We hope everyone had a happy St. Patrick’s Day and a great week (and isn’t too tired from springing ahead)!

BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK

REGULAR DECISION RELEASE DATES

It is that time of year again - many of our students are receiving regular decision news from colleges! American, Notre Dame, Bucknell, Northeastern, and MIT were among the colleges to release decisions this week, and we expect to hear from UVA, Johns Hopkins, UGA, Villanova, and Swarthmore today! 🤞🤞🤞 For more updates on release dates, we recommend following College Kickstart’s list - it is updated almost every day with new information. 

CHANGES IN LAW SCHOOL RANKINGS ON THE HORIZON

U.S. News will be updating its law school rankings on March 29, and this year could be a surprise for the T-14 schools that consistently top that list. The organization has changed its metrics for ranking schools - including putting more weight on bar passage rates and far less weight on things like number of books in the library or ratio of full-time librarians to students. With these changes, we expect to see unprecedented movement on the U.S. News list - and it will be interesting to see the impact.

I’m particularly curious to see if Georgetown will get its coveted T14 slot back - there was a big shake-up last spring when they moved down to #15. As Above the Law joked, “Not since the NCAA tournament has Georgetown been so hyped and so disappointed.” Only time will tell!

UC BERKELEY ENROLLMENT CUTS ON HOLD

We wrote last month about the impending cuts that would require UC Berkeley to shrink its incoming class by 3,000 seats, and this was certainly scary news for many applicants. But on Monday, California legislators passed a bill to halt the cuts and preserve Berkeley’s size and intended growth. Don’t get too excited, though, unless you’re a California resident. Berkeley, UCLA, and UC San Diego are still reducing their out-of-state population by approximately 22% (moving from 23% of the student body to 18%).

BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again - by and large, U.S. News rankings are not the best way to determine which school to attend as an undergraduate (it should carry more weight for law and business school applicants).

For students and families still looking for proof that the rankings are somewhat arbitrary, a Columbia University math professor published an extensive critique of Columbia’s new #2 ranking, arguing that the university provided inaccurate or inflated data about class sizes, spending, and other categories. Columbia agrees that the data could be interpreted in different ways, but stands by the data provided to U.S. News. The controversy has reignited the wider debate about whether rankings really offer an accurate way to think about the value of a college education. 

We know that for many students and families, paying for college is the most difficult and confusing part of the admissions process to navigate. For those looking for a free resource, check out The Wall Street Journal’s Guide to navigating college debt.

Upper-middle class families often complain about finding themselves in a college funding “donut hole” - they don’t qualify for financial aid, yet can’t afford to pay full tuition at a private or out-of-state school. What remains? In-state public options. Of course, not every state has top-tier public institutions, so some families actually relocate (!) to places like North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Michigan or California to give their children a chance.

With so much on the line, you can understand why Californians exhibited such “rising fury” about the Berkeley enrollment cuts - Virginians would probably have done the same! You can learn more about the background here: California NIMBYs learn a lesson: Don’t mess with college admissions. It does a great job of explaining the housing crisis that led to the cuts in the first place.

OFFICE HAPPENINGS

Calling all budding entrepreneurs, especially students interested in environmental science, food policy, social justice, or business - the Seeds Pitch Competition is a great way to win up to $500 for the best pitch for a solution to a problem in the community. Plus, this will look great on college applications!

This week, we had such a sweet surprise visit from a graduating senior! Like we said last week, it’s crazy that we’ve gone through so much with these students and never met some of them in person, so it was great to have a check-in from her and her family at our office. We are so excited to hear all about her journey at Cornell this coming fall!

We’ve also been thinking a lot about opening up the office again - I feel like it’s just one deja vu moment after the other. As soon as we start to think “okay, it’s really over this time,” another variant pops up out of nowhere. We actually did bring students back in the office last summer for a few days before we had to revert back to remote work as a result of Delta - then we started making plans to reopen again and had to stop because of Omicron - and here we go again with BA2. Enough already!!!

Have a great weekend and enjoy the weather! We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for all those students waiting to hear from regular decision schools tonight.

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