Sources and attribution
Every number on College Underdog comes from one of the sources below. This page says what we take from each, and on what footing.
| Source | What we use | Footing |
|---|---|---|
| The colleges' Common Data Set filings | Each college publishes its own Common Data Set (CDS) every year. We read the numbers from those filings (PDF or spreadsheet), keep the year and the method of reading, and link each college page to the original files. | Facts published by the college itself. Facts are not copyrightable; we reproduce numbers, not the documents. |
| College Transitions | Index of CDS files, used to find each college's filings. | Links only. |
| IPEDS (U.S. Department of Education, NCES) | Federal admissions and enrollment data, used to check each CDS number and shown where it disagrees. | Public domain. |
| Common App, Niche, IECA, published research | Single statistics quoted on the College Underdog home page and in the assumptions (e.g. applications per student; the share of early-decision admits who are recruited athletes or legacies). | Short factual quotations, each credited and linked. |
| U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, QS, Times Higher Education, Niche | A college's position on a published list, shown on that college's page with the publisher, the edition, the list name and a link. | A single rank is a fact about the college, credited to its publisher. We do not reproduce a publisher's list in order, do not offer a list endpoint, and do not use any publisher's logo. Publishers do not endorse either site; a publisher that objects can have its ranks removed on request. |
| Students' public posts (Reddit, College Confidential and similar) | Short paraphrased summaries of what admitted students say they did, with the number of posts and links to the originals. Never quoted at length, never with usernames, never used in any odds. | Self-reported and unverified. A poster can have a summary removed on request. |
College Underdog's odds, scores, picks and insights are our own work, derived from the numbers above, and are labelled reported, worked out or estimate at every step.
Licence
Our data is published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Use it anywhere, including commercially, and credit Open College Data (opencollegedata.org). The licence covers our tables and files; it does not transfer any right in a college's filing, a publisher's ranking or a student's post, which stay with their owners.
How to cite
Open College Data, Common Data Set admissions facts verified against IPEDS, 2026, https://opencollegedata.org. For a single number, cite the college page and the CDS year shown next to it.
No affiliation
College Underdog is independent. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by any college, the Common Data Set Initiative, the U.S. Department of Education, or any ranking publisher. College and publisher names are used only to identify the source of a fact.
Corrections
Something wrong? Suggest a correction (a public issue in the data repository) or contact us. We acknowledge within two business days and ship accepted fixes with the next build. The full correction log is public in the data repository.