Hello, friends--This is the final post of the March Madness 2026 series, Beyond the Brand. These entries have focused on "the other March Madness" which transcends the world of sports. How does one make the final college decision? ICYMI First, I want to remind you that ALL of our interactive visualization tools for families and counselors have been unlocked. Everything is free! I'm hosting the work off-website, though. It keeps things cheap and easy on my end. If you fi

A caveat inherent with large state institutions seems to go unnoticed: the college which is on display during campus tours has a shelf life of about nine months. Everything begins as expected, and the student emulates the people shown in the brochures. It's all togetherness, ballgames, community, and a sense of belonging to something bigger than oneself. Then, the switch flips. As shown in the chart of the Final Four schools above, no less than seismic proportions of stude

Earnings data comes with a dozen or more caveats, the most significant being its limited coverage of graduates: only those who received federal aid will have their salaries included. Cohort sizes have to meet a certain threshold for privacy protection as well. Nonetheless, there are six majors which are offered by all 8 remaining teams in the NCAA tournament and for which we have earnings data--that's something we can work with! Why not put this data to especially good use

Ever bought a house? I read somewhere that the average home closing require over 100 signatures from the buyer, at least if a mortgage is involved. It's been almost a decade since we bought our current home, but I still remember my husband complaining of writer's cramp.

Beyond the Brand: How can a family look beyond the highly-curated verrsion of a college or university presented by the admissions office and figure out whether or not it's the place for their student? One of my favorite tips for evaluating the more subjective elements of an institution is by perusing student newspapers. Specifically, I recommend that readers focus on editorial pages and ads for upcoming events. What student concerns seem prevalent? Does the community see

The theme of this year's posts is Beyond the Brand. We provide the information with high school seniors and parents in mind. Tournament season occurs at that time of year when families should be scrutinizing college choices beyond the hype, the opinions of others, and the chirpy branding which emanates from colleges to which students have been admitted.

by Leigh Moore As we head into tonight's championship game, I offer a final tip for anyone evaluating a college or university. A little-known resource is the First Destination Survey, information provided by most colleges on their websites. The publications vary from school to school in quality, quantity, and user experience, but both institutions represented in tonight's matchup host outstanding, fact-filled pages. Click the images below to be taken to the interactive das

We're almost there. Only four teams are left, and they an interesting mix. Trends data is a bit of a pill to prepare, but the payoff is always worth it; line charts deliver a lot of information in one view. Use our Institutional Dashboard to find answers to the following: Which university received almost 20,000 more applications than Duke for Fall 2023? The admit rate to one of these schools fell from 85% to 44% in a two-year period? Duke's sticker price for the most rec

Thousands of “admissions decision reaction” videos live on YouTube, but the world still awaits a new, counterpart genre, the “parents react to total cost of attendance" collection. Shoot, why hasn't that already made its way into a reality tv series? Sticker prices matter, because they are the starting point when every student’s that price is calculated. Sticker shock is a real thing, and the lag time between a recording year and the publication of its data is about two yea

by Leigh Moore 3.26.2025 Beyond the Bracket: Round 3 – The College Cheat Sheet March Madness is in full swing—and while many are glued to basketball brackets, thousands of families are caught in a different kind of frenzy: comparing college offers and making a final decision. A few years ago, a friend asked me, “What are the 10 most important metrics to consider before making a final college choice?” That question sparked the idea to create a tool to show selected colleges

by Leigh Moore March 21, 2025 One of my favorite things about March Madness is the opportunity to shine a light on institutions which are relatively unknown--especially when favorable outcomes are demonstrable. Earnings information is fraught with shortcomings, both philosophical and quantifiable. For families committed to an evidence-based college search, earnings are at least something empirical they can consider amidst so much marketing and hype. The above visualizatio

by Leigh Moore March 17, 2025 The NCAA tourney provides me a good opportunity to scale things down for a couple of weeks, to go deep in the analysis of 68 teams rather than the usual 1300. No fretting about which schools to include; it's all done for me. 2025, here we go, ready or not! The dashboard below illustrates a few metrics. Be sure to hover so that you can see what these charts are actually saying. That is, who exactly has a buyout agreement exceeding $40M? Even wi

Which school is the most generous when it comes to awards for students without financial need? Like everything else in admissions, it depends. Even among just the four colleges sending teams to the NCAA championship games, there are a couple of ways to look at it. Most merit Which college gives the most? Taking into consideration the portion of students given awards and the average scholarship they receive, our "most merit" rankings are as follows. South Carolina UConn Iow

What do you know about the colleges behind the March Madness teams? Check out this viz for 8-year trends--including test submitters.

Earlier this week, my alma mater made the news : a breakdown of the total cost to attend Vanderbilt's engineering school found its way into circulation, and the total cited (over $98K) is, at first blush, startling. I could do a lot with $98,000. On the other hand, though, where did we think prices were heading? Down? No, not when Vandy can turn away more than 95% of their regular decision applicants. Vanderbilt is not alone, of course: The total cost of attendance at 13

by Leigh Moore Hello, and here's hoping you teams are doing better than ours in the NCAA Tourney! While most of our readers won't be surprised that coaches of men's athletics teams make, on average, a lot more than coaches of women's teams, the magnitude of the inequity varies significantly from school to school. See what you think! See you in Round 3! Leigh

by Leigh Moore Welcome to March Madness, MCD-style! I realized a few years ago that the sample size offered by an NCAA tourney gives me an opportunity for a deep dive, and hopefully an avenue for making more families aware of the data which is available to them.  So , as my people sit transfixed, holding their breath during every Kentucky free throw, I happily find different ways to present info. (I'm not a regular mom; I'm a fun mom.) Most people don't know that earnings in