Illustration: Camilla Forte

College decisions used to depend mostly on an institution’s academic reputation and its social life. But with campuses in the crosshairs of the culture wars, many students are now taking stock of attacks on diversity, course content, and speech and speakers from both ends of the political spectrum. 

A new College Welcome Guide goes beyond test scores and rankings to find out what the culture on campus is like. The interactive tool sorts through data on hate crimes, freedom of speech, state laws, veterans’ tuition, rural campuses, and more.

Direct admission initiatives are having a moment, with state university systems from Georgia to Wisconsin adopting the experimental policy.

Advocates of direct admissions say bypassing the application removes a key barrier for many students who might otherwise not consider college. It can also be a simple and affordable piece of a multifaceted approach to combating enrollment declines.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling this summer against race-conscious admissions left the higher education world with many questions about how the decision could affect cornerstone practices. For one, what would admissions look like at highly selective institutions? 

Answers are starting to emerge. At Cornell University, an internal task force last month issued a 40-page report with recommendations on how the Ivy League institution can alter its admissions work to help diversify the school's undergraduate population.