The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or graduate school search.
For high school seniors, fall is prime time for working on college applications.
In between AP classes and football practice, many will be consumed with writing personal statements and gathering letters of recommendation to meet strict admissions deadlines. In some instances, though, teens can take a more relaxed approach to submitting applications.
A number of universities operate with rolling admissions, allowing prospective students to almost set their own deadlines and submit applications when they feel the time is right. But teens shouldn’t assume these schools will also be lax when it comes to their curriculum or whom they accept. Some of these colleges are among the most competitive schools in the country and are highly ranked.
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Pennsylvania State University–University Park, for example, has a rolling admissions policy and is tied for No. 47 among National Universities.
It has the highest rank among the 79 ranked National Universities that reported having rolling admissions in an annual U.S. News survey. There are 268 ranked National Universities overall. National Universities offer a wide breadth of degree programs for undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students.
Almost all of the schools on last year’s list also made this year’s list. The University of Alabama is the only exception. It ranks at No. 96 in the 2016 Best Colleges rankings, falling eight spots from its previous position and getting knocked off the list.
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Among all National Universities with rolling admissions, the University of Colorado–Denver has the lowest published rank at No. 199, and 30 schools are labeled RNP. Schools designated RNP are ranked in the bottom one-fourth of their ranking category. U.S. News calculates ranks for these schools but has decided not to publish them.
Every school on the list of the highest-ranked colleges with rolling admissions, with the exception of the University of Pittsburgh and Michigan State University, has a priority deadline that can be advantageous for applicants. Prospective students who apply before the priority deadline may have a better chance of getting scholarships or even their preferred major.
Below is a list of the 11 highest-ranking National Universities with rolling admissions. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.
| School name (state) | U.S. News National University rank | Priority date |
|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania State University–University Park | 47 (tie) | Nov. 30 |
| Purdue University–West Lafayette (IN) | 61 (tie) | Feb. 1 |
| University of Pittsburgh | 66 (tie) | N/A |
| University of Minnesota–Twin Cities | 69 | Dec. 15 |
| Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey–New Brunswick | 72 (tie) | Dec. 1 |
| Indiana University–Bloomington | 75 (tie) | Feb. 1 |
| Michigan State University | 75 (tie) | N/A |
| University of Tulsa (OK) | 86 (tie) | Feb. 1 |
| Binghamton University–SUNY | 89 (tie) | Jan. 15 |
| Stony Brook University–SUNY | 89 (tie) | Jan. 15 |
| SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry | 89 (tie) | Feb. 1 |
Don’t see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find admissions data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
U.S. News surveyed nearly 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2015 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News’ data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’ rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The admissions data above are correct as of Sept. 10, 2015.
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Competitive Schools With Rolling Admissions originally appeared on usnews.com