How we build and check every listing
Each listing shows what our catalog holds for a program — cost, deadline, eligibility, format, location, dates and where to apply — and leaves a field empty when we hold nothing, rather than guessing. This page sets out the rule for each field, what the dates on a listing mean, how comparison pages quote programs' own websites, what we do not claim, and the rules on money that keep the catalog independent.
The rule for each field
- Cost
The price the listing holds, or Free when the program states that attending costs nothing. Stipends and aid are labeled as what they are.
A missing or unstated price is never shown as Free or as $0. It stays empty, and the free filter leaves it out.
- Application deadline
The next deadline, on the day it falls on the program's own clock — a deadline of 11:59 p.m. Eastern shows on that Eastern day.
A deadline that has passed is never shown as open. When a program has not announced dates, the listing says so — never "coming soon", never an invented day.
- Eligibility
The grades or ages the listing holds. Grade pages and filters include a listing only when its range covers the grade.
A listing that says nothing about grades is never counted as a match for one.
- Where to apply
An Apply button only for a real application page — a form, a portal or an apply page. When we hold only the program's homepage, the button says Official site.
A homepage is never presented as proof that applications are open.
- Selectivity label
Highly selective, Selective or Open, only when the program's own rules support it: a published acceptance rate or seat count, or a stated enrollment rule.
No prestige scores or stars. A program that publishes no rate stays unlabeled.
- Program status
When research finds that a program has ended, its page says so and answers HTTP 410, and the program leaves lists, search, the quiz and the sitemap.
An ended program is never kept in lists to fill them.
What the dates on a listing mean
Research dates are retained in our records but are not displayed on listings.
Link checked, followed by a date, is the most recent day our link checker requested one of the listing's links (its official site or its application link) and got a working answer. It says the link worked that day, not that the listing's details were researched again. A listing no check has reached shows no Link checked line.
A deadline that reads "Dates not announced" means the program had not published this cycle's dates when we researched it.
How links are checked
A link checker requests each listing's official site and application link and records what answered. The site's owner starts it by hand, so the time between runs varies, and a link is flagged broken only after three failed checks in a row on different days. A listing says Link checked only after a check found one of its links working, and the catalog health page shows what the checker found and when it last ran.
The checker asks each site politely: a few requests at a time, never two at once to the same site, a time limit on each, and a name that says who is asking. It follows redirects and records where each link ended up.
A link passes when it answers, directly or through a redirect to the organization's own new site. A missing page, a domain that no longer exists, a parked or phishing page, or a redirect to an unrelated site is a failed check. A slow site, a bot wall or a server error is neither: it is recorded as inconclusive. One failed check never flags a link, and a passing check starts the count again. A flagged link goes to a person, and the checker never changes a listing by itself.
How comparison pages are sourced
The table at the top of every comparison reads the same catalog fields as the program pages, under the rules above.
23 of our 56 comparison pages carry an in-depth section in which every fact is copied word for word from the program's own website: 754 dated facts from 33 official sites. A script confirmed each quote on its page before it was published, and our tests fail when any fact was last read more than 120 days ago.
In those in-depth sections, when a program does not publish something, the cell says so instead of guessing. A number in the verdict or the advice around the facts has to appear in one of the quotes, and "free" may be written only where a quote says it.
What we do not claim
A listing is our reading of a program, not the program's own page. Confirm anything you plan around on the official site, which every listing links.
- A listing does not mean the program has reviewed or endorsed it.
- A working link does not mean a listing's details are current: listings are not re-researched on a schedule, and the link checker runs when the site's owner starts it.
- We do not publish acceptance odds a program has not published.
- We do not rank programs by their value in college admissions.
- We do not call ourselves the largest or the most complete catalog.
The money rules that keep the catalog independent
These hold on every page, and each is written into the policy linked below it.
- No program pays to be listed, or to rank higher in browse, search, quiz matches or guides.
- No commission when you click Apply or visit an official site, and no affiliate best lists.
- We do not sell your personal information.
- If we ever accept sponsorship, it will be labeled on the page where it appears.
Corrections
Every program page has a Report incorrect information link. Reports go to a person, and confirmed errors are corrected in the catalog. Programs can use the same link to fix their own listing.
You can also email team@extracurricularhub.com.
Last reviewed 2026-09-27.