<p>Be a little careful about relying upon any common data set to understand what is important for admissions decisions. The common data set for each college is prepared by an institutional research staffer, not the admissions staff. It is better to rely upon what the admissions staff of a college actually say about what is important. </p>
<p>The common data set is very valuable to get information on actual financial aid and numbers of students graduating with various majors. Some of that data is also summarized for each college on the US Dept of Ed’s College Navigator. The College Navigator and CDS are also valuable because they offer comparable data - colleges are less likely to lie to the Feds.</p>