Methodology & Data Sources
Every number on this site is either computed by a formula printed on the page that uses it, or drawn from an official source listed below with its version. This page is the site-wide index of both.
College data (/colleges/ pages)
- Sources: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard(institution-level and field-of-study files, June 2026 release) and IPEDS(ADM2023 admissions survey, HD2024 institutional directory). Version identifiers are shown in each page's footer.
- Test-score ranges are submitters only. Most U.S. colleges are now test-optional; published SAT/ACT percentiles describe admitted studentswho chose to submit scores — typically stronger testers. Every score range on this site carries that label.
- Admissions data lags. IPEDS admissions surveys publish roughly 18 months behind; the cycle year is labeled wherever funnel numbers (applicants/admitted) appear. Acceptance-rate headlines and funnel figures can come from different cycles and are never mixed in one sentence.
- Suppressed earnings. Program-level earnings are withheld by the Department of Education under federal privacy rules when cohorts are small. About 60% of bachelor's-level program rows are suppressed; we list those majors without a figure rather than estimating one.
- Two earnings measures, kept apart. School-wide median earnings (10 years after entry) and by-major earnings (4 years after completion) come from different cohorts and are always presented in separate, labeled blocks.
- Which schools get pages. Only schools whose pages carry enough real data to be useful. Schools below that bar are excluded from search indexing rather than padded with filler.
Exam data (SAT, ACT, AP, IB, UCAS and related pages)
- SAT: structure and percentiles from College Board; score estimation uses College Board's official paper-practice-test ranges. The real digital SAT is adaptive — no single-value conversion table exists, so we don't print one.
- ACT: raw-to-scale tables from ACT's official practice materials (enhanced 2025 format and legacy form); National Ranks from ACT.org, updated each September.
- AP: exam structures and score distributions are official (College Board); 1–5 cut scores are not published by College Board — our predictions use third-party historical estimates, shown as ranges and labeled as estimates.
- IB, UCAS, UK degrees, Canadian GPA, attendance: official scoring rules and tariff tables from the IBO, UCAS, university regulations, provincial systems, and UGC/CBSE circulars respectively — each page cites its documents inline.
Calculators
Every calculator prints its formula and its conventions on its own page (standard US 4.0 scale, weighted-average model, common letter-grade boundaries). Grading policies vary; the printed conventions are the most common ones, not a claim about your school.
Update calendar
| Data | Refreshed |
|---|---|
| College Scorecard files | Annually (usually June) |
| IPEDS surveys | Annually; admissions ~18 months behind |
| SAT percentiles | Each fall (College Board) |
| ACT National Ranks | Each September |
| AP distributions | Each summer (after scores release) |
| UCAS tariff, scale tables, national rules | Checked annually; corrected on report |
Corrections
Errors reported to [email protected] are checked against the official source and fixed in the next update. See Contact & Corrections.