Updated: Monday, May 4, 2026
By Rachel, IvyWise College Admissions Counselor
It’s important for college-bound students to stay up to date on the latest college admissions trends. With the 2025-26 admissions cycle in the rearview mirror, now is an excellent time to reflect on recent updates and keep an eye toward the future.
The 2025-26 admissions cycle continued the trend of tremendous change that affected almost every aspect of college-bound students’ lives — including the college admissions process. Testing policy updates, generative AI, higher selectivity, and U.S. politics are just a few of the issues that have had a profound impact on college admissions.
Throughout the college admissions process, doing your due diligence is essential. The more students know about the process, the better prepared they will be to make decisions that align with their needs and goals. Here are the top admissions trends that students should have on their radars throughout 2026 and beyond.
Colleges continue to rely on Early Decision (ED) to manage their yield and form their incoming class, with ED application numbers rebounding after they dropped slightly in the 2024-25 cycle due to the return of standardized testing requirements. For example, Early Decision I and II applications to Bowdoin College increased by 15% for the class of 2030 compared to the class of 2029 — 2,301 for the 2025-26 cycle compared to 2,000 for the previous year. Their overall applications increased by 5%. As you might imagine, this surge in demand caused Bowdoin’s early acceptance rate to fall from 14.8% to 13.1%.
Early Decision’s prominent role in yield protection and enrollment is evidenced by schools adding Early Decision application rounds. The University of Michigan previously offered Early Action and Regular Decision rounds but added an Early Decision option for this admissions cycle. While the school did publicly share the record-setting number of overall applications, they did not publish their ED numbers. Many schools withheld their ED stats, marking a clear departure from previous data-sharing norms.
A sound application strategy can center on Early Action rather than Early Decision, but one thing remains clear: By the time students apply in Regular Decision, they’re often competing for a much smaller number of remaining seats.
According to a March 2026 Common App report, this year marked the first year that the percentage of students submitting test scores was higher than those not submitting since the 2019-2020 admissions cycle — 52% of applicants reported test scores. This is a likely a direct result of many selective institutions returning to required testing policies.
The Common App also reports, “First-generation applicants, applicants identifying as underrepresented minorities, applicants eligible for a Common App fee waiver, and those from below-median income ZIP codes remained less likely to report a score.” We know these groups are more likely to face barriers to testing access and prep, and they may also be more cautious about whether a score will help their application.
We almost always recommend students submit test scores, especially if their numbers are within or above the middle 50% of admitted applicants. IvyWise counselors encourage all students to test so that they can keep their options open. Even at test-optional schools, submitting strong standardized test scores typically helps applicants. Look at Tufts’ class of 2030: A little over half of applicants submitted test scores, but 75% of the students who were admitted did.
While application numbers continue to rise overall, higher ed is increasingly a split market with a relatively small set of highly selective schools flooded with applications, while other colleges face enrollment challenges. According to Common App data, the number of applications to the most selective schools (>25% acceptance rate) rose nearly 131% in the last five years, with 1.43 million students applying this year.
Application inflation — meaning more students applying to more colleges — is reshaping students’ college lists. Schools that used to feel like solid target schools now function as reach schools for many applicants. Villanova illustrates the broader trend well: Its acceptance rate has dropped from 48% for the Class of 2019 to 27.53% for the class of 2029.
As balanced target schools become harder to identify, students are increasingly defaulting to a handful of likely schools and a long list of reaches. But more applications do not necessarily create a stronger strategy. A strategic, intentional list of 13 to 15 schools is often a better way to preserve quality and ensure fit.
In the last three admissions cycles, schools have added supplemental essay prompts that give students the opportunity to share their backgrounds and diverse life experiences. These essays serve as a loophole to get around the 2023 SCOTUS ruling that colleges and universities are no longer allowed to directly consider race in their admissions decisions.
However, the Department of Justice suggested in July 2025 that essay prompts about lived experiences could violate federal civil rights laws. At least for now, many colleges are continuing to ask these prompts despite the memo, including Brown University, the College of William and Mary, and Vassar College, among others.
Additionally, schools are asking “disagreement questions” where they ask students to reflect on a recent disagreement and how they handled it. Colleges are looking to evaluate a student’s ability to meaningfully engage with opposing thoughts or ideas, and how they handle conflict. Harvard, Columbia, and Duke are among the schools that include this question.
For now, supplemental essays continue to play an important role in helping colleges to enroll students who not only bring diverse perspectives, but who can also interact with and learn from those with differing viewpoints.
Many schools are now offering AI-related majors, minors, and certificate programs. Some examples of AI majors include MIT’s degree in Artificial Intelligence and Decision Making and USC’s joint degree in Artificial Intelligence for Business through the Viterbi School of Engineering and the Marshall School of Business.
However, to prepare for a workface where AI automates entry-level tasks across industries, we may see some students pivot away from STEM majors, which have been steadily growing for decades. A recent survey conducted by the Lumina Foundation and Gallup found that nearly half of current college students have thought about changing their major or studies because of AI. If employers ultimately prioritize skills in critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and collaboration alongside tech fluency, we could see more engagement with humanities and interdisciplinary majors.
The college admissions landscape changes constantly, and we don’t expect the 2026-27 admissions cycle to be any different. U.S. politics is having a profound effect on colleges and universities across the country, and it’s hard to predict what changes we’ll see in the coming months that may impact first-year applicant numbers and demographics.
As you prepare for your admissions journey, information is key. When students are aware of the current college admissions climate, they are in turn more knowledgeable about their application options and best-fit strategies.
At IvyWise, our team of admissions counselors, tutors, and specialists always has its finger on the pulse of college admissions and knows what it takes to gain admission to students’ top-choice schools. The college application process can seem even more opaque now than ever before. IvyWise is here to help you navigate this process with insight gleaned from experience inside admissions offices. For more information on our college counseling programs and how our team can help you gain admission to your top-choice colleges, contact us today.
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