Application Trends 2024-25
This year, the admissions landscape has experienced striking changes: many popular universities re-instated their standardised testing requirements, and affirmative action programmes were outlawed in a Supreme Court ruling. As students receive their decisions, this blog looks at how these issues impacted admissions, and what other trends emerged during this cycle.
Early admissions
This cycle saw many applicants taking advantage of early application programmes. Brown admitted 18% of Early Decision applicants: their highest rate for six years. It’s prudent to consider, though, that fewer students applied Early to Brown this cycle, likely due to the institution reinstating its testing requirement.
Other colleges with high Early application rates were Duke—with 8% more early applications this cycle—and University of Pennsylvania, with around 12% more. Dartmouth also saw a rise in Early applicants, despite its move to reinstate its testing requirements. The institution received 71% more applications than the 2019 cycle (the last cycle in which it required testing).
As a result of the increase in Early applicants, universities have issued more deferrals. Deferral refers to a decision in which a student’s application is carried over to the Regular Decision pool, and deferred applicants will receive their decisions in April, along with other RD applicants.
However, this upward trend was not seen across the board at highly selective universities. Yale received 17% fewer Early applications, and Columbia experienced a slight decline as well.
Standardised testing
In the past year, Brown, Caltech, Georgetown, Harvard, MIT, Purdue, and Stanford have reinstated their standardised testing policies. Universities across the board, including those that have remained test-optional, saw more students submit test scores: there was a 9% rise in students reporting scores, versus a 4% increase in students not reporting. However, some colleges continue not to require the tests, like the Universities of California, which are now test blind (meaning they will not consider test scores, even if submitted).
Although test scores won’t be considered at a minority of colleges like the UCs, it is an even better idea now than ever for prospective US applicants to plan to test! Good test scores will be beneficial to applications, even at colleges that remain test optional, and give students a wide range of options for their college lists.
Competitive programmes
One trend to keep an eye on is the way that certain ‘majors’ (what courses of study are called at US unis) can be highly competitive, and have admission rates lower than that of the college itself.
As an article from The San Francisco Chronicle linked here points out, at the Universities of California, admission rates vary widely between majors at the individual colleges. At the popular destination UC Berkeley, the overall admission rate is 11%. However, this drops to just 4% for the computer science programme, but raises to 23% for arts and humanities. At UCLA, the overall admission rate is 9%, but just as at UC Berkeley, the computer science major is more competitive at 3%, whilst the physical sciences / maths are less selective, at 14%. UCLA’s nursing major is more competitive than any Ivy League college: 1%!
This trend can spill over into testing policies. For example, at Purdue and Georgia Tech, testing is required for majors like engineering and computer science, which are highly academically rigorous.
Shift away from Ivy Leagues
Another trend evident in the most recent cycle was fewer applications being made to Ivy League colleges. Potential reasons for this shift might be many Ivies’ re-instatement of standardised testing policies, and more interest in colleges outside the box: these include the New Ivies (you can view the 2025 list of these high-quality, employer-friendly colleges here); excellent colleges that do not appear high up on rankings lists; and Southern universities like Georgia Tech.
Interest in career-based outcomes
Students are increasingly seeking out universities and programmes that have clear, career-based outcomes. Rather than traditional, passive forms of learning (like taking notes in lectures), students are looking for hands-on, practical, experiential learning. As young people increasingly turn to online sources for trusted information, their reliance on university faculty as transmitters of knowledge is lessened. Instead, what they seek from university is coaching and mentorship. Interdisciplinary and co-op programmes, as well as integrated work experience, are gaining popularity, particularly in fields like engineering, architecture, and business. University of Tampa’s Spartan Incubator and Accelerator programme is an example of a career-focused learning experience: it provides entrepreneurial students with the mentorship of faculty and established founders, giving them the tools to launch their own businesses.
However, that is not to say that liberal arts colleges are becoming obsolete; instead, they are reacting to this trend by highlighting their value in the employment sphere. According to a Forbes article linked here, 93% of employers value the skills fostered by liberal arts education: critical thinking, communication, and problem solving. A broad knowledge base is also valued by employers. Some liberal arts colleges, like Oberlin College, are developing more career-focused programmes: Oberlin’s LaunchU programme links students and alumni mentors, allowing them to gain professional skills and networks, crucial to building a rewarding career.
Impact of affirmative action ending
This was the first application cycle following the Supreme Court ruling ending affirmative action. What effects did this seem to have on applications this round? A New York Times article, linked here, reports that Black and Hispanic enrolment declined on average, but the data did not show a comparable increase in Asian and white enrolment. As might be expected, more students did not report race in their applications; this means that it is difficult to know how much of the changes seen in this cycle are attributable to genuine shifts, and how much are attributable to this lack of reporting race. There was also a wide spread of outcomes at different colleges, showing that the ruling has impacted different institutions in different ways.
This is still a space to watch as the impacts of the ruling are felt. The insights published in the New York Times article are based on preliminary data, and this is the first year that data has been collected on the topic, so things are still in flux. Also, it is prudent to keep in mind that the data is based on enrolment, not admissions: the composition of all admitted students may look different from that of those who chose to take up their offers and enrol.
Shifting importance of legacy admissions
According to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education linked here, since 2015, 452 colleges have stopped considering legacy status (whether a student had a close family member attend the university) in admissions. A decade ago, 49% of 1800 universities in the study considered legacy status; this is now down to 24%.
This year saw many colleges move to ban legacy admissions. Many colleges ended the practice voluntarily, though some were required by state legislatures to do so. 2024 saw Virginia and Illinois passing legislation that banned legacy admissions at public universities, California banning it at private universities, and Maryland banning it at both public and private universities. However, legacy admissions persist most strongly at wealthy, selective colleges, and at private universities (30% of private universities still consider legacy in admissions).
Technology gaining importance
With the rise of AI tools in all spheres of life, university applications are also increasingly integrating new technologies. For example, applicants have a range of virtual tools to choose from when researching colleges, like Match, a reverse admissions platform, which connects students to colleges of interest that can also offer financial aid. Many universities request videos from applicants (perhaps due to the ability of AI tools to write convincing application essays!) through online platforms like InitialView. Colleges also use virtual tools to engage with applicants, and streamline their own work after the point of application. Students shouldn’t use AI tools to avoid doing their own work, but should leverage them as useful aids, and be prepared to interact with them for their university applications.
The most recent application cycle saw many striking shifts. Standardised testing is making a comeback, whilst students’ evolving attitudes towards learning are driving increased interest in experiential learning and mentorship and in colleges beyond the familiar hyper-selective options. UES can help you navigate the upcoming cycle: for a free call with an expert college counsellor, go to www.ueseducation.com/free-call!