Several ivy league institutions have reinstated standardized testing policies. by Douglas Eric Stanley/The General Consensus
In the past two years, several aspects of the college admissions process have changed, making the 2024-2025 admissions season extremely competitive. In June of 2023, the Supreme Court overturned affirmative action, or race-conscious college admissions. Affirmative action in higher education has existed since the 1960s with the goal of combatting historical and current discrimination and fostering equal opportunities for underrepresented groups. As a result of this recent change, Black and Latino enrollment has decreased, on average, according to the New York Times. The data does not show a notable increase in Asian and white enrollment.
Test-optional policies have also impacted the admissions process. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, several colleges have made submitting standardized test scores optional. But this admissions season, some top schools including Brown, Yale, Dartmouth and Harvard have reinstated test score requirements. According to Forbes, this change is probably linked to the decrease in early applications to some of these schools this year. For example, Yale received a 14 percent decrease in applications, making their early action acceptance rate 10.82 percent compared to last year’s 9.02 percent. Brown’s early decision acceptance rate soared to 18 percent compared to 12.98 percent two years ago. Brown’s early decision acceptance rate this year was the highest it had been in over six years.
Cost of tuition at many colleges is also rising. According to U.S. News and World Report, the average tuition and fees for private colleges have increased by 5.5 percent over the past year. Public college costs have increased by 2.2 percent. Recently, lower tuition rates in addition to the warm weather, school spirit and top sports teams at southern public schools have drawn more students from all over the country than in the past. In fact, the University of Georgia received record-high applications this year, with an acceptance rate of 33 percent, a notable decrease from last year. 80 percent of UGA’s admitted students were in-state, and 20 percent were out-of-state.
“As happy as I am with where I’m going, I think it’s crazy that schools we grew up thinking we could get into easily were the ones that rejected us this year,” said Grant Nguyen ‘25.