Data Journalism · College Admissions · 2025–2026
One high school senior's application cycle, quantified. Every email. Every subject line. Every school that wanted him — and the one that apparently really wanted him.
The Leaderboard
Ranked by total email volume. 🎓 marks schools Evan actually applied to.
Calendar Heatmap
Every day an admissions email landed — March 2025 through October 2026. The enrollment-season surge is not subtle.
Clickbait Hall of Fame
These arrived in Evan's inbox. They are real. They are unedited. They speak for themselves.
Year-End Awards
Every senior class has them. Now colleges do too.
The Full Dataset
Search your alma mater. Click any column header to sort. 🎓 = Evan applied here.
| Rank ↕ | College ↕ | Emails ↕ | Spam Score ↕ | Clickbait % ↕ | Emoji % ↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nazareth University → | 47 | 72 | 6% | 0% |
| 2 | Bowling Green State University → | 32 | 54 | 28% | 3% |
| 3 | High Point University 🎓 → | 33 | 42 | 6% | 42% |
| 4 | Liberty University → | 27 | 33 | 11% | 0% |
| 5 | Charleston Southern University → | 25 | 30 | 8% | 16% |
| 6 | Kent State University → | 20 | 30 | 40% | 55% |
| 7 | Shenandoah University → | 26 | 30 | 0% | 8% |
| 8 | Elon University 🎓 → | 23 | 27 | 0% | 4% |
| 9 | University of Findlay → | 19 | 26 | 0% | 0% |
| 10 | Ohio University → | 21 | 26 | 0% | 0% |
| 11 | Grace College → | 18 | 25 | 39% | 17% |
| 12 | The Master's University → | 19 | 24 | 16% | 0% |
| 13 | Earlham College → | 18 | 23 | 6% | 28% |
| 14 | Muhlenberg College → | 19 | 23 | 0% | 5% |
| 15 | University of Minnesota → | 20 | 23 | 15% | 25% |
| 16 | Ohio Wesleyan University 🎓 → | 19 | 23 | 11% | 16% |
| 17 | Olivet Nazarene University → | 18 | 22 | 0% | 17% |
| 18 | The Catholic University of America → | 18 | 22 | 0% | 0% |
| 19 | The College of Wooster → | 17 | 20 | 0% | 0% |
| 20 | Christopher Newport University → | 15 | 19 | 13% | 7% |
| 21 | Western Governors University → | 16 | 19 | 0% | 0% |
| 22 | University of Dayton 🎓 → | 16 | 19 | 0% | 19% |
| 23 | Mount St. Joseph University → | 14 | 19 | 21% | 0% |
| 24 | Arizona State University → | 13 | 18 | 31% | 8% |
| 25 | Union College → | 16 | 18 | 0% | 0% |
| 26 | Columbia College Chicago → | 15 | 17 | 0% | 0% |
| 27 | College of Charleston → | 13 | 15 | 8% | 0% |
| 28 | Cleveland State University → | 13 | 15 | 8% | 46% |
| 29 | Lenoir-Rhyne University → | 12 | 15 | 0% | 0% |
| 30 | University of Saint Francis → | 11 | 14 | 18% | 0% |
| 31 | SUNY Geneseo → | 12 | 14 | 8% | 8% |
| 32 | George Mason University → | 13 | 14 | 8% | 0% |
| 33 | Rollins College → | 12 | 14 | 8% | 0% |
| 34 | University of Toledo → | 13 | 13 | 0% | 0% |
| 35 | Eastern University → | 10 | 13 | 10% | 10% |
| 36 | University of Dallas → | 7 | 11 | 71% | 14% |
| 37 | Colorado Christian University → | 10 | 11 | 0% | 10% |
| 38 | University of Chicago → | 10 | 11 | 0% | 0% |
| 39 | Hampden-Sydney College → | 9 | 11 | 22% | 0% |
| 40 | Tiffin University → | 9 | 10 | 0% | 100% |
| 41 | DePauw University → | 9 | 10 | 0% | 22% |
| 42 | John Carroll University 🎓 → | 9 | 10 | 0% | 0% |
| 43 | University of Cincinnati → | 8 | 9 | 0% | 0% |
| 44 | Butler University → | 8 | 9 | 0% | 12% |
| 45 | Palm Beach Atlantic University → | 7 | 8 | 0% | 14% |
| 46 | Holy Cross College → | 7 | 8 | 0% | 0% |
| 47 | Wabash College → | 7 | 8 | 0% | 0% |
| 48 | Hope College → | 7 | 8 | 0% | 57% |
| 49 | Belmont University → | 7 | 8 | 0% | 0% |
| 50 | Western Michigan University → | 7 | 8 | 14% | 0% |
| 51 | Washington & Jefferson College → | 7 | 8 | 0% | 14% |
| 52 | Queens University of Charlotte 🎓 → | 7 | 7 | 0% | 43% |
| 53 | Capital University → | 6 | 7 | 17% | 0% |
| 54 | Wheeling University → | 6 | 7 | 17% | 0% |
| 55 | Marymount University → | 5 | 7 | 0% | 20% |
| 56 | Asbury University → | 6 | 6 | 0% | 33% |
| 57 | Michigan State University → | 5 | 6 | 20% | 60% |
| 58 | Thomas More University → | 5 | 6 | 20% | 0% |
| 59 | West Liberty University → | 5 | 6 | 0% | 0% |
| 60 | Xavier University 🎓 → | 5 | 6 | 0% | 0% |
| 61 | Bucknell University → | 5 | 6 | 0% | 100% |
| 62 | Ashland University 🎓 → | 3 | 5 | 33% | 0% |
| 63 | College of Charleston → | 4 | 5 | 0% | 0% |
| 64 | James Madison University → | 5 | 5 | 0% | 0% |
| 65 | Trine University → | 4 | 5 | 0% | 0% |
| 66 | Samford University → | 5 | 5 | 0% | 0% |
| 67 | Miami University → | 5 | 5 | 0% | 0% |
| 68 | University of Louisville → | 5 | 5 | 0% | 0% |
| 69 | Grove City College → | 3 | 3 | 0% | 0% |
| 70 | University of Tampa → | 3 | 3 | 0% | 0% |
| 71 | The Catholic University of America → | 3 | 3 | 0% | 0% |
| 72 | University of Denver → | 3 | 3 | 0% | 0% |
| 73 | Valparaiso University → | 3 | 3 | 0% | 100% |
| 74 | Eastern Michigan University → | 3 | 3 | 0% | 33% |
| 75 | Robert Morris University → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 100% |
| 76 | Oregon State University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 77 | Denison University → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 78 | Hofstra University → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 50% |
| 79 | University of the Cumberlands → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 80 | Hampden-Sydney College → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 81 | Furman University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 82 | Gannon University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 83 | University of Mississippi → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 84 | Fordham University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 85 | Ohio Northern University → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 50% |
| 86 | Northwood University → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 87 | Marietta College → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 88 | Northeastern University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 89 | Rochester Institute of Technology → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 90 | Bentley University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 91 | Chatham University → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 92 | Colby College → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 93 | Ball State University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 94 | Columbus State Community College 📚 → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
Methodology
No schools were harmed in the making of this page. Well, their reputations maybe.
All emails sent to Evan's personal inbox between March 2025 and October 2026. Emails were filtered by sender domain to isolate college admissions traffic.
A composite: volume (40%), clickbait subject lines (30%), emoji frequency (20%), and distinct sender addresses (10%). Higher = more aggressive outreach.
Subject lines were scanned for urgency language: "last chance," "don't miss," "deadline," "act now," "forgot," and similar patterns. Regex, not AI.
🎓 marks the 8 schools Evan actually submitted applications to via Common App as of November 2026.
Wrong college name? Email flagged incorrectly? evan@magna-services.com. He'll fix it, no fee waiver required.
Download the full dataset: spam_data.json. MIT licensed. Do something interesting with it.