Example Top School Admit Rate changes in last decade:
Stanford: 2007 11%, dropped to 5%
Duke: 2007 24%, dropped to 11%
Northwestern: 2007 30%, dropped to 13%
UC Berkeley: 2007 27%, dropped to 16%
UCLA: 2007 24%, dropped to 14%
University of Chicago: 2007 40%, dropped to 9%
The top students are applying to more schools which means more apps. But we also have more students: more due to demographics (26MM 18-24yr olds vs 20MM), due to more high school seniors going to college (68% vs 60%) and due to more foreign students (15-20% of admits at many top schools up from 2%).

Class of 2020 admit rate:
All Ivies: early round 20.3%, regular round 6.8%
Stanford: early round: 9.5%, regular round: 3.6%
Harvard: early round: 14.9%, regular round: 3.4%

Applying early can dramatically enhance your odds at many of the top schools. Harvard filled almost half (45%) of its Class of 2020 from applicants who applied early.

Two thirds of current full time college students received some grant or scholarship money.
The average student received over $13,200 in financial aid, with $6,932 in the form of grants - the FREE money.

Suffice it to say everyone should apply for financial aid.

According to a recent study by NerdScholar, high school graduates in the U.S. left more than $2.9 billion in free federal grant money unused over the last academic year.

Sounds crazy, right? Crazy but true. How is that even possible? Well, according to the study, their only mistake was not completing the FAFSA.

Meet your FAFSA deadlines.

In the US only 46% of students who head off to college seeking a 4 year degree ever end up with one. The average time to get a bachelor's degree is currently 5.7 years. One in three students will end up transferring from their first college. Only 50 out of the more than 580 public four-year institutions report on-time graduation rates at or above 50 percent.

Finding the best college fit and investigating the right stats for the schools you are considering is more important than ever.

Statistically speaking - students who take the SAT and ACT multiple times usually get their best scores in the Spring of their Junior year.

Did you know you can increase your odds of admission by showing the school a little love?

Many selective schools consider a student's level of interest as part of the admissions process - Did you register on their website? How about like their Facebook page, visit their campus, chat with a professor or show up when they came to your school?

80% of students change their major before graduating. The average student will change their major 3 or more times before graduating. Only 27% of students end up in jobs directly related to their major. Many of the jobs that college students will hold by mid-career don't even exist yet.

Choosing a major is important, as it is essential to find an area that motivates you to pursue a set of goals... but it isn't a life-defining choice that needs to induce undue stress.