PRINCETON, N.J., USA, July 8th, 2026, FinanceWire
Oriel Admissions’ debut College Admissions Transparency Index evaluates 50 highly selective U.S. universities. The consulting firm’s study finds that 26% received a D or F for admissions data transparency and application guidance.
Oriel Admissions today released its first proprietary research study, the College Admissions Transparency Index, evaluating 50 of the most selective U.S. universities on how openly they disclose admissions data and how clearly, they guide applicants through the process.
The index uses only primary, public sources, including official admissions office pages and Common Data Set publications. It measures disclosure practices, not institutional quality.
A Report Card for Selective Admissions: Key Findings
The Index weighs admissions data transparency at 70% of each school’s score and clarity of application guidance at 30%. Across the 50 universities evaluated, Oriel Admissions assigned 8 A grades, 21 B grades, 8 C grades, 11 D grades and 2 F grades. The 18 public universities in the Index average a score of 77 (B); the 32 private universities average 71 (C).
More than one in four schools received a D or F. Four of the eight Ivy League universities, including Harvard and Princeton, received a D. The University of Chicago records the lowest score in the Index (28, F).
Yale, MIT and Georgia Tech tied for the highest score, each receiving a 96 and an A grade. The other A-grade universities were the University of Georgia, the University of Virginia, Rice, the University of Southern California and Vanderbilt University.
Oriel Admissions identified eight universities that “go dark” at decision time. They withhold their acceptance rate when decisions are released, and the rate for the most recent completed cycle does not appear in the school’s published materials. The full rankings, school-by-school scores and complete methodology are available on the College Admissions Transparency Index page at orieladmissions.com.
Ivy League Disclosure Splits Sharply
The Index found a wide split among Ivy League universities. Yale tied for the highest score in the full Index with a 96 and an A grade. Dartmouth and Brown each received a B, while Penn received a C. Columbia, Cornell, Harvard and Princeton each received a D.
Transparency as a National Issue
The Index arrives as admissions transparency has become part of the national higher education conversation. In August 2025, the White House directed federal education officials to expand admissions-related reporting and improve how higher education data is presented to parents and students.
“Families are being asked to make one of the biggest decisions of a student’s life with less information every year,” said Rona Aydin, founder of Oriel Admissions. “A university that asks students to share everything in an application should be willing to share something as basic as an acceptance rate. The index measures who provide it and who does not.”
“The burden falls hardest on students without independent guidance and on school counselors carrying caseloads in the hundreds,” Aydin added. “Transparency in admissions is an equity issue. When schools go dark, guesswork replaces guidance.”
Built from Public Sources
The Oriel Admissions College Admissions Transparency Index grades 50 of the most selective universities in the United States on how openly they disclose admissions data and how clearly, they explain their process to applicants. The Index does not assess institutional quality. It measures one thing: whether students, families, and counselors can find basic admissions information from the institutions themselves.
Every score is built from public, first-party sources. The full methodology, scoring anchors, and school-by-school results, including pillar-level ratings, are published at orieladmissions.com/college-admissions-transparency-index/, and the complete dataset is available there as a CSV download. An Excel version is available to journalists on request.
About Oriel Admissions
Oriel Admissions is a college admissions consulting firm serving families nationwide. The firm works with families throughout middle school and high school, providing comprehensive and strategic guidance that helps students build distinctive candidacies for the most selective universities. Learn more at orieladmissions.com.