A total of 19 colleges/universities are included, based on inputs from Hermione (provided on 2025-11-20).

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• They are in the New England region(s). Or, they are in NY.
  
• They are in City (small-medium), Suburb or Town.
  
• They are Private.
  
• The number of undergraduate students is between <=1000 and 4000.*
  
• The acceptance rates is not restricted (i.e., the rate was not used in selection).*
  
• They include women’s colleges, if any.
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• In addition, based on a further request, 12 colleges were excluded (Sarah Lawrence College, St Lawrence University, Syracuse University, Union College, University of Rochester, Bard College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, Bard College, Sarah Lawrence College, St Lawrence University, and Union College) and 1 college was added (UIUC).

List of colleges selected for the presentation

Explore their locations.

Information is organized in the following order:

• What majors and programs are offered? (FORTHCOMING)
  
• What does the student population and campus life look like?
  
• How about quality of education and experience?
  
• What is their financial situation?
  
• How much would it cost? How much need- or merit-based financial aid do they provide?
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• Admission statistics
  – How selective is it?
  – What would be competitive test scores?
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• Application overview: what and how should I prepare?
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Unless noted otherwise, data refer to the 2024-25 academic year.

• On average, 75% of domestic undergraduate students are out-of-state, ranging from 15% to 94%.

Legend: White, Black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, two or more races, other, and international students.

The share of female students has grown in many schools, compared to male students.

• In 2 of the 19 schools, 60% or more students are female.

Most schools accept a limited number of transfer students, but some accept a substantial number.

• On average, there were 4 incoming transfer students per 100 freshmen, ranging from 1 to 17.

Some schools have both undergraduate and graduate students, while some are exclusively for undergraduates. There are both pros and cons to having a high percentage of graduate students.

• In 2 of the 19 schools, undergraduate students account for 70% or less of the total students. In 0 schools, undergraduate students were less than half of the total.

• Among the 19 colleges, 4 offer fraternities, and 3 offer sororities.
  
• In 1 colleges, more than a quarter of undergraduate students participate in fraternities or sororities.

Many schools pride themselves on the percentage of classes with a small number of students.

• On average, 66% of undergraduate classes had fewer than 20 students, ranging from 38% to 76%.

Smaller schools tend to have smaller classes. But, some also have a significant proportion of larger classes.

Legend: Fewer than 10 students in a class, 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-99, and 100 or more.

Low retention rates typically imply low satisfaction among freshmen for various reasons.

• On average, 93% of freshmen returned, ranging from 86% to 97%.

• Among students who started their freshmen year in 2017, on average, 89% graduated within 6 years, ranging from 77% to 97%.
  
• The four-year graduation rate was 78%, on average.

An aspect of success, among many dimensions, is mid-career salary/income.
Below is median salary 20 years after graduation. It is $143K, ranging from $115K to $176K.

• 19 schools have endowment funds.
  
• The endowment funds size varies from 43K$ to 1625K$ per full-time student, at the end of fiscal year 2023.

Below is the percent distribution of core revenue in 2023 by source: tuition and fees, state/local appropriations, government grants/contracts, private gifts/grants/contracts, investment return, and other.

• Among the 19 schools, on average, the overall cost for the 2024-25 academic year was $83000, including tuition, fees, and room & board. There will be additional costs for textbooks, transportation, etc.

• Every school defines financial needs differently. It is strongly recommended to estimate your cost, using each school’s net price calculator.

• Nevertheless, the following slides present average financial aid information, which you can use for rough relative comparisons to understand their priorities.

In most schools, most grant/scholarship is used for need-based aid.

Below is the percent distribution of total grants or scholarships amount by type: merit-based non-athletic, merit-based athletic, and need-based.

Below is the relative ratio of average debt/loan students have vs. average grant/scholarship students have received by the time of graduation.

Need-based aid includes different types. A grant or scholarship is an aid that students do not need to pay back.

• On average, 52% of freshmen received a need-based grant or scholarship, ranging from 31% to 68%.

• Among those who received it, the average amount ranged from $23000 to $77000.
  
• On average, it covered 70% of the overall cost, ranging from 44% to 90%.

• Only 9 of the 19 provided non-athletic merit-based scholarships.
• In those schools, on average, 17% of freshmen received it, ranging from 2% to 46%.

Focusing on 6 college(s) where 10% or more freshmen received a non-athletic merit-based scholarship:

• Among those who received it, the average amount ranged from $6000 to $28000.

• On average, it covered 26% of the overall cost, ranging from 11% to 36%.

• Only 3 of the 19 provided athletic merit-based scholarships.
  
• In those schools, on average, 7% of freshmen received it, ranging from 1% to 11%.

Focusing on 2 college(s) where 5% or more freshmen received an athletic merit-based scholarship:

• Among those who received it, the average amount ranged from $32000 to $49000.
  
• On average, it covered 48% of the overall cost, ranging from 40% to 56%.

• For the 2024-25 academic year, the overall acceptance rate was on average 22%, ranging from 7% to 42%.

Hover over the line graphs and/or zoom in to see each school’s trend.

• Among the 17 schools that accept ED applications, on average, the ED acceptance rate was 15 percentage points higher than the overall acceptance rate. Depending on the school, multiple factors explain the difference.

Hover over the line graphs and/or zoom in to see each school’s trend.

• On average, 19% of enrolled freshmen were admitted via ED applications, ranging from 7% to 30%.

Hover over the line graphs and/or zoom in to see each school’s trend.

In this section, we will focus on SAT or ACT scores among enrolled students, and below is a brief background:

• Standardized test scores
  – Standardized test scores have remained optional in many schools. This means applicants often submit their scores only when they think their scores are competitive. The result is that reported scores have gone up in many schools.
  

• High school GPA and ranking profile are often not reported by colleges. In addition, even when it is reported, GPA is often not comparable across colleges, due to different policies. Thus, it is not included in this presentation.

• Please note that, for each applicant, academic strengths are often reviewed in the context of their own high school.

• In 11 of the 19 schools, less than 50% of enrolled freshmen submitted SAT or ACT scores.

• Trends for submitting SAT or ACT scores are presented by college.

Below are SAT scores among those who enrolled and submitted the scores in their applications. For reading (left) and math (right), the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile are shown.
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Hermione’s SAT scores are shown in vertical lines (reading 780 and math 790).

• Trends for 25th percentile, median, and 75th percentile SAT reading scores are presented by college.

• Trends for 25th percentile, median, and 75th percentile SAT math scores are presented by college.

Below are ACT scores among those who enrolled and submitted the scores in their applications. For English (left) and math (right), the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile are shown.
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Hermione’s ACT scores are shown in vertical lines (English 35 and math 35).

In summary, among the 19 schools:

• Early application options such as early decision (ED) and early action (EA)
  – 0 accept EA which is restrictive.
  – 2 accept EA which is not restrictive.
  – 16 accept ED applications at two different times (ED1 & ED2).
  – 2 accept ED only once (ED1).

• Key requirements for the 2026-27 academic year
  – Standardized test scores are required in 0, compared to 9 schools before the pandemic.
  – In 13 schools, it is required (or recommended/optional) to submit supplementary essay(s). Of note, generally, it is highly recommended to write for certain prompts, even when it is optional to complete an application.

See information by school in the interactive table below.

“Ability to pay” may be an important factor in schools where their financial aids meet “100% of demonstrated needs” for accepted students but do not have a need-blind admission policy.
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Among the 19, 9 school(s) (shown in the red bar) fall in that category.

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Hover over the graph to see further information.

• Each school reports the relative importance of different academic and non-academic factors in their admission decisions.
  
• Next slides present the information, using a heat map with different colors. The darker, the more important.
  – Very important
  – Important
  – Considered
  – Not considered
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  Blank means the school did not answer for the specific factor.

GPA and rigor of secondary school record are considered “very important” in most schools.

There is more variation for non-academic factors. Overall, schools value character/personal qualities, extracurricular activities, and talent/ability.

• Data came from:
  – Each school’s annual responses for the Common Data Set (CDS) Initiative
  – Campus Safety and Security (CSS) for campus safety data
  – Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) for institutional resources data
  – College Scorecard for basic information
  – U.S. News & World Report Historical Liberal Arts College and University Rankings by Andrew G. Reiter for U.S. News Best Colleges historic data
  – Niche Best Colleges in America for overall grades
  – Forbes America’s Top Colleges for student/graduate finance data
  – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development PD&R Data for fair market rents

• For selection purposes, numeric criteria (e.g., undergraduate size) are averages in the latest 3 years to even out any unusual trends in the latest year.

• Unless noted, the latest data point is the 2024-25 academic year (i.e., data for freshmen who started in 2024).

• Trends were calculated using panel data analysis: generalized linear regression using a random effect model.

• For line graphs indicating trends, the year on the X-axis refers to the beginning calendar year of the academic year (e.g., 2024 for the 2024-25 academic year).