Decision Day: College Sim

Apply to ten colleges. Hear back tonight.

Decision Day is a college admissions simulator that's fun to play and built on real data. Pick your colleges, apply with your own grades and test scores, and open a decision letter from every school on your list: admitted, waitlisted, deferred or not admitted.

The letters are simulated. The odds are not made up. Every college's chances start from its Common Data Set, the report colleges publish each year on who applied, who got in and what they weigh.

HOW IT WORKS
• Build your profile: GPA, SAT or ACT scores (or neither), AP classes, home state, high school, three traits and the major you want.
• Pick up to ten from 200+ colleges, from the Ivy League to your state flagship.
• Apply Early Decision or Early Action where a college offers them, and go test-optional where it allows.
• Plan up to three campus visits. At colleges that consider demonstrated interest, a visit can tip the scale.
• Hear back early in December, then open the rest of your letters on Decision Day in March.

BUILT ON REAL DATA
The main source for every college is its Common Data Set: admit rates, waitlists, SAT and ACT ranges, GPAs, early round admit rates, merit aid, and how the college rates factors like grades, course rigor, essays and interest. The rest comes from each college's admissions and scholarship pages, and from the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS).

Your odds at each college depend on how your record compares with the students it admits, and on what it says it values. A college that admits 5% behaves like one.

AFTER THE LETTERS
• The results: your offers, your admit rate and your merit scholarships in dollars.
• The Reader's Notes: what helped, what hurt and how much was luck at each college, checked against the college's own ratings.
• Choose your college and save a picture to share.

FOR STUDENTS, PARENTS AND COUNSELORS
Decision Day is a low-stakes way to build a balanced college list, understand Early Decision and Early Action, and see why a 10% admit rate means most applicants, even strong ones, are turned down.

Free. No ads. No account.

PLEASE NOTE
Decision Day is a simulation, for entertainment and practice. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by any college, university or government agency. School names are used only to identify the schools. The letters, scholarships and results are simulated, and the odds are estimates, not admissions advice. No application is sent anywhere.

How the odds work, and every source: www.thatslongoverdue.com/decision-day
Federal data: collegescorecard.ed.gov and nces.ed.gov/ipeds