Guide

How MedianMatch works, and how to pay for college.

Where the numbers come from

College figures come from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard, a free public dataset, using its most recent release (downloaded October 2026). MedianMatch covers over 900 four-year colleges, including test-blind schools such as the University of California and California State University campuses.

How your chance is estimated

Your SAT (ACT is converted with the official concordance table) and GPA are compared with each college’s middle 50% of enrolled students. That comparison moves the college’s overall admit rate up or down. Above-average numbers help less at very selective schools, where most applicants already have top numbers. The result is shown as a range. Tap “Why this number?” on any college to see what moved it.

Reach means under 30% or any college that admits fewer than 15% of applicants. Match is 30% to 71%. Safety is 72% or higher. At colleges that don’t use test scores, the estimate uses your GPA and the admit rate.

GPA

Federal data has no GPA figures, so a typical GPA is estimated from each college’s test scores, or from its admit rate when it doesn’t use tests, and marked “est.” Each college’s Common Data Set (sections C11–C12) has its real GPA spread.

Activities

Rate each activity from Level 1 (national) to Level 4 (involved). Your strongest ones count most. Activities make up about 10% of the estimate at colleges that admit most applicants and up to about 35% at the most selective. Colleges don’t publish activity data, so this part is a rule of thumb.

Majors

The major filter uses federal field-of-study data: how many students earn a bachelor’s in each subject and their median pay four years after graduating (one year when four isn’t reported). “Top 25% pay” compares a program with the same major at the other colleges here. Pay also reflects location and the jobs graduates choose.

Cost, debt and “Cheaper than you think”

Prices are average net prices (cost minus grants) for five family income groups, for students who received federal aid. Public colleges show the in-state price; outside your home state the out-of-state tuition difference is added and marked as an estimate. “Cheaper than you think” shows colleges where your price is under half the sticker price. Typical debt is the median federal loan amount for students who graduated, with the estimated monthly payment.

Paying for college

FAFSA

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is how nearly every college and the government decide your aid, including Pell Grants. It’s free. Fill it out every year you’re in college, as early as you can, at studentaid.gov.

CSS Profile

Many private colleges also use the CSS Profile to award their own grants. Check each college’s financial aid page to see if it’s required. Students from lower-income families can often get it for free. It’s run by the College Board at cssprofile.collegeboard.org.

Application fee waivers

If application fees are a problem, you can usually get them waived. The Common App and most colleges accept a fee waiver request on the application itself, and your school counselor can confirm you qualify. SAT and ACT fee waivers also come with free score sends and college application fee waivers at many schools.

QuestBridge

QuestBridge connects high-achieving students from low-income families with partner colleges, many of which offer full scholarships through its National College Match. If your family income is low and your grades are strong, look into it early in your senior year at questbridge.org.

Net Price Calculators

Every college has a Net Price Calculator on its website. It uses your family’s real finances to estimate your price more exactly than averages can. Each college page here links straight to its calculator.

Privacy and security

All matching runs in your browser. Scores, GPA, income and activities are never sent anywhere. A small server counts anonymous visits and clicks; the Privacy Policy lists exactly what. There are no accounts, cookies or ads.

Guía

Cómo funciona MedianMatch y cómo pagar la universidad.

De dónde vienen los números

Los datos de las universidades vienen del College Scorecard del Departamento de Educación de EE. UU., una base de datos pública y gratuita, en su versión más reciente (descargada en octubre de 2026). MedianMatch incluye más de 900 universidades de cuatro años, incluidas las que no usan exámenes, como los campus de la Universidad de California y de la Universidad Estatal de California.

Cómo se calcula tu probabilidad

Tu SAT (el ACT se convierte con la tabla oficial) y tu GPA se comparan con el 50% central de los estudiantes inscritos en cada universidad. Esa comparación sube o baja la tasa general de admisión. Los números altos ayudan menos en las universidades muy selectivas, donde casi todos los solicitantes ya tienen números altos. El resultado se muestra como un rango. Toca “¿Por qué este número?” en cualquier universidad para ver qué lo movió.

Difícil (Reach) significa menos de 30% o cualquier universidad que admite a menos del 15%. Posible (Match) es de 30% a 71%. Segura (Safety) es 72% o más. En las universidades que no usan exámenes, el cálculo usa tu GPA y la tasa de admisión.

GPA

Los datos federales no incluyen GPA, así que el GPA típico se estima con los puntajes de cada universidad, o con su tasa de admisión si no usa exámenes, y se marca como “est.” El Common Data Set de cada universidad (secciones C11–C12) tiene sus datos reales.

Actividades

Califica cada actividad del Nivel 1 (nacional) al Nivel 4 (participación). Las más fuertes cuentan más. Las actividades pesan cerca del 10% en universidades que admiten a la mayoría y hasta cerca del 35% en las más selectivas. Las universidades no publican datos de actividades, así que esta parte es una regla aproximada.

Carreras

El filtro de carreras usa datos federales por área de estudio: cuántos estudiantes se gradúan en cada carrera y su salario medio cuatro años después (un año cuando no hay dato de cuatro). “25% mejor pagado” compara el programa con la misma carrera en las otras universidades. El salario también depende del lugar y de los trabajos que eligen los graduados.

Costo, deuda y “Más barata de lo que crees”

Los precios son el precio neto promedio (costo menos becas) para cinco niveles de ingreso familiar, de estudiantes que recibieron ayuda federal. Las universidades públicas muestran el precio para residentes del estado; fuera de tu estado se suma la diferencia de matrícula y se marca como estimado. “Más barata de lo que crees” muestra universidades donde tu precio es menos de la mitad del precio de lista. La deuda típica es el préstamo federal medio de quienes se graduaron, con el pago mensual estimado.

Cómo pagar la universidad

FAFSA

La Solicitud Gratuita de Ayuda Federal para Estudiantes (FAFSA) es como casi todas las universidades y el gobierno deciden tu ayuda, incluida la Beca Pell. Es gratis. Llénala cada año, lo antes posible, en studentaid.gov.

CSS Profile

Muchas universidades privadas también usan el CSS Profile para dar sus propias becas. Revisa la página de ayuda financiera de cada universidad. Las familias de menores ingresos muchas veces lo pueden enviar gratis. Lo administra el College Board en cssprofile.collegeboard.org.

Exención de cuotas de solicitud

Si las cuotas de solicitud son un problema, normalmente puedes pedir que no te las cobren. El Common App y la mayoría de las universidades aceptan la solicitud de exención en la misma aplicación, y tu consejero escolar puede confirmar que calificas. Las exenciones del SAT y ACT también incluyen envíos de puntajes gratis y exenciones de solicitud en muchas universidades.

QuestBridge

QuestBridge conecta a estudiantes destacados de familias de bajos ingresos con universidades asociadas, muchas de las cuales ofrecen becas completas a través de su National College Match. Si el ingreso de tu familia es bajo y tus calificaciones son altas, infórmate al comienzo de tu último año en questbridge.org.

Calculadoras de precio neto

Cada universidad tiene una calculadora de precio neto en su sitio web. Usa las finanzas reales de tu familia para estimar tu precio con más precisión que los promedios. Cada página de universidad aquí tiene un enlace directo a su calculadora.

Privacidad y seguridad

Todo el cálculo se hace en tu navegador. Tus puntajes, GPA, ingresos y actividades nunca se envían a ningún lugar. Un pequeño servidor cuenta visitas y clics de forma anónima; la Política de Privacidad explica exactamente qué. No hay cuentas, cookies ni anuncios.

About MedianMatch

MedianMatch was built by a first-generation college applicant who wanted one honest place to answer two questions: can I get in, and can my family afford it?

When you’re the first in your family to apply, there’s no one at home who has done this before. Most students end up guessing which schools are realistic, and many skip great colleges because the sticker price looks impossible, even when grants would cover most of it.

MedianMatch puts the answers in one place using public data from the U.S. Department of Education: your estimated chance as an honest range, what your family would likely pay, typical debt, and how graduates in your major do after college.

What we promise

It’s free, with no accounts and no ads.
Your scores, GPA, income and activities never leave your device.
Chances are never inflated to make you feel good. They’re estimates, shown as ranges, with the reasons behind them.

How it was built

MedianMatch was designed, tested and launched by a high school student, using an AI coding assistant to help write the code. The code is open source on GitHub. Questions, problems or ideas? Email medianmatch@outlook.com.

Terms of Use

Effective October 15, 2026

These Terms govern your use of MedianMatch (the “Service”), operated by the MedianMatch team (“we,” “us”). By using the Service you agree to these Terms. If you don’t agree, don’t use the Service.

1. What the Service is

MedianMatch is a free educational tool that compares the academic and financial information you enter with publicly available college data and displays estimates. It is provided for general information and research only.

2. No guarantee of admission or aid

Admission chance percentages and ranges, labels such as “Reach,” “Match,” and “Safety,” “How to raise it” suggestions, fit scores, extracurricular strength ratings, estimated GPAs and net prices are statistical estimates. They are not predictions, offers or guarantees of admission, scholarships, grants or any financial aid. A high estimated chance does not mean you will be admitted, and a low one does not mean you won’t be. Admission and aid decisions are made solely by each institution and by government agencies using their own criteria.

3. Not professional advice

Nothing in the Service is financial, legal, tax or professional admissions advice. Consult each college’s financial aid office, its official Net Price Calculator, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and qualified advisors before making decisions.

4. Data sources and accuracy

College information comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard and reflects the most recent data available when the Service was built. Data may be incomplete, out of date or contain errors. Some GPA figures are estimated by us and are labeled as such. We make no warranty that any information is accurate, complete or current. Always verify with the institution.

5. No affiliation or endorsement

MedianMatch is independent. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, College Board (SAT), ACT, Inc., or any college or university. Names of institutions and tests are used only to identify them.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to: (a) use the Service for any unlawful purpose; (b) attempt to interfere with, disrupt, reverse-engineer for malicious purposes, or gain unauthorized access to the Service or the systems that host it; (c) misrepresent the Service’s output as an official determination from any college or agency; or (d) use automated means to overload the Service.

7. Eligibility

The Service is intended for students, families and counselors. If you are under 18, use it with the knowledge of a parent or guardian. Because the Service collects no personal information, it does not knowingly collect data from anyone, including children under 13.

8. Intellectual property

The Service’s design, text and code belong to us. The underlying federal data is public information from the U.S. Department of Education. You may share links to the Service and use your results for personal, non-commercial purposes.

8a. Links to other websites

The Service links to college websites, college Net Price Calculators and government pages. We don’t control those sites and aren’t responsible for their content or privacy practices.

8b. Shared lists

If you create a share link for your list, anyone who has the link can see the colleges on it. Share it only with people you choose.

9. Disclaimer of warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE,” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

10. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS ARISING FROM DECISIONS ABOUT WHERE TO APPLY, ENROLL OR HOW TO PAY FOR COLLEGE MADE IN RELIANCE ON THE SERVICE. Because the Service is free, our total liability for any claim is limited to zero U.S. dollars ($0), except where the law does not allow such a limit.

11. Indemnity

You agree to hold us harmless from claims arising from your misuse of the Service or violation of these Terms.

12. Changes and termination

We may update the Service or these Terms at any time. The effective date above shows the latest version. Continued use after a change means you accept the updated Terms. We may suspend or discontinue the Service at any time.

13. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United States and of the state in which the MedianMatch team is based, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect.

14. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to the MedianMatch team at medianmatch@outlook.com.

Privacy Policy

Effective October 15, 2026

Short version: what you type about yourself (scores, GPA, income, activities) never leaves your browser. We count anonymous visits and clicks to improve the site. We don’t use cookies, don’t sell data and don’t show ads.

What stays in your browser

Test scores, GPA, activities, household income, home state and price limits are processed only inside your web browser to compute matches and chance estimates. They are never sent to us or to anyone else and never written to a database. Unless you choose to remember your profile (below), closing or reloading the page erases them.

A few things are remembered in your browser’s local storage, on your device only: the colleges you save to My List, any application status and deadline you add to them, your light or dark mode choice, your language choice, and notes that you agreed to these terms and finished Quick setup and the tour. If you turn on “Remember my profile on this device,” your scores, GPA, income, home state and activities are also kept there so you don’t have to re-enter them; turn it off or use “Clear everything” to erase them. None of this is ever sent to us. Clearing your browser’s site data removes all of it.

On the website, a small offline helper (a “service worker”) keeps a copy of the page itself in your browser so it loads faster and works without a connection. It stores only the site’s own files, never anything you type.

Share links

When you use “Share link” in My List, the link contains only short codes for the colleges on your list. It never contains your scores, GPA, income or activities. We don’t see who you share it with, except that opening a link is counted as an anonymous page visit like any other.

What we collect

Category	Collected?
Name, email, account or login	No (there are no accounts)
Scores, GPA, activities, income, state	No (stays in your browser)
Anonymous usage events	Yes: page visits, which colleges you open or save, which colleges you compare, which outside links you click, which filters, sorts and tabs you use, whether you use Quick setup, and words typed into the college search bar
Device and referral	Yes: device type (phone, tablet or computer) and the website that linked you here, if any
IP address	Not stored (see below)
Cookies, tracking pixels, advertising	No
Sale or sharing of personal information	No

How visitors are counted

To count unique visitors without identifying anyone, our server combines your IP address and browser type with a secret random key that is replaced every day, and stores only a scrambled code made from them. The IP address itself is never stored. Because the key changes daily and is never saved, the code can’t be traced back to you or linked across days.

Do Not Track

If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, the site sends no usage events at all.

Who processes the data

Usage events are stored by our hosting provider (Render) and database provider (Neon) on our behalf. Fonts load from Google Fonts. These providers may receive standard technical data, such as your IP address, when the page loads, under their own privacy policies.

How long we keep it

Usage events are deleted automatically after 13 months.

Admission estimates are not guarantees

Chance percentages, labels and cost figures shown on MedianMatch are estimates for research only. They do not guarantee admission, scholarships or financial aid at any college. See section 2 of the Terms of Use.

Children

MedianMatch does not ask for names, contact details or other information that identifies anyone, including children under 13, consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Your rights

Because usage events are anonymous and can’t be linked to you, we can’t find, show or delete events for a specific person. You can stop all event collection by turning on Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track in your browser. Residents of states with privacy laws (such as the California Consumer Privacy Act) keep all rights those laws provide.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your privacy can be sent to medianmatch@outlook.com.

Changes

If we change what we collect, we will update this policy and its effective date before the change goes live.

Find colleges that fit you, and what they’d really cost.

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