With the 2024 admissions cycle winding down, here are a few things we’ve seen this year, and what to watch as these trends shape admissions going forward –
Trend #1 
Non-traditional Acceptance Pathways
Perhaps more than any other year, we’ve seen a broader range of colleges offer ‘non-traditional’ pathways to acceptance. More colleges than before offered students spring admission. In this case, a student is admitted, but will not begin their education and life on the campus until the spring semester of their first year. This means students need to find other opportunities such as employment or volunteering for the fall semester, and then join the first-year class when the spring semester begins. For a college, this solves a housing and enrollment crunch in the fall semester. These schools are offering more robust spring orientations and opportunities for a sizable number of incoming first year students to acclimate in the spring semester.
We’re also seeing more offers of admission that involve starting college in a specialized program for a semester or year that takes place at another location around the country or around the world. In most cases, these options are presented to students on the application, and we see students who indicate openness to these options gaining admission at higher rates than their peers who rule out these options.
What you can do…
We expect to see both practices continue or grow in the years ahead, and encourage students and families to consider what it would look like to embrace one of these alternate pathways to launching their studies at a college of interest.
Trend #2
Emphasis on student ‘lived experience’
Following the August Supreme Court decision about race-based admissions, we saw the vast majority of colleges ask some type of question that asked students to consider their ‘lived experience’ – elements of their identity, upbringing, community, and other factors that shape who they are and what they will contribute to life in a campus community. This is a direct response to the language of the decision that indicated colleges could consider what a student shares through their application writing about  the ways a student’s race and other aspects of their lived experience shapes their personal qualities and strengths.
What you can do…
We expect this practice to continue, and we encourage all students to be prepared to reflect on who they are and how their identity and experiences have shaped the characteristics they are proud to share with colleges through their application writing. 
Trend #3
An increasing focus on context 
College admissions has always relied heavily on the context of a student’s high school, zip code, state and region to better understand their strengths as an applicant as they compare to those coming from a similar context. The significance of this approach is only increasing in light of the Supreme Court decision, and was cited by several colleges that have returned to requiring test scores for applicants beginning in the fall of 2025. Admissions announcements about returning to test requirements aimed to assuage students that their scores would not be evaluated in the abstract, but instead in the context of their high school and zip code reference groups. Some colleges are going so far as to change how they report testing data to encourage applicants to move away from comparing their scores to a ‘middle 50%’ range for admitted students.
What you can do…
We expect this practice to grow, and we encourage students and families to have a realistic understanding of how a student’s curriculum, grades, extracurricular experiences, volunteering and test scores compare to other students at their high school and in their region. Expect admissions decisions to be increasingly tied to this context rather than assuming a student’s likelihood of admission solely on the basis of how their grades and scores fit within a generalized range of past admitted students.
Trend #4
Colleges leveraging high application numbers 
The average number of applications submitted per student has continued to increase this admissions cycle. More applications in a pool result in a lower acceptance rate at a college, and students applying to more colleges has the effect of making a larger number of schools increasingly selective. Think about a college that has had a historic admitted student average GPA of 3.6. If there are more 3.9-4.2 applicants adding that college to their list as a backup, this can result in colleges taking advantage of the opportunity to raise their admitted student profile and appear more selective and ‘prestigious.’ And colleges do just that.
What you can do…
Expect to see this trend continue, and look for colleges to pull the levers that contribute to increased application numbers. In some cases this looks like aggressive outreach to students with shiny brochures and email campaigns, but it can also look like a college joining the Common App when they hadn’t done so before, dropping a supplemental essay, adding an Early Action application option, dropping an application fee or changing other admission requirements to encourage more students to submit applications. Know it when you see it to be an informed decision maker.
Trend #5 
Standing out through evidence of curiosity & impact
In a crowded admissions field, we continue to see students who have been reflective about who they are and how they wish to grow in college fare better than those who struggle with this level of self-awareness. Students who fare best can express what they care about, what they are curious about, why, and can demonstrate that they have taken action to explore these interests and passions by contributing meaningfully to the world around them. Strong curriculum, great grades, and good test scores are a solid foundation, but students are distinguished by these unique perspectives and contributions more than a laundry list of expected involvements and leadership roles that admissions officers see again and again. 
The best thing a future applicant can do is to know yourself. Think deeply about the topics and issues that spark your curiosity, and follow that curiosity by getting involved, asking questions, and reflecting all over again. Continuing to explore where your curiosity leads you, and seek out ways to meaningfully connect with and impact those around you will not only help you tell your story as an applicant, but will empower you to create a high school experience that enriches your life. 
TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to navigate their college choices and personal best fit. If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor, get in touch here. We look forward to connecting with you.
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