Expert Admissions hosted a webinar with Dr. Bari Norman and Trish Fairweather Cody, who discussed trends in college admissions over the last year and answered questions about the return of testing requirements, generational differences in admissions, international applications, changes at public universities, and more.
The Slow but Steady Return to Testing Requirements
While approximately 75% of U.S. colleges remain test-optional, the landscape is beginning to shift. In recent months, a growing number of selective colleges and universities have announced a return to requiring standardized test scores. Dartmouth, Yale, and Brown have already completed one admissions cycle under these reinstated requirements. Another wave of schools—including the University of Miami, University of Pennsylvania, Ohio State, Cornell, and Stanford—have announced that they will require testing beginning this fall.
The impact of the return of standardized testing is already visible. When selective schools first went test-optional during the pandemic, they experienced major surges in applications—often 30% or more. Since returning to requiring testing, many schools have seen declines in application volume, although most are still receiving more applications than they did before the pandemic.
With policies changing frequently, we continue to recommend that students prepare for and do the best they can on the SAT or ACT because submitting strong scores—those that fall at least within or, ideally, at the top or above a school’s typical range—can significantly strengthen an application. Even test-optional institutions report very high rates of test submission among admitted students. At Rice University, for example, 72% of applicants and 79% of admitted students submitted testing. Admitted students at schools like Penn and Notre Dame also show a high percentage of students who submitted scores.
From Gen X to Gen Alpha: Changes in the College Landscape Over the Last 30 Years
The college admissions landscape has changed dramatically in the last generation, making it very different for today’s high school students than it was for their parents. Thirty years ago, highly respected schools like Tufts, NYU, and Northwestern had acceptance rates well above 30%. Today, they’re below 10%. The increase in application volume, fueled by the Common App, online submissions, and broader awareness of college rankings, has driven this shift.
Moreover, schools are more focused on institutional priorities: balancing class composition by geography, diversity, intended major, and more. Students are now competing not just nationally, but globally, and with far more peers in each pool.
A striking example is New York University (NYU), which was once considered a regional institution with a high acceptance rate and a largely commuter population. In 1995, NYU had an acceptance rate of 65%. Today, that number has plummeted to 7.7%.
A major contributor to increased selectivity is the strategic use of Early Decision (ED) by colleges. In the past, colleges typically filled about a third of their incoming class through ED. Now, it’s common to see upwards of 50% of a class admitted this way. This trend has made the Regular Decision round disproportionately competitive. For instance, Brown admitted 17.9% of its ED applicants compared to just 3.9% in Regular Decision.
Though applying ED can significantly increase a student’s odds of admission, it is binding, so students should pursue this option only if they are confident in their interest and fit for a school. For all applicants building a realistic college list, including a wider range of schools, has become even more critical. Schools that were once seen as matches or likelies may now represent more of a reach.
International Applicants in 2025
The international admissions landscape is undergoing significant shifts, affecting both non-U.S. and domestic students, especially on the enrollment side.
A pause in visa appointment scheduling during the critical April–August window meant that many international students didn’t receive the documentation needed to arrive in time for the fall term, with these bureaucratic delays creating unexpected gaps in incoming classes.
These uncertainties particularly affected how colleges managed their waitlists in 2025. Institutions such as Harvard openly extended their waitlist activity into the summer, citing unresolved international enrollment numbers. Other schools, such as Penn, initially indicated they had completed their admissions cycle, only to follow up later with waitlist outreach—likely reflecting concern about international yield. In previous years, a waitlist offer often held little hope, but this year they proved to be more viable and strategic components of college admissions.
These short-term shifts do not necessarily signal new long-term norms. In fact, looking ahead, the current uncertainty may cause colleges to be more cautious about admissions in 2025-2026.
Changes in Public University Admissions
State flagship universities have become much more competitive recently, particularly for out-of-state students. Many public universities are legally required to reserve a significant portion of their seats for in-state residents —UNC Chapel Hill, for instance, caps out-of-state enrollment at just 18%, and at UT Austin, it’s 10%. These restrictions lead to notable differences in admission rates for in-state versus out-of-state applicants. At UT Austin, the admit rate is 40% for in-state students but only 12% for those from out of state. Similarly, UVA reports a 23% admit rate for Virginia residents compared to 12.5% for non-residents.
Early Decision and Early Action policies further complicate public university admissions, with schools varying widely in their approaches. UVA offers both ED and EA options, but ED provides much more of a strategic advantage because of the binding commitment.
Reflecting these trends is the University of Michigan’s recent announcement that it will begin offering an Early Decision option, while retaining its existing Early Action and Regular Decision rounds. This is a significant shift for a school that already receives over 100,000 applications annually. The new ED option is expected to reduce EA’s effectiveness. Students will need to plan more thoughtfully, particularly in this first cycle, when data on ED outcomes will be limited.
Interestingly, some public universities are actively working to attract more out-of-state students. The University of Florida is increasing its non-resident enrollment goal from 21% to 25% between 2024 and 2028. Similarly, the University of Wisconsin–Madison lifted its cap on out-of-state students in 2016 and saw a 29% increase in non-resident enrollment over three years. In an era of budget cuts to public education, universities are seeking new revenue streams, and out-of-state students are a key part of that strategy.
More Changes to Come
After maintaining its own independent application for many years, Georgetown University will join the Common Application in Fall 2026, a change expected to increase Georgetown’s application volume significantly.
Webinar attendees were also buzzing about the ACT Science section, which is now optional. Harvard, Brown, Cornell, Georgia Tech, and others have already announced they will not require the Science section, but given uncertainty about other schools’ policies, we recommend students still prepare for and take the Science section.
For all the details on these topics and more, watch the webinar above.
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