2024 Admission Trends

Written By Jason Robinovitz

In a very short period, the number of profound influences on college admissions has been staggering: pandemic disruption, the Supreme Court's ruling against affirmative action, omnipresent AI, and a surfeit of applications. Amidst it all, here are some contemporary trends we’d like to highlight for you:

  • SAT and ACT Testing: Most schools will remain test optional for the next few years (or remain so even permanently, like Columbia University). Some have reinstituted tests – Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, MIT, CalTech, and UT Austin, among others. It remains to be seen how application numbers at the most selective schools will be affected.

  • Skyrocketing applications continue. Many of the nation’s most popular universities have posted record-high application numbers. In fact, these colleges reported their largest application pools ever:

  • Northeastern: 98,373

  • Yale: 57,512

  • Virginia Tech: 52,365

  • Bowdoin: 13,200

  • Yield remains crucial for admission. Colleges scrutinize their application data to determine student yieldability (yield = % of accepted applicants who enroll), a recognized index of popularity. To achieve the highest yieldability, colleges defer, waitlist, offer alternate forms of acceptance (e.g., study abroad first semester, admission to another campus for first semester or year, guaranteed sophomore transfer) and reject students who applied as a "back-up." As a result, acceptance letters may come later than they have historically or be fewer and farther between, leading concerned students to apply to even more schools as a result!

  • More students are accepted early decision. Colleges want strong yield rates, so they accept more early-decision students. For example, Boston College accepted 34% of their ED1 students but had an overall acceptance rate of only 15% for the class of 2028; similarly, Boston University accepted 34% of their ED1 students but only 11% overall! Dartmouth, the smallest Ivy, reported an 18% increase in ED applications (a record high for Dartmouth) – with a 17% ED acceptance rate but only a 5.3% overall acceptance rate. This early application trend is accelerating, with a 41% jump since 2019-2020, according to Common App. The histogram below illustrates how much of a boost was given by applying early:

  • Interviews are changing. Traditional interviews are mostly a thing of the past. Options now include personal videos and interview uploads.

2024 Admissions

As you can see, numerous trends have become woven together to create a complex, contemporary picture. While many families have some knowledge of testing, the other trends ‒ especially yieldability ‒ are a bit more mysterious. We can clarify the picture for you, explaining how our deep knowledge helps you use these trends to your advantage and improve your potential for college admission. Contact us so we can help you!

Jason Robinovitz

As an active member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association, the National Association for College Admission Counseling, and the Secondary School Admission Test Board, Jason Robinovitz is part of a professional network of admission directors, educators, psychologists and other educational consultants. Additionally, Jason is a founding member of the National Test Prep Association, the first non-profit industry group for test prep professional nationwide.

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