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 | Bowling Green State University → | 40 | 69 | 32% | 5% |
| 2 | Nazareth University → | 44 | 62 | 5% | 2% |
| 3 | Liberty University → | 38 | 50 | 16% | 5% |
| 4 | Shenandoah University → | 33 | 42 | 12% | 6% |
| 5 | Charleston Southern University → | 27 | 32 | 4% | 19% |
| 6 | Ohio University → | 24 | 31 | 8% | 0% |
| 7 | Kent State University → | 21 | 31 | 38% | 57% |
| 8 | Grace College → | 19 | 27 | 47% | 11% |
| 9 | The Catholic University of America → | 22 | 26 | 0% | 0% |
| 10 | University of Findlay → | 19 | 26 | 0% | 0% |
| 11 | Elon University 🎓 → | 22 | 25 | 0% | 0% |
| 12 | University of Minnesota → | 22 | 25 | 14% | 23% |
| 13 | George Mason University → | 20 | 25 | 40% | 0% |
| 14 | Mount St. Joseph University → | 16 | 24 | 44% | 0% |
| 15 | Muhlenberg College → | 19 | 24 | 16% | 5% |
| 16 | The Master's University → | 19 | 23 | 16% | 0% |
| 17 | University of Dayton 🎓 → | 19 | 22 | 0% | 21% |
| 18 | Columbia College Chicago → | 19 | 22 | 0% | 0% |
| 19 | The College of Wooster → | 18 | 21 | 0% | 0% |
| 20 | James Madison University → | 18 | 21 | 11% | 0% |
| 21 | Christopher Newport University → | 17 | 21 | 18% | 12% |
| 22 | Union College → | 19 | 21 | 0% | 0% |
| 23 | Earlham College → | 16 | 20 | 6% | 25% |
| 24 | Olivet Nazarene University → | 16 | 18 | 0% | 12% |
| 25 | Cleveland State University → | 14 | 17 | 21% | 43% |
| 26 | Rollins College → | 14 | 17 | 14% | 0% |
| 27 | Lenoir-Rhyne University → | 14 | 17 | 0% | 0% |
| 28 | Queens University of Charlotte 🎓 → | 15 | 16 | 0% | 27% |
| 29 | High Point University 🎓 → | 13 | 15 | 15% | 31% |
| 30 | Hampden-Sydney College → | 12 | 15 | 25% | 0% |
| 31 | SUNY Geneseo → | 11 | 15 | 36% | 9% |
| 32 | University of Chicago → | 10 | 14 | 40% | 0% |
| 33 | Hope College → | 10 | 13 | 10% | 40% |
| 34 | Western Michigan University → | 11 | 13 | 9% | 0% |
| 35 | University of Dallas → | 9 | 13 | 56% | 22% |
| 36 | Eastern University → | 9 | 12 | 22% | 22% |
| 37 | DePauw University → | 11 | 12 | 0% | 27% |
| 38 | Asbury University → | 11 | 12 | 0% | 27% |
| 39 | University of Saint Francis → | 10 | 12 | 10% | 0% |
| 40 | Butler University → | 10 | 12 | 20% | 10% |
| 41 | Palm Beach Atlantic University → | 9 | 11 | 0% | 11% |
| 42 | Wheeling University → | 9 | 11 | 22% | 0% |
| 43 | Hofstra University → | 6 | 11 | 33% | 0% |
| 44 | University of Cincinnati → | 9 | 10 | 11% | 0% |
| 45 | Wabash College → | 9 | 10 | 0% | 0% |
| 46 | Duquesne University → | 9 | 10 | 0% | 0% |
| 47 | Colorado Christian University → | 9 | 10 | 0% | 22% |
| 48 | John Carroll University 🎓 → | 9 | 10 | 0% | 0% |
| 49 | Trine University → | 7 | 9 | 14% | 0% |
| 50 | Thomas More University → | 7 | 9 | 29% | 0% |
| 51 | University of Denver → | 6 | 9 | 50% | 0% |
| 52 | Belmont University → | 8 | 9 | 0% | 0% |
| 53 | Washington & Jefferson College → | 8 | 9 | 0% | 12% |
| 54 | Heidelberg University → | 8 | 9 | 12% | 0% |
| 55 | Marymount University → | 7 | 9 | 29% | 0% |
| 56 | Capital University → | 7 | 8 | 14% | 0% |
| 57 | Michigan State University → | 6 | 8 | 33% | 33% |
| 58 | Holy Cross College → | 7 | 8 | 0% | 0% |
| 59 | West Liberty University → | 6 | 7 | 0% | 0% |
| 60 | University of Pittsburgh → | 6 | 7 | 0% | 0% |
| 61 | Long Island University → | 7 | 7 | 0% | 0% |
| 62 | Marymount University → | 5 | 7 | 0% | 20% |
| 63 | University of Pittsburgh → | 5 | 6 | 0% | 0% |
| 64 | Lake Erie College → | 5 | 6 | 20% | 0% |
| 65 | Xavier University 🎓 → | 6 | 6 | 0% | 0% |
| 66 | Bucknell University → | 5 | 6 | 0% | 100% |
| 67 | Hofstra University → | 4 | 5 | 0% | 25% |
| 68 | Belmont Abbey College → | 4 | 5 | 25% | 0% |
| 69 | Samford University → | 5 | 5 | 0% | 0% |
| 70 | Miami University → | 5 | 5 | 0% | 0% |
| 71 | University of Louisville → | 5 | 5 | 0% | 0% |
| 72 | University of Tampa → | 4 | 4 | 0% | 0% |
| 73 | College of Charleston → | 3 | 4 | 0% | 0% |
| 74 | Wittenberg University → | 3 | 4 | 33% | 0% |
| 75 | Hampden-Sydney College → | 2 | 3 | 50% | 0% |
| 76 | The Catholic University of America → | 2 | 3 | 0% | 0% |
| 77 | Valparaiso University → | 3 | 3 | 0% | 100% |
| 78 | Eastern Michigan University → | 3 | 3 | 0% | 33% |
| 79 | University of Toledo → | 3 | 3 | 0% | 0% |
| 80 | University of Akron → | 2 | 3 | 50% | 0% |
| 81 | University of Calgary → | 2 | 3 | 0% | 0% |
| 82 | Denison University → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 83 | Ashland University 🎓 → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 84 | University of the Cumberlands → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 85 | Furman University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 86 | Arizona State University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 87 | Gannon University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 88 | Western Governors University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 89 | Grove City College → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 90 | University of Mississippi → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 91 | Fordham University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 92 | College of Charleston → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 93 | Ohio Northern University → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 50% |
| 94 | Northwood University → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 95 | Marietta College → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 96 | Northeastern University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 97 | Rochester Institute of Technology → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 98 | Bentley University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 99 | Chatham University → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 100 | Colby College → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 101 | Ball State University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 102 | Columbus State Community College 📚 → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 103 | Mount St. Joseph University → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 104 | La Roche University → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 105 | Indiana Institute of Technology → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 106 | Tiffin University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 107 | Evergreen State College → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| 108 | Oregon State University → | 2 | 2 | 0% | 100% |
| 109 | Robert Morris University → | 1 | 2 | 0% | 100% |
| 110 | Limcollege → | 1 | 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.
If your college believes its count is wrong, email Evan. He will happily re-run the numbers. No fee waiver required.
Download the full dataset: spam_data.json. MIT licensed. Do something interesting with it.