AdmitMeFor the U.S. News top 100 national universities
Know what each college actually wants — in its own words.
Most chance calculators average a GPA against an acceptance rate and call it a day. AdmitMe reads what every college publishes about how it weighs applicants, and scores you against that. Build a balanced list, then get straight feedback on your essays.
Ranked #1 to #100 — no filler, no schools padded in to look comprehensive.
Where the numbers come from
Every figure on this site traces to a document you can open yourself. Where we couldn't read a source, the college is labelled Estimated rather than quietly filled in.
The Common Data Set
Every college publishes one. Section C7 is the college stating, on its own four-point scale, how much it weighs GPA, course rigor, test scores, essays, recommendations, activities, talent, character, legacy, state residency and demonstrated interest. That table is our model's weighting — we don't invent it.
Acceptance rates, SAT and ACT ranges come from the same documents. Verified colleges link straight to the PDF or spreadsheet they came from.
U.S. News & World Report
Used for one thing only: deciding which colleges appear here. The list is their top 100 national universities — all of it, nothing else — and each card shows its rank. Nothing in the odds model uses the ranking; a college's position doesn't change how it reads your application.
U.S. News ties six schools at #98. Showing exactly 100 means breaking that tie, so we take them alphabetically and stop at 100.
Wikimedia Commons & Wikidata
Campus photos are freely licensed, and each one credits its photographer and licence on the college's card. Logos come from each institution's own Wikidata entry, so it's that college's mark rather than whatever a search turns up.
How your odds are worked out
Measured against that college's own pool
Your GPA and score are compared to the college's reported average and middle 50%. Activities and essays are re-centred by selectivity — club president is a strong record at a college admitting 85%, and unremarkable at one admitting 5%.
Weighted the way that college says it weighs
A college rating essays "very important" leans on your essay. One rating them "considered" barely does. UNC weighs state residency very heavily; the University of Georgia decides on the transcript alone. Same student, different answers.
Anchored to the real acceptance rate
This is the part other calculators skip. A flawless application still comes out a reach at a college admitting 4%, because it is one — and nothing below a 35% admit rate is ever called a safety, for anyone.
What you can do here
Chance calculator
Import a resume and it fills in your GPA, scores and activities. Get every college sorted into reach, target and safety, each with the reasoning shown.
College personalities
A chart of where each college's decision weight actually goes, plus plain-English notes on what it rewards and what it ignores.
Essay lab
Clichés, telling instead of showing, flat rhythm — flagged with your own sentences quoted back and what to do about them.
List & deadlines
Track every application — round, deadline, status — and get told when your list has no safety on it.
What this can't do
It can't read your file
No model sees your actual essays, who reads your application, or a college's priorities that year. Treat a number here as a way to shape a balanced list, never as a prediction of a decision.
It isn't your counselor
Use it to work out which colleges are worth the application fee, then talk to someone who knows you.
Your work stays yours
Essays are analysed in your browser and never uploaded. Resume files are read on your device — only the text is saved, and only if you sign in. We don't sell data, run ads, or train anything on your writing.
We're not affiliated with any college
Nor with U.S. News. We quote their published data and link to it so you can check us.
Your academics
This is the part nearly every college weighs most. Answer honestly — an optimistic answer only buys you an optimistic list.
Grades
Takes 20 secondsCourse rigor
Colleges read this against what your school offers. Eight APs where thirty are offered is a weaker transcript than four where four are offered.
I don't know the counts — let me describe it instead
Test scores
Most colleges are test-optional. Sending a score below a college's middle 50% usually hurts more than sending nothing.
Your activities
List them individually rather than rating yourself. Students are consistently bad at self-rating — give the facts and the tier gets worked out for you. Depth beats breadth: two excellent activities read better than ten memberships.
Start from your resume
OptionalUpload a resume and we'll suggest activities from it — you confirm each one before it counts. The file is read on your device and never uploaded; only the text is saved, and only if you're signed in.
Scanned PDF, or nothing came through? Paste the text instead
See exactly what we read from your file ()
Your activities
Depth beats breadthList them individually rather than rating yourself. Two excellent activities read better than ten memberships.
Context colleges weigh
Not gaming the system — colleges state in their own Common Data Sets that they consider these.
Essays and recommendations
Rate these honestly. If you analyse a draft in the Essay lab, that score is used instead.
What you're looking for
Preferences filter and sort. They never change your admission odds.
About you
These change your oddsChanges your odds a lot at public universities.
Computer science, engineering, business and nursing are admitted separately at many colleges, and that changes your odds. Art, music, theatre, film and architecture usually turn on a portfolio or audition this model cannot see — we say so rather than guess.
What you're looking for
Filters and sorts only — never your oddsAdd a college that isn't on the list
Enter its numbers from its Common Data Set and it gets scored exactly like the rest.
Your college list
Reach
Under 40% — apply if you love them, never count on them.
Target
40–75% — squarely in their range. Most of your list belongs here.
Safety
Over 75% at a college admitting most applicants — and one you'd be glad to attend.
Colleges
All 100 of the U.S. News top 100 national universities, in rank order. Each is scored the way it says it scores you — cards marked Verified have their criteria read from that college's own Common Data Set.
Essay lab
Analysed in your browser. It checks the craft signals admissions readers complain about — it cannot tell you whether your story is good, and a plain essay about something real can score mid and still be excellent.
My list
Track every application in one place — round, deadline, and where it stands.
My profile
Privacy
Plain English, because you should be able to tell what happens to your work.
What we keep
- If you never sign in: nothing leaves your browser. Your stats, list and essays sit in this device's local storage and we cannot see them.
- If you sign in with Google: we store your Google account id, email address, name and profile picture, plus whatever you save — your calculator answers, college list, essay drafts, LinkedIn URL and the text of any resume you import.
- Resume files are never uploaded. The file is read on your own device and only the extracted text is saved, so we never hold a document containing your address, phone number or employers.
What we never do
- We do not sell or rent your data, and we do not run advertising.
- We do not share your essays with colleges, or with anyone else.
- We never store a password, because sign-in goes through Google and we never receive one.
- We do not put essay text in our logs.
Your controls
- Download everything we hold about you as a JSON file, any time.
- Delete your account and every associated record. Deletion is immediate and permanent — we keep no shadow copy.
Age
AdmitMe is intended for students aged 13 and over. If you are under 13, please do not create an account. If we learn that an account belongs to a child under 13, we delete it.
Cookies
One cookie, used to keep you signed in. No analytics or advertising cookies.
Contact
Questions, or want your data removed? Email the address in the footer and we will action it.
Terms
What this is
AdmitMe estimates admission chances and gives feedback on essays. It is a planning tool, not advice, and not a prediction.
What it is not
- Not affiliated with any college. Admissions data is quoted from each college's own published Common Data Set, and linked so you can check it.
- Not a guarantee. No model can see your actual essays, who reads your file, or a college's priorities that year. Never treat a number here as a decision.
- Not a substitute for your counselor. Use it to shape a balanced list, then talk to a human.
Your work stays yours
You keep all rights to essays you write. We store them only to show them back to you, and we do not use them to train anything.
Fair use
Do not upload other people's work, and do not scrape or resell the data here.