How College Admissions Rates Have (And Haven’t) Changed In 2020

Can you imagine starting college in fall 2020? Lots of students didn’t; they deferred their acceptance. (More on this later.) 

When these students were rising high school seniors they had no idea of how the world would change, so they embarked on the time-honored tradition of making the rounds of college visits (yes, in person!) to decide where they’d want to live and study the next year. That fall and winter, they submitted their applications. 

Consequently, in the spring of 2020, colleges were viewing applications that had been submitted without any of this foreknowledge. 

To make it even trickier for college admissions officers, many high school seniors lacked second-semester grades to report or had only pass/fail records. Each college dealt with this in their own way. 

Admission trends did shift in 2020 due to the pandemic; here are some of the notable ones: 

Colleges continue to use Early Decision, making admissions more competitive. This trend will continue to create fewer spots for regular decision applicants. 

Over many of the past years, we’ve seen schools become harder and harder to get into. Admissions percentage rates seem to be constantly falling. From 2006 to 2018, admissions have fallen at Duke from 23% to 6.4%; at the University of Chicago from 38% to 7.2%; and at Stanford from 11% (low already) to a ridiculous 4.3%. Schools that may once have been “target” schools have become “reach” schools for many students. And UC isn’t exempt from this trend, with admissions at Cal (UC Berkeley) falling from an achievable 34% to a cut-throat 15.1% and UC Irvine’s admissions dropping from more than half (60%) to less than a third (28.8%).

A main impetus behind this trend is the historic number of early decision applicants in private colleges. Over the past four years, many top schools have seen increases of 30% or more in the number of students applying early, which, of course, has led to lower admit rates out of the regular pool. This year there are even more early decision applications than ever before, and some of this is related to the uncertainty of the pandemic. In these times, students would rather know which college they got into sooner rather than later! At the same time, some colleges have increased the number of early action and early decision applicants they admit.

Schools accepting a lower percentage of regular decision applicants in 2020:

The prevalence of Early Decision applicants has affected the admissions rates of both Boston College and the University of Virginia. In the case of UVA, this is the first time they’ve  allowed students to apply early decision in addition to early action. What’s the difference? Early action – which UVA has had before – is a non-binding agreement. On the other hand, if you apply for “early decision” (ED), you’re committing yourself to that school and telling them that – if they accept you – you will go there. And, yes, this makes ED an attractive option for many schools because the schools’ admissions team knows that if they accept applicants from the ED pool, they will definitely get them as new students. For this reason, the admit rate for ED applicants is slightly higher than for regular decision, or even early action.

More and more schools are looking for new ways to get students to commit to attending. In these times of uncertainty, college admissions teams are having a hard time getting students to commit to their school – and getting the much-needed revenue from tuition. Carnegie Mellon University is taking it a step further and allowing students to switch into ED (up until January 15) if they’ve submitted their application via regular decision, and later decide that CMU is the school they will definitely go to, if they’re accepted. Across the board, students are realising that ED gives them a boost to get admitted, and they’ve applied early this year in even greater numbers.

For some schools, there were fewer applicants over all.

However, the year 2020 is different; it’s one for the history books. Because of the global pandemic, some students showed hesitation to submit applications to college and 2020 is the first year – for a lot of schools – where admissions rates have actually gone up. In many schools, the number of openings has stayed the same, but the total number of students vying for them has decreased. This leads to an increase in the admissions rate. But there’s even more good news!

Schools accepting a HIGHER percentage of applicants in 2020:

UCs are admitting more students over all now and into the future.

Some top schools (such as UC) are actively expanding their enrollment and accepting more students. This was part of a trend that started well before anyone had heard the word “COVID” and is continuing now. In other words, it’s not all doom and gloom during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many schools have actually become easier to get into – perhaps for the first time in many years.

The UC system has increased their enrollment – which means that they now accept a greater number of students, period. UC has made a commitment to admit more students from California and to make it easy for students to start as a community college and then transfer into the UC system. 

Some colleges may accept more students thinking they might defer. Deferrals should not impact next year’s admissions decisions. 

It’s also worth noting that the year 2020 saw an historic rate of requests to defer admission, especially at top schools like Harvard, which saw a deferral rate of 20%!  What effect is this going to have? Is it going to screw up admissions for 2021? Probably not like you might fear; but that’s a topic for another article! 

Students may stay closer to home

We may see shifts in where students decide to apply. Instead of traveling across the country to go to college, more students may choose to stay within their local region. When they have a choice, students may choose schools that are closer to home, and colleges and universities may see more applicants from their region compared to out-of-state or international applicants. 

International student numbers are expected to decline and this may make the acceptance numbers for international students better.

Schools that have large international student population may see a drastic drop in this year’s applications as many international students are wary of traveling to the United States or want an on-campus experience instead of a virtual one. A decreased applicant pool may also give an advantage to international applicants aiming for top schools like Boston University and Carnegie Mellon, two schools with more than 20% international student population. 

Planning ahead

As we wrap up this year’s admissions process, we’re happy to help students strategize for next year’s admissions and build a college list that will be a great fit for them. Feel free to request a free consultation!