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Stories from the data
Shorter reads than our research briefs — the questions parents and counselors actually ask us, answered with the numbers.
Dallas · August 26, 2026
Eleven Dallas private schools share one application deadline — January 8
Ten applications due January 8, thirteen decisions on March 12, and the DISD window underneath it all — the Dallas admissions calendar, verified school by school.
UC testing review · August 25, 2026
The data Newsom asked for already exists — school by school
1 in 12 of UCSD's incoming class placed below middle-school math standards. The governor asked for data — and for 1,121 California high schools, both halves of the question are already public.
Behind the data · August 24, 2026
How to spot an elite high school in the data
A high UC Reach Score tells you a class collected UC offers. How many they turned down tells you something else entirely.
College admissions · August 21, 2026
Nursing at NYU is harder to get into than Brown
NYU's own announcement puts its nursing college under a 5% admit rate — stricter than Brown — and the national numbers explain why.
Bay Area · League table · August 19, 2026
The Bay Area's next ten — and why rank is the wrong way to read them
Ranks 11 through 20 sit inside five points of each other. At that spacing rank is noise — direction is the story.
Orange County · League table · August 18, 2026
Orange County's top 25 high schools for UC admits
Sage Hill leads California at 151. But the result worth studying is third place — a public arts school holding 96 across a class of 393.
UC admissions · August 14, 2026
A Record Number of UC Offers for Californians — and a Shrinking Share at the Top
UC admitted a record 102,031 California residents, and California's share of offers fell at all six of the most selective campuses. Both are true — because almost none of the growth at the top went to Californians.
Behind the data · August 12, 2026
The Bay Area's Top 10 High Schools for UC Admissions
Ranked by UC Reach Score — admissions to the six most selective UC campuses per 100 graduating seniors, Fall 2025. Harker leads at 126; the top ten runs from San Jose to San Francisco and splits almost evenly between public and private.
CSU admissions · August 11, 2026
The Admit Rate You Looked Up Isn't the One Your Student Is Facing
Cal Poly's overall admit rate is 30%. Mechanical engineering admitted 13.3%. At San Diego State, nursing admitted 3.
San Diego · League table · August 9, 2026
The Second-Best UC Results in San Diego County Come From a School Built for First-Gen Kids
We ranked every San Diego County high school by admissions to the six most selective UC campuses. The top ten holds several very different paths — standout privates, high-powered publics, and a tuition-free charter with a first-generation mission in second place.
UC admissions · August 7, 2026
Same GPA, Different Odds: What Residency Really Does to UC Admissions
At five of the six selective UC campuses, an out-of-state applicant with the same weighted GPA is admitted at a higher rate than a Californian. Berkeley is the lone exception — and the systemwide number hides all of it.
UC admissions · Fall 2026 · August 7, 2026
A Record 102,031 California Students Just Got UC Offers. Here's What the Record Hides.
The most California admits in UC history — and a nine-fold spread in the odds between campuses. Why 'I got into a UC' and 'I got into the UC I wanted' are two very different sentences.
Behind the data · August 7, 2026
A Counselor Asked Our Tool a Question It Couldn't Answer
Engineering at UC San Diego has a very different acceptance rate than sociology — so why did our site show one number for the whole campus? A counselor's fair question, and what we built because of it.
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