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 grad school search.
Juggling deadlines for homework assignments and college applications can be difficult during your senior year of high school.
Some colleges have hard application submission deadlines, which allows them to compare and contrast the credentials of various applicants before releasing admission decisions. However, other colleges evaluate applications as they come in through a rolling admissions process, which means acceptances are doled out on a first-come , first-served basis, and experts say both kinds of colleges have a place on a savvy applicant’s short list.
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Colleges with rolling admissions have no mandatory submission deadline for applications, but many have a priority submission date. However, because these schools make acceptance decisions on an ongoing basis, submitting early can give prospective students an edge, experts say.
Moreover, those who successfully apply early to a college with rolling admissions will sometimes get an acceptance letter shortly after submitting their application, which serves as an ego boost.
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Eighty-nine National Universities offer rolling admissions, according to data reported to U.S. News by 298 ranked National Universities in an annual survey, but none of those rank among the top 20.
Thirteen of the top 100 National Universities offer rolling admissions, including Pennsylvania State University–University Park, tied for No. 50, and Purdue University–West Lafayette, tied for No. 60.
[Use these three strategies to boost your chances of getting into your dream college.]
These are the 10 most competitive National Universities that accept college applications on a rolling basis. Some of these schools have application priority dates, which is when they recommend applications be submitted in full, but those priority dates are not hard deadlines. Their priority dates range from Nov. 1 to Feb. 1, except in the case of the University of Pittsburgh, which does not have a priority date.
| School name (state) | U.S. News National University rank | Priority application date |
| Pennsylvania State University–University Park | 50 (tie) | Nov. 30 |
| Purdue University–West Lafayette (IN) | 60 (tie) | Feb. 1 |
| University of Pittsburgh | 68 (tie) | N/A |
| Rutgers University–New Brunswick (NJ) | 70 | Dec. 1 |
| University of Minnesota–Twin Cities | 71 (tie) | Dec. 15 |
| Michigan State University | 82 (tie) | Nov. 1 |
| Binghamton University–SUNY | 86 (tie) | Jan. 15 |
| Indiana University–Bloomington | 86 (tie) | Feb. 1 |
| University of Tulsa (OK) | 86 (tie) | Feb. 1 |
| Stony Brook University–SUNY | 96 (tie) | Jan. 15 |
Don’t see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find application deadlines, application priority dates, 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 more than 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2016 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 Nov. 8, 2016.
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10 Top Universities with Rolling College Admissions originally appeared on usnews.com
