The last five years heralded groundbreaking changes in American college admissions. From the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic to the end of affirmative action and widespread protests on college campuses around the country, today’s admissions landscape bears little resemblance to that of a decade ago. For high school students and their parents, staying informed about these changes can provide a leg up in the admissions process—parents should recognize that just because they may have earned admission to a top college does not necessarily mean that they are equipped to help their student through the current admissions process. The more that students and parents can anticipate the amount of time, research, and strategy that goes into the college application process and stay up-to-date on relevant admissions trends, the more equipped they will be to earn a coveted spot at a top school.
As 2024 draws to a close, here are the five top admissions trends that students should anticipate in the coming year:
1. The Return of Standardized Test Requirements
The Covid-19 pandemic led to a widespread adoption of test-optional policies that have lingered at many schools in the years since. While some schools such as the UC system (which is test-blind), UPenn, Princeton, and Columbia have maintained these policies, the 2024–25 admissions cycle saw a wave of top schools reinstituting testing requirements. In February, Dartmouth became the first Ivy League school to reinstate its standardized test policy, followed quickly by Brown, Yale, and Harvard. Cornell, too, will require students to report their test scores again in the fall of 2026. In announcing these changes, schools overwhelmingly reported that grades and extracurriculars do not provide sufficient information to determine whether a student is ready for the rigors of an Ivy League education. Yale, for instance, wrote in their announcement: “Students’ out-of-school commitments may include activities that demonstrate extraordinary leadership and contributions to family and community but reveal nothing about their academic preparedness. With no test scores to supplement these components, applications from students attending these schools may leave admissions officers with scant evidence of their readiness for Yale.”
The return to standardized testing requirements is further propelled by widespread grade inflation, which makes it more difficult to assess a student’s academic preparedness based on GPA alone. Students and parents should expect that additional schools—including both Princeton and UPenn, as well as other second-tier schools where test-optional policies remain in place—will continue to roll back their test-optional policies and re-emphasize the importance of standardized testing in their admissions considerations.
First and foremost, this means that students should prioritize preparing for standardized tests, as well as setting and achieving their goal scores based on their target institutions. Depending on the schools to which they are applying, students may be able to fulfill testing requirements with AP and IB test scores—Yale allows students to submit AP or IB scores in lieu of SAT or ACT scores. Students should meticulously check the policies for every school on their list to ensure that they are prepared well in advance of their admissions cycle.
2. Fewer Applications to Ivy League Schools
As top schools reinstitute their testing requirements, students and parents should generally expect to see lower applicant numbers—which, in turn, may buoy acceptance rates. The widespread adoption of test-optional policies resulted in students whose scores fell below the median threshold submitting applications. This led to larger applicant pools overall; for instance, for the Class of 2027, Penn, NYU, and Yale received the largest pool of applicants in their respective histories, totaling over 59,000; 120,000; and 52,000, respectively. As a greater number of under-qualified candidates applied to these prestigious institutions, acceptance rates plummeted—not because of a change in schools’ admissions policies, but because the number of available seats remains static.
Now, as testing requirements are re-introduced, this trend will likely be reversed. The early admissions cycle for the Class of 2029 provided the first glimpse of this reversal—Brown University received 5,048 Early Decision applications, accepting 906 students. At 17.9%, the 2029 Early Decision admission rate rose 3 percentage points over the Class of 2028’s rate of 14.4%. This is the highest Early Decision acceptance rate since the Class of 2023 and can be attributed to the fact that the school received nearly 1,200 fewer early applications. Likewise, Yale reported a 14% decrease in early applications, dropping to 6,754 from 7,856 last year. While top schools may continue to withhold acceptance rates until after the admissions cycle concludes, the Regular Decision round could reveal progressively thinning applicant pools that result in higher admissions rates overall—corresponding to the expected trend for the coming years.
3. Push for Greater Socioeconomic Diversity at Elite Universities
The Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action in 2023 sent shockwaves through higher education. As universities have scrambled to comply with new restrictions, there has been a greater push for socioeconomic diversity amongst applicants and accepted students at top schools. Many top schools have instituted tuition remission programs for families under a certain income threshold—Duke, for example, provides free tuition for students from families in the Carolinas who make less than $150,000 annually, while Yale offers the same for families across the country who earn below that annual income. Meanwhile, elite colleges such as MIT and Stanford have doubled down on their recruitment efforts in rural areas across the country, seeking to attract more geographic and socioeconomic diversity.
However, while some families assume that moving to Nebraska will boost their odds of admission, this is not necessarily the case. Rather than changing their location, students should focus on standing out by making an impact in their locale—wherever that may be. At the same time, if a student is located in a rural area, they can leverage their geography to their advantage by demonstrating the unique and dynamic ways that they have engaged with their rural community on their college applications.
4. The Rise of the “New Ivies”
As Ivy League schools face mounting scrutiny and declining acceptance rates, a new cohort of elite institutions has emerged as academically rigorous competitors. Known informally as the “New Ivies,” schools like Vanderbilt, Rice, Duke, Emory, WashU, and Notre Dame have seen skyrocketing application numbers and plummeting acceptance rates over the last decade. For instance, in 2013, NYU’s acceptance rate was 35%. That number dropped to 8% in 2024. Likewise, the applicant pool at Rice University has more than doubled over the last ten years, from 15,408 in 2013 to 32,473 in the 2023–24 cycle. At the same time, state universities such as the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan have gained national recognition for their world-class programs and renowned faculty. These schools offer prestigious programs with larger student bodies, sprawling alumni networks, and sports culture for students who want a traditional “big school” atmosphere. As these second-tier schools rise in both popularity and prestige, many parents and students underestimate the difficulty of earning admission—in the coming admissions cycles, students should expect to put as much effort into their Vanderbilt application as they do their application to Columbia.
5. The Video Introduction
Given sharp increases in applications to top schools over the last five years, many institutions have been unable to offer interviews to all applicants. In light of this, some top schools such as Brown and UChicago have implemented optional video interviews as a means of getting to know students in a more personalized capacity. Institutions that accept video interviews or introductions tend to emphasize that the submission should be a casual and organic reflection on a student’s candidacy, background, and interest in the school. While it has yet to gain widespread use, nor is it a required component of applications at top schools, the video interview will likely become more popular as top schools seek creative ways to holistically evaluate thousands of applicants.
The college admissions landscape is in a constant state of flux, and 2025 promises to bring even more changes. As we enter a new year, it is critical for students and parents to recognize the need for adaptive and flexible admissions strategies to conform to top schools’ ever-changing expectations and requirements.