Adrianne is a Senior Admissions Counselor and TV/film director, producer, writer, and actress currently based in LA. She uses her experience in multiple disciplines to help students achieve their personal and academic goals.
As the 2024-2025 college admissions cycle wraps up, it’s time to once again analyze the trends in college admissions and re-evaluate the landscape of higher education.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The college admissions landscape has seen many changes over just the past few years, from the lasting impact of COVID-19 to the Supreme Court’s repeal of race-based admissions (more commonly known as “affirmative action”) to debates around the use of legacy status in admissions practices. And the landscape continues to change more quickly than ever, as evidenced by the Trump administration’s swift implementation of new education policies.
By now, most students have received their college decisions, and the date to make a final decision looms in the near future. So, what changed this year in the world of college admissions, and what stayed the same? We’re here to break down all of the college admissions trends.
Test-Optional Policies: No Longer The New Normal?
Test-optional policies were introduced in the post-COVID admissions era, given the challenge of administering these tests during the pandemic. Now, some schools have kept those relaxed standardized test requirements as a way to level the playing field for a “fairer” college admissions process. Standardized tests like the SAT and ACT have long been criticized for their failure to accurately assess and compare all students’ abilities, as some students perform well in their classes but may struggle with test anxiety, learning disabilities, or just a general dislike of the format.
However, many schools that previously practiced test-optional admissions have begun rolling back these policies. Ivies like Brown, Harvard, and Cornell are now reinstating their standardized test requirements within the next two admissions cycles, and many other schools are following suit. It’s also been shown that submitting test scores, even when applying to colleges that are still test-optional, is still a wise decision for most students.
Still, the reasons for the rollbacks at test-optional schools vary widely. The College Board, which administers the SAT and AP tests, argues that standardized tests measure academic preparedness for college and should be an important part of any application evaluation. But at competitive colleges, admissions committees found that test-optional admissions created a new kind of unfairness, since there wasn’t an apparent alternative that could fill the same role in the college admissions process.
For instance, Yale Dean of Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan remarked that “applicants without scores from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were less likely to be admitted than others, because they were less likely to have that evidence in other parts of their applications.” It was also true that the students who were admitted without test scores had higher GPAs on average. For next year’s admissions cycle, Yale is just asking for a standardized test score of any kind, with the options including AP and IB scores.
AI and Data-Driven College Admissions
While there has been much debate about the use of artificial intelligence from the student perspective, admissions offices are now more open to using new AI technology in the application review process. A recent report from Acuity Insights highlighted the popularity of this shift: “51% of admissions professionals believe AI will transform applicant evaluation, improving efficiency while maintaining holistic review standards.” As is the case with all AI-centered discussions, there are pros and cons to this potential shift.
Especially at schools where admissions officers are overwhelmed with applications, this could ideally give admissions officers more time to review each individual application, as opposed to the average 5-15 minutes (usually less than 8 minutes at very selective colleges) that they now allot to each student. That could benefit students with more complicated circumstances or maybe a quantitative profile (i.e., test scores and GPA) below that of the school’s median applicant, since it would beget more discussion time amongst admissions committees.
However, this could also create a new barrier to entry for students and somewhat replace standardized test scores as a kind of benchmark against which admissions officers can measure students. For instance, an AI model could quickly summarize and highlight impressive accomplishments on a student’s already concise application, which would benefit students who are affiliated with the most prestigious extracurriculars and contests (i.e., Google Science Fair, Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth).
For students who have a lower-profile extracurricular portfolio, such as a student who founded their own business or was dedicated to a local community service organization, the AI model may not place that accomplishment on par with a more recognizable name. Students who might know how to tailor their language to fit the specific AI model an admissions office is using would have the upper hand. This is all speculation and generalization at the moment since admissions offices haven’t clarified exactly how they’d use AI programs, but it’s a logical guess given the current technology.
The Impact of Demographic Shifts on College Admissions
Research shows that the college applicant pool is steadily growing and diversifying. According to the Common App March 2025 report on first-year application trends, the number of applicants from many underrepresented groups grew at substantially faster paces, including Latinx applicants (13%), Black applicants (10%), first-generation applicants (13%), and low-income applicants (9%). There was a significant increase in the number of college applications from usually underrepresented U.S. states, especially from more rural populations.
So, it seems the repeal of affirmative action has not negatively impacted the diversity of applicants, at least in the short term, but the real impact will become clear once these schools release enrollment data later this year. Given that many schools are more hesitant to release specific data about admitted students, it will be difficult to get the full picture, at least within the next few years, but it will become evident when analyzing the makeup of the student body at some of the most popular U.S. education institutions over the next few years.
Early Decision & Early Action Still Give Students a Competitive Edge
“Apply early” is practically the motto of this admissions cycle — many competitive colleges reported higher acceptance rates for early rounds, such as:
| University | Early Acceptance Rate | Regular Acceptance Rate |
| Columbia University | 15% | 4% |
| Northeastern University | 39% | 6% |
| Boston University | 26% | 11% |
| American University | 85% | 47% |
| University of Miami | 60% | 19% |
| Villanova University | 49% | 25% |
| Lehigh University | 53% | 29% |
This is not surprising, as this growing preference for early admits has been happening for a while now, but many schools (especially schools that are competitive but not the most selective schools in the U.S., like Emory and Duke) saw an increase this year in the number of early applicants. However, some of the schools that reinstated standardized testing requirements, such as Yale and Brown, had a decrease in early application numbers. So, students applying in the next few application cycles would be wise to include applying early in their list of application strategies.
The Popularity of the “New Ivies”
With admission rates at most of the Ivy League schools plummeting even further this year, there is a new crop of high-quality but slightly less competitive schools catching students’ eyes, colloquially known as the “New Ivies.” According to Forbes data about the schools that employers prefer to see on graduates’ resumes, this list of public schools and private colleges includes*:
PUBLIC NEW IVIES
- Georgia Institute of Technology — Main Campus
- Purdue University — Main Campus
- The University of Texas at Austin
- United States Military Academy
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- University of Michigan — Ann Arbor
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- University of Pittsburgh — Pittsburgh Campus
- University of Virginia — Charlottesville Campus
- William & Mary
PRIVATE NEW IVIES
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Emory University
- Georgetown University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Northwestern University
- Rice University
- Tufts University
- University of Notre Dame
- Vanderbilt University
- Washington University in St. Louis
*UC schools were excluded from this list as they do not report ACT/SAT test scores.
With Ivy League acceptance seen as near-impossible and mounting criticism about the eight schools’ responses to protests, mounting tuition costs, and possible declining prestige, prospective students are putting these new schools at the top of their college list. This doesn’t mean the Ivies are going anywhere (their application numbers are still on the rise), but this means that these schools will likely have increasingly competitive programs over the next few years. If any of the above schools are your top choice, start early and apply EA or ED!
Alternative Pathways: The Rise of Gap Years, Community Colleges, and Trade Schools
As the cost of traditional four-year colleges continues to grow year after year, students and their families are thinking more about long-term financial stability than chasing the most prestigious, expensive college. That means that more and more students are considering alternative routes to higher education.
Gap years became a popular option for students amidst the pandemic in an effort to avoid the negative effects COVID was having on the undergraduate experience as much as possible. A survey of guidance counselors found that, while the number of students taking a gap year has returned to pre-COVID levels, 45% of school counselors said more students were considering gap years post-pandemic.
Students are also increasingly enrolling at community colleges — according to the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) Research Center, Community colleges gained 118,000 students in the fall of 2023, which is a 2.6% increase. Many students are also opting to do a year at community college and then transferring into a traditional four-year college. This can even be a viable pathway to admission at more selective colleges, since the transfer admission rate is generally higher. And community college is significantly cheaper and usually a less stressful place for many students to start their undergraduate experience.
Finally, more students are considering trade school and vocational-focused education as a more practical route. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics showed that trade school enrollments grew 4.9% from 2020 to 2023, reversing the decline seen in years prior. Students and their families are growing concerned about the job market and the usefulness of a degree from a four-year college, especially a liberal arts school. Not to mention that many trades like construction, electrical work, and HVAC are facing a labor shortage, which will likely lead to competitive salaries in the future without the burden of student loans.
Mental Health & Student Well-Being in Admissions Decisions
It’s no secret that the college application process can take a toll on students’ mental health — as the competition for spots at these top schools becomes more intense, pressure is mounting for school seniors to excel at an increasingly higher level. Rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation have been on the rise ever since the pandemic, and the growing obsession over high achievement and college acceptances hasn’t helped. Parents and teachers need to emphasize that students’ self-worth shouldn’t be tied to their achievements to help prevent this detrimental association.
In fact, mental health struggles could lead to a significant decline in college enrollment over time. A recent survey of high school students indicated that a third of all students surveyed have concerns about mental health that threaten to delay their decision to attend college or could even lead them to forgo it entirely. The conversation around college admissions and mental health will hopefully usher in meaningful reforms in years to come.
Social Media & Digital Presence: A Double-Edged Sword
Even though college admissions officers don’t have much time to review each application, they still may look through a student’s social media profiles. A survey from Kaplan showed that 28% of college admissions officers look at applicants’ social media profiles, and 67% of those surveyed think that it’s “fair game.” While it’s pretty rare to see an offer of admission revoked because of a student’s online behavior — usually it’s because of extreme behaviors of deception or hate speech — just know that your admissions officer may be reviewing your profiles to see if the narrative you portrayed in your application lines up with the one present in your digital life.
However, on the positive side, students can use this attention from admissions officers to their advantage by creating a blog, advocating for campaigns that align with their values, or using these platforms as a creative outlet. Your social media pages can be used to connect with the world around you and represent yourself in a professional, polished way. For more ideas about how to leverage your social media in the college admissions process, check out this blog post on the topic.
Conclusion
The college admissions landscape for 2025 is evolving in many intriguing ways. As we head towards this future, several key trends are expected to shape how students approach the application process and how admissions officers evaluate candidates — that’s why students and their families need to stay updated on the latest developments as often as possible.
Do you need assistance with navigating this ever-changing college admissions landscape? Reach out to us today to schedule a free consultation!
