 1220 and 1365 and the middle fifty percent of Social Work students earned between 1260 and 1420. Very interesting indeed!

Borst added, “We encourage students to apply for programs in which they plan to enroll, if admitted. We will only consider students for their first-choice major and their second-choice major, if selected. The Division of General Studies is intended for students who are open to exploring more than one major, with preference given to students who are open to exploring programs with capacity on campus. Students who are only interested in intercollegiate transfer once on campus into The Grainger College of Engineering or Gies College of Business should be encouraged to enroll at another university.”

Also of note, due to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s increasing competitiveness, students are now only able to enter the university’s computer science program as new first-year or transfer students. Students will not be able to apply to change majors into computer science once on campus, although they will still be able to pursue a computer science minor or apply to change majors into the computer science & X programs. To learn more about the differences between UIUC’s computer science major and majors similar to it, check out UIUC’s blog on the subject.

While impressed by all this valuable information, I’d also love to know the breakdown of UIUC’s EA and Regular acceptance rates too. Yet, progress is progress, and more colleges that accept by school or program or that have differentiated acceptance rates by residency should follow University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s lead in publishing data like this! Thank you Director Borst and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for all of your transparency!

Are you interested in University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign? Watch my team’s visit to campus during which we spoke to real UIUC students about their thoughts on the university:

University of Southern California Adds Early Action Admissions Deadline

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The University of Southern California, a selective private university in Los Angeles, has announced that it is introducing a November 1 Early Action admissions deadline for the 2022-2023 admission cycle.

This is a big change for a university that had long held the line on notifying candidates of their admissions decisions no earlier than spring of each year. Now, those students applying Early Action this fall will learn of their admissions decision by mid to late January 2023.

The new November 1 deadline is non-binding (Early Decision, which USC does not offer, is binding) and non-restrictive, which means that students can apply to other colleges Early Action at the same time. Students can even apply to one other college Early Decision at the same time, but of course would need to commit to their Early Decision college if admitted.

Yet, Early Action is not available for students applying to majors in the School of Architecture, School of Cinematic Arts, Kaufman School of Dance, School of Dramatic Arts, Roski School of Art and Design, Iovine and Young Academy, and Thornton School of Music should. Students applying to these schools should apply by December 1 using USC’s Regular Decision plan.

USC has become increasingly selective since going test optional. During the 2021-2022 admissions cycle, USC, which is the largest private university in California, only accepted roughly twelve percent of first-year applicants.

UC Berkeley Announces Fall 2022 Admissions Updates

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As we head into a new admissions cycle, University of California, Berkeley is announcing some changes in how it will consider applicants.

UC Berkeley is joining the rest of the UC campuses in allowing students to select an alternative major on the UC application. The university encourages students to take advantage of this option, especially if they have a second-choice major they’re interested in. UC Berkeley’s advice remains that students should select the major they are most interested in as their primary major because the university will only guarantee a review of the primary major, while alternative majors will only be used if space is available, for example, as the university considers available space during the wait list process.

In addition, first-year applicants admitted to one of the twelve high-demand majors in the College of Letters and Science will be guaranteed a space in the major. While this will not be a direct admission to the major, the process to declare will be simplified and space will be held for them contingent on certain requirements. Students interested in a high-demand major are encouraged to apply for it on the application, which gives them the best chance of declaring that major. Students who do not select a high-demand major can apply to declare after enrolling at Berkeley, but it will be through a comprehensive review process directly with the major department.

Meanwhile, any student interested in completing a double major will be limited to one high-demand major in the College of Letters and Science. Students who are interested in more than one major are encouraged to add the high-demand major as their primary major on their UC application. More information related to these changes will be posted on this page in the coming weeks.

This news comes as students are encouraged to start their UC application for fall 2022 this month (August), including entering personal information, self-reporting their courses and grades, and drafting their Personal Insight Questions (PIQs).

Like other UC campuses, starting this cycle, the application submission period for UC Berkeley begins on October 1, and the deadline is November 30. This gives students a larger window to submit their applications, as in previous years the application submission window only lasted for the entire month of November. Once the application is submitted students cannot make changes to the application, so they should plan accordingly, and of course, the UC system does not offer Early Action or Early Decision.

Finally, UC Berkeley also has shared news for prospective transfer students. Starting fall of 2023, participating UC Berkeley academic departments will pilot a direct admit to major program in Berkeley’s College of Letters and Science for transfer admits. There will be twenty-seven departments participating in the program including four high-demand majors: Art Practice, Computer Science, Data Science, and Social Welfare.

On the UC application, when selecting the major, the portal will inform students that they are applying directly to the chosen major. If an applicant is admitted to a major participating in this program they will not have to go through the process of applying to or officially declaring their major during their first semester on campus. Transfer admission and major declaration procedures will not change for majors who are not participating in this pilot program. More information will be posted on this page in the coming weeks as details are finalized.

All of these updates come on the heels of an unprecedented year that included a record number of freshmen applicants to UC Berkeley (over 128,000 applicants) and a court ruling that threatened to cap its enrollment numbers. Even so, the selective Bay Area university offered over 19,700 freshmen and transfer students admission.

Davidson becomes more selective in 2022

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Davidson University in North Carolina has shared its 2021-2022 admissions cycle statistics, which reveal the small and selective school will remain just as small as ever while becoming slightly more selective. Davidson has the goal of enrolling 530 first-year students for the fall 2022 semester.

Of an overall 6,487 students who applied to Davidson this year, only 1,090 were accepted, 335 of which were accepted through Early Decision 1, Early Decision 2, athletic recruitment, or partnerships with access organizations such as QuestBridge and POSSE. This overall 16.8 percent acceptance rate during the 2021-2022 cycle compares to a 17.1 percent acceptance rate during the 2020-2021 cycle and a 19.5 percent acceptance rate during the 2019-2020 cycle, which was the last time Davidson required all applicants submit their SAT or ACT scores. This cycle only 48 percent of students submitted their test scores though no stats were provided on what percentage of admitted students submitted their test scores this time around. Davidson committed a test-optional policy as a three-year pilot; therefore, it will continue for one more cycle as the university tracks and analyzes data related to test-optional admissions and student performance.

Other statistics shared include that of admitted students, 12 percent will be the first in their family to attend college; 29 percent are domestic students of color; and 10 percent are international students/non-US citizens.

Regular Decision notifications were released on March 26, 2022, and students have until May 1 to deposit.

Davidson University Admissions Stats c/o 2024 c/o 2025 c/o 2026
Total First-Year Applicants 5,615 6,422 6,487
Total Admitted (not including wait list) 1,096 1,101 1,090
Admitted through ED1/ED2/Athletics/Partnerships 289 326 335
Defers from prior year 5 13 9
Percent reviewed with Test Scores 100% 50% 48%
First Generation Students (admitted) 99 123 132
International Students/Non-US Citizens (admitted) 88 83 105
Domestic Students of Color (admitted) 305 344 319

15 Liberal Arts Colleges Join Forces for Virtual Fair on the 15th

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Fifteen American liberal arts colleges are getting together for another year of what they are calling 15 on the 15th — a monthly virtual college fair.

Designed for international prospective students and counselors, the goal of 15 on the 15th is to provide the opportunity for students to get to know the fifteen participating institutions in-depth and at their own pace.

On the fifteenth day of each month, from March through December 2022, these fifteen colleges – including Bates College, Carleton College, Claremont McKenna College, Colorado College, Davidson College, Haverford College, Middlebury College, Oberlin College, Sewanee: The University of the South, Skidmore College, Smith College, Union College, Wellesley College, Wesleyan University, and Whitman College – will come together to offer “15 minutes of Tips” for the college application process followed by an hour-long virtual college fair. Each institution will have its own Zoom room for students to meet with an international admission officer and a current student or alum. The format will be the same every month yet there will be different opening topics and tips. This represents a great education and networking opportunity for students.

Those interested in participating should register here.

15 on the 15th: Liberal Arts College Across the U.S.
Virtual College Fair
9:45 a.m. – 11 a.m. Eastern Time
15th each month, March through December, 2022

Those interested only need to register once. Before each college fair registrants will receive a reminder email with the Zoom links to access the main webinar and each college’s room.

The 15 on the 15th website also includes each institution’s international admission officer’s contact information and links to school-specific virtual program offerings.

Notre Dame Accepts Only 17% Early Action As Record Number Apply

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University of Notre Dame saw the number of students who applied via its Restrictive Early Action (REA) plan skyrocket this fall. A record 9,683 students applied to Notre Dame Restrictive Early Action in 2021. In 2020 7,744 students applied to Notre Dame Restrictive Early Action. That represents an over 25% increase in just one year.  Those applying to Notre Dame Restrictive Early Action have until May 1 to deposit and were able to apply to other colleges with Early Action programs but they were not allowed to apply concurrently via other colleges’ binding Early Decisions plans.

Yet, despite far larger numbers of REA applications to review, Notre Dame only accepted two more students REA in 2021 than it did in 2020; Notre Dame accepted 1,673 REA applicants in 2020 versus 1,675 REA applicants in 2021. This means that Notre Dame’s Restrictive Early Action acceptance rate dropped from roughly 22% to 17% in just one year, which helps bolster Notre Dame’s place in the realm of hyper-selective U.S. universities.

Meanwhile, a full 30% of REA applicants were accepted without submitting scores from the ACT or SAT. This is a huge change from just two years ago when scores from either the ACT or SAT were required of all admitted applicants. A full 46% of REA applicants to Notre Dame in 2021 applied without submitting test scores.

Unusual among many other selective U.S. universities, Notre Dame also shared that of those students accepted Restrictive Early Action in 2021 there are roughly even numbers of Asians/Pacific Islanders (12%), International students (12%), and Black students (10%).

Notre Dame released REA admissions decisions on Thursday, December 16, 2021, at 6:42 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, in a nod to the university’s founding year of 1842. Of the admitted student pool, 1,204 high schools are represented, including 43% public, 40% Catholic, and 18% private. A full 26% of accepted students indicated intended majors in the College of Arts and Letters, 22% in the College of Engineering and School of Architecture, 24% in the Mendoza College of Business, and 28% in the College of Science.

Typically, Notre Dame admits between 1,600 and 1,800 in its REA pool and a larger number in its Regular Decision pool, which this year has an application deadline of January 1, 2022. Last year, 1,768 students who were deferred during the REA round eventually earned admission during the Regular Decisions admissions cycle. This year, 1,599 REA applicants were deferred.

 

Yale’s Early Action Acceptance Rate Rises As Fewer Apply

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What goes up must come down. Yale, which saw its largest ever Single-Choice Early Action applicant pool in 2020, experienced a noteworthy decline in Early Action apps this fall.

The New Haven, Connecticut Ivy received 7,288 Single-Choice Early Action applications during the Fall 2021 admissions cycle, which is down nine percent compared to last year when Yale had 7,939 apply using the university’s Single-Choice Early Action plan. The 651 fewer applications this year indicates that the fanfare surrounding Yale’s decision to go test-optional may be wearing off.

As a result, Yale’s EA acceptance rate increased slightly from 10.5% in 2020 to 11% in 2021.

Meanwhile, this year (2021) 31% of students who applied through early action were deferred for reconsideration in the spring, 57% were denied admission, and 1% of applications were withdrawn or incomplete. Last year (2020) 50% of students who applied through early action were deferred for reconsideration in the spring, 38% were denied admission, and 1% of applications were withdrawn or incomplete.

Newly minted accepted Yale students have until May 2, 2022 to reply to their offer of admission. Traditionally, the vast majority of those accepted go on to matriculate.

Tulane Early Action Admit Rate Plummets to 10%

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Jeff Schiffman, Tulane’s former director of undergraduate admission, may be gone, but elements of his transparent approach live on as Tulane has recently shared some interesting data points relating to its Early Decision and Early Action admits for its undergraduate Class of 2026.

Decisions for Tulane Early Decision applicants were released on November 22 and decisions for Early Action applicants will be released on Monday, December 20 at 5:00 p.m. EST. According to Owen Knight, Tulane’s Director of Admission Engagement, the university expects between fifty-five and fifty-eight percent of next year’s freshman class to be comprised of Early Decision students. Due to the fact that Tulane over-enrolled last year and saw a twenty-five percent increase in the percentage of students accepting the offer of admission over the previous year, Tulane will be admitting a jaw-dropping 1,650 fewer Early Action (EA) applicants this year. This will speed up a trend of EA at Tulane becoming hyper-selective, especially relative to how the admissions plan used to be at Tulane prior to Tulane bringing back ED a few years ago.

As a result, Tulane anticipates marginally more offers of admission for deferred students and Regular Decision applicants than in the past. The overall admission rate for Early Action applicants is just ten percent, which is half the EA admission rate in 2017.

Overall, Tulane is planning for its Class of 2026 freshman class to be roughly 1,750 students.

Forty-six percent of Tulane’s Early Action admitted students for the Class of 2026 identify as BIPOC, which is a 70% increase, over twenty-seven percent of students who identified as such in 2017.

Knight also notes that Early Decision II is currently available through January 12 for students who are starting a new application for admission or for students who have already applied Early Action. Students who have already applied may switch to EDII via their Green Wave portals.

 

 

 

University of Arizona Pushes Test Optional Goal Posts Even Further

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When high school students apply to the University of Arizona for the 2022-23 academic year, SAT and/or ACT scores will not be required for admission or merit aid consideration. In addition to university admissions, neither the ACT or SAT will be necessary for application to Arizona’s selective academic colleges, including its Honors College.

How will University of Arizona award merit scholarships? Merit scholarships for the upcoming academic year will be awarded based on students’ core, unweighted GPA (Core GPA is based on ABOR’s academic coursework competency requirements) through their 6th semester of high school.

What if students want to submit their test scores? If they like, students can still submit test scores to supplement their application for admission. These scores may help clear any application coursework deficiencies and will be used to help, not hinder, an admission decision; however, including them is entirely optional.

How will course rigor be recognized? Arizona values the rigorous curriculum that students take to prepare for collegiate academics. Through the application process students have the opportunity to report a level of rigor for the sixteen core competencies and may also be eligible for the Dean’s Exemplary Award.

When can students begin applying for admission? University of Arizona’s application for summer/fall 2022 will open in just a matter of weeks – July to be exact. Arizona offers Rolling Admissions, which means that the sooner students apply the sooner they will receive their admissions decisions. Every year I work with students who apply to Arizona in August and get an admissions decision no later that early October, and every year some of my students are be happy to learn that all they have to do is apply to Arizona to be considered for one of its merit scholarships. No extra applications are required.