madstract

In regards to why CDS for some colleges cannot be found online, as easy as it would be to think the schools are being secretive, my answer is actually much more simple.

Most schools use a version of peoplesoft to manage the data relevant to CDS. There are a few schools that don't. From what I have seen and what I know (as a college administrator) it seems that the schools not using peoplesoft are the ones with difficult to find or not available CDS online. For these schools, they really aren't being secretive, it just isn't as practical for them to put something together like the other schools figuring the information is probably in different formats and coming from different offices.

Papa Chicken

But, since the CDS is standardized & USNews, etc require the CDS from each school to base their rankings, I would think that every school would have to generate a CDS every year, unless they opted out of USNews. And if a school has generated a CDS, regradless of internal data management system, why then would they choose not to publish on their web site?

I guess as the cynic here, albeit one not intimately familiar with college administrative processes, I deduce that all schools that are mentioned in USNews MUST produce a CDS, but some like Harvard, Wash U, Colgate, and some other notables, choose not to make that CDS available to the public.

madstract-- am I wrong in thinking that a college must produce a CDS to get reported in USNews?

madstract

The CDS that many schools put together and make public is usually nice and neat. Depending on how a school is organized and what software/programs/organization practices they follow this can easily be accomplished. This is quite clear when looking at the CDS for most schools. My assumption is that Peoplesoft or any other program or software used by the entire university makes this much more possible. It uniforms the data I guess. Also remember that a school only has to make the information within a CDS public if the school is a public institution. For those schools it makes sense for someone to make sure this happens.

From my knowledge of working at a school that is not public and does not use peoplesoft or software similar to it and does not release the CDS information like most other schools, I have a good idea as to why this happens. Each university is structured a little bit differently, especially when it comes to the offices that deal with CDS info. At my particular school there are a variety of different offices that handle this information. In most cases one office does not have access to most of the information in another office. And each office manages their own information differently, especially when it comes to generating reports. Try to imagine the bureaucracy.

My best guess, is when it comes time to report to USNEWS for the rankings, etc, each individual office sends back their respective info to USNEWS. One office probably doesn't see what another office sends back, and probably is already busy enough with their own work. I wouldn't be surprised if USNEWS is the only one that puts it all together in a way that is useful to the masses.

For a school that isn't public and doesn't use a software on an entire university level that reports the info in an easy neat way, WHY SPEND MORE MONEY TO DO MORE WORK WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE TO? You have to understand that universities are full of people leading different offices who do not want to learn new software or agree on one. Many times these people are too busy to even think about things that aren't necessary. Also remember that people in general don't like to change.

This is all just my opinion. Personally, I'd like access to more information and my job would be easier if my school used a more universal software/program to manage information. Getting a lot of people at any school to agree on this, then pay for it, is difficult though.

Spinner1020

I am still trying to find the CDS for Washington University in St Louis. I have searched all over the internet to no avail. Does anyone know transfer statistics about Washington University? How many apply, what's the acceptance %, what college GPA are they looking for? What percentage of college credits does Wash U transfer over from the previous college, or should a tranfer student likely have to plan to go to summer school at Wash U or take an extra semester there to graduate with their class? My D was waitlisted, but recently received a letter saying Wash U was oversubscribed this year and won't go to their wait list, so we're trying to figure out a transfer plan. I'd really appreciate your suggestions. Thanks so much!

rgs321

Does anyone know when the schools publish the 2006 CDS?

Papa Chicken

Last year, I generally started seeing the first ones being posted in the Fall, with many more posted around new years. The next CDS will be for school year "2006-2007" and contain info on freshman incoming this Fall, from HS class of '06.

FYI, here is the CDS initiative web page:
http://www.commondataset.org/

Don't see anything specific on due dates on that page, but when I drill down to the discussion board on CB, I read that the publisher (e.g., Petersons) due dates seem to be in early January.....which is probably the reason why I noticed lots of CDS postings around the new year.

richs73cas

Spinner

The Admissions Page for Transfers has much of the information you are looking for. http://admissions.wustl.edu/admissio...set=iso-8859-1
Regarding the CDS - They don't seem to have it posted. Much of the info would be available at US NEWS http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/col...2520_brief.php
( the Premium edition is just $15 - but the 2007 edition will be coming out in August 2007 )

From US News
Transfer applications received for Fall 2004: 683
Transfer applicants offered admission for Fall 2004: 231
Transfer applicants enrolled for Fall 2004: 124

Good Luck

Spinner1020

Thank you, rich73cas for your very helpful information!

DRab

Does anyone know about schools that use single sitting in admissions decisions and how they report information for the CDS (as in do some use the same info for it or do they use the best combined, or rather highest in each individual section)?

crossoverthesun

does anyone have a Trinity College CDS link?

richs73cas

Drab

It isn't clear from the instructions on the CDS what the institutions need to do. ( One Sitting Scores - or - Highest Score from any sitting ) All it seems to require is both math and verbal (And now writing) scores for those that took the SAT be provided.
(Quote from Section C8 - G )
http://www.commondataset.org/cds0506/CDS2005_2006.htm

richs73cas

Normally the CDS would be posted at the Institutional Research Page.
Trinity College (Hartford, CT) http://www.trincoll.edu/TrinityAZ/In...ch/default.htm
There is a link to Data Requests but it doesn't work. Searching for the Common Data Set doesn't bring it up.

DRab

From my emails, all I can tell that they know is that different schools do different things, and that they have no idea who does what, and don't plan on instituting a policy (which would obviously make the data more worthwhile, standardized, and accurate).

corunnerdad

Here's Willamette


http://www.willamette.edu/dept/ir/ir...ubmenu2005.htm

richs73cas

Adelphi University http://administration.adelphi.edu/orap/facts.shtml
Agnes Scott College http://www.agnesscott.edu/institutio...mondataset.asp
American University http://american.edu/academic.depts/provost/oir/cds.pdf
Amherst College http://www.amherst.edu/about_amh/cds/
Arizona State University http://www.west.asu.edu/ipr/reports/
Auburn University http://oira.auburn.edu/cds/default.aspx
Barnard College http://www.barnard.edu/opir/cds/cds_main.htm
Bates College http://www.bates.edu/x2294.xml
Baylor University http://www.baylor.edu/irt/
Bentley College http://www.bentley.edu/ir/handy_data.cfm
Berea College http://www.berea.edu/ira/commondataset.asp
Boston College http://www.bc.edu/about/bc-facts/
Boston College http://www.bc.edu/publications/factbook/
Boston University http://www.bu.edu/oep/cds.html
Bowdoin http://academic.bowdoin.edu/ir/data/cds-table.shtml
Bowling Green State University http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/ir/cds/cds.htm
Brandeis University http://www.brandeis.edu/offices/IR/cds/CDS.html
Brigham Young University http://home.byu.edu/webapp/assess/co...rts/index.html
Brown University http://www.brown.edu/Administration/...onal_Research/
Brown University http://www.brown.edu/Administration/...ndfigures.html
Brown University http://www.brown.edu/Administration/...acts/index.htm
Bryn Mawr College http://www.brynmawr.edu/institutiona...ds/index.shtml
Bucknell University http://www.bucknell.edu/Offices_Reso..._Data_Set.html
Butler University http://www.butler.edu/oir/
California Institute of Technology http://finance.caltech.edu/budget.htm
Carleton College http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/ira/CDS1/
Carnegie Mellon University http://www.cmu.edu/ira/cds.htm
Case Western Reserve University http://www.cwru.edu/president/cir/cdsmain.htm
Catholic University http://computing.cua.edu/PIR/common_data_set/
Central Washington University http://www.cwu.edu/~ir/CommonDataSet.html
Clemson University http://www.clemson.edu/oir/factsBook.htm
Coastal Carolina University http://www.coastal.edu/effect/f05toc.html
Colby College http://www.colby.edu/ir/
Colgate University http://www.colgate.edu/DesktopDefaul...=555&pgID=2080
College of Charleston http://irp.cofc.edu/cds/default.htm
College of New Jersey http://ir.intrasun.tcnj.edu/cds.html
College of the Holy Cross http://www.holycross.edu/departments/planning/website/
Colorado College http://www.coloradocollege.edu/dean/oir/comdata.htm
Columbia University http://www.columbia.edu/cu/opir/abstract/
Cornell University http://dpb.cornell.edu/irp/cds.htm
Creighton University http://www.creighton.edu/FactBook/CDS/
Dartmouth College http://www.dartmouth.edu/~oir/dataset.html
Davidson College http://www2.davidson.edu/administrat.../ir/ir_cds.asp
Denison University http://www.denison.edu/ir/DU_Most_Requested.html
DePaul University http://oipr.depaul.edu/cds/main.asp
Dickinson College http://www.dickinson.edu/departments...blications.htm
Drew University http://www.depts.drew.edu/research/
Drexel University http://www.drexel.edu/provost/ir/cds2005/
Duke University http://www.provost.duke.edu/units/factbook.html
Duke University http://www.admissions.duke.edu/jump/...009profile.asp
Duquesne University http://www.irp.duq.edu/commonData.html
Eastern Washington University http://ires.ewu.edu/phpwebsite/content.php?menu=21
Emory University http://www.emory.edu/PROVOST/IPR/ir_factbook.htm
Fairfield University http://www.fairfield.edu/x1137.xml
Florida Atlantic University http://iea.fau.edu/inst/arch.htm
Florida State University http://www.ir.fsu.edu/surveys/survey...D=t_commondata
Frostburg State http://www.frostburg.edu/admin/ois/CDS/cds.htm
Furman University http://www.furman.edu/planning/cdspage.htm
George Mason University http://irr.gmu.edu/cds/cds_new/index.cfm
George Washington University http://www.gwu.edu/~ire/
Georgetown University http://www.georgetown.edu/opir/
Georgetown University http://www.georgetown.edu/undergrad/...YRProfile1.htm
Georgia State University http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwire/common/index.html
Georgia Tech http://www.irp.gatech.edu/
Goucher College http://www.goucher.edu/institutional...ol-1-6-051.xls
Grinnell College http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/inst...lresearch/cds/

All Links Tested Good July 2, 2006