What 108 top colleges say they weigh in admissions
Every college that publishes a Common Data Set rates 18 factors, from grades to demonstrated interest, as Very Important, Important, Considered or Not Considered. We read the newest form from each school in the U.S. News 2027 top 100 and put every rating in one place.
How the 108 schools rate each factor
Each bar is one factor, split by how the 108 schools rate it. The percentage is the share that call it Important or Very Important. Select a factor to sort the explorer by it.
Show these counts as a table
What stands out
Every school, every factor
Select a school for its full profile: early decision odds, waitlist results, test ranges and a link to its Common Data Set.
Where the numbers come from
The list is the U.S. News 2027 Best National Universities ranking, released September 22, 2026. Nine schools tie at No. 100, so it holds 108 schools.
Factor ratings come from Section C7 of each school's Common Data Set, the standard form colleges fill out for U.S. News, the College Board and others. Early decision counts come from C21, waitlist results from C2, test submission and score ranges from C9, average GPA from C12, and percent of need met from H2. We used the newest edition each school has posted; the year is shown on every profile.
Acceptance rate, tuition and enrollment come from the U.S. Department of Education's College Navigator: Fall 2024 admissions, 2024-25 tuition and required fees, and Fall 2024 undergraduate enrollment.
A few things to keep in mind. C7 is what a school reports as policy; it does not show how any single decision is made. Some schools leave a row blank, shown here as a dash. Brown publishes its form only as a dashboard, so its profile uses the 2024-25 file. Fordham and Missouri keep newer editions behind a login, so theirs use 2022-23. The race and ethnicity row left the form after 2023 and is not shown.
Download the data: schools.csv
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