The Common Data Set: the file that answers most of your questions
Nearly every college publishes a standard document saying what it weighs in admission, who got in, and how many came back the next year. Almost nobody reads it.
The question we keep seeing
“How do I find out what a college actually cares about, instead of what a forum thinks it cares about?”
The short answer
- The Common Data Set is a shared set of definitions, so the same question is answered the same way at every school that fills it in.
- It states outright how much each school weighs essays, rigour, recommendations, interest and the rest — on a fixed scale, in the school's own words.
- It is published by the school, not by a ranking. Search the school's name plus 'Common Data Set'.
Most of what applicants argue about online — whether a school cares about demonstrated interest, whether the essay really matters, what the middle of the admitted class looked like — is already answered in a document the school publishes itself, every year, in a fixed format.
What it actually is
The Common Data Set is not a survey and not a database. It is a set of standard definitions, agreed between the College Board, Peterson's and U.S. News, so that a question means the same thing at every institution answering it.Footnote 1Source 1Common Data Set InitiativeA collaboration between the College Board, Peterson's and U.S. News that defines standard data items colleges report — a set of definitions, not a survey or database.commondataset.org Schools are urged to reuse those answers whenever a publisher asks, which is why the same numbers turn up across very different guidebooks.
That standardisation is the whole value. "Admit rate" and "class size" can be defined several defensible ways; the CDS picks one, so two schools' figures can sit side by side.
The sections worth your time
- Admission factors. Each academic and nonacademic factor is rated on one fixed scale — from *Very Important* down to *Not Considered*. This is the school telling you, in writing, how much weight the essay, the rigour of your course load, recommendations, an interview, or your level of interest carries.
- Applicants, admits and enrolled. The raw counts, from which the admit rate falls out.
- The early rounds. Early Decision and Early Action applicant and admit counts sit in their own items, separate from the overall pool — the only public place the two rates can be compared.
- Transfers. A separate section again, with its own applicant and admit counts.
- Test scores and GPA. The distribution of the enrolled class, not the admitted one.
- Retention and graduation. How many first-year students came back, and how many finished.
- Financial aid. Including how much need the school says it met.
How to find one
- Search the school's name plus "Common Data Set". Almost every college posts it, usually under an office of institutional research.
- Take the most recent year available, and note the year — these shift.
- Read the admission-factors section first. It reframes everything else.
- Then pull the numbers you care about, and do the same for the next school on your list.
A word of caution: not every school publishes one, and a few publish only part. A missing CDS is not a red flag on its own, but it does mean you are back to guessing for that school.
Katalyna keeps these side by side. In college matching, each school's trends panel takes the CDS figures you enter and works out the early-round advantage against that year's overall rate — the comparison the document supports but never makes for you.
Try it in Katalyna
College matching
Track each school's CDS figures across years, with the early-round advantage worked out.
Frequently asked
A standard set of definitions agreed between the College Board, Peterson's and U.S. News, so that colleges answer the same questions the same way. Each school fills it in and publishes its own.
On the college's own website — search its name plus "Common Data Set". It is usually posted by the office of institutional research. There is no central database of completed ones.
Yes. Level of applicant's interest is one of the rated factors, and the school states how much weight it carries — from very important down to not considered at all.