Top Universities See Steep Rise In Applications from 2015 to 2025

Stevens Institute saw applications increase by 127% since 2015.

In 2015, my eldest child applied to college, and in 2025, my youngest applied to college. What could have changed in a mere ten years? Quite a lot, it turns out. I have seen this change while working with hundreds of students over those ten years, but I wanted to see the actual data. So, with the help of IPEDS and Claude, I looked at five changes in top national universities:

1. Change in the number of applications

2. Change in the overall admit rate

3. Change in the Yield (the percent of admitted students who enroll)

4. Change in percent of a class filled through Early Decision (when used)

5. Change in Early Decision admit rate

A few notable findings:

Applications Surged:

Among the top National Universities, Public Flagship Universities applications have surged since 2015:

Tennessee, for example, which was often seen as a "likely" school, saw a 231% increase in applications, from 17,500 in 2015 to about 58,000 in 2025, causing the admissions rate to drop from 75% to 33%.

Other Public Flagships saw significant increases in applications:

University of Colorado, Boulder: 156% increase

Florida State: 147% increase

Auburn University: 142% increase

University of Florida: 135% increase

Virginia Tech: 121% increase

Admission Rates Drop:

Northeastern, considered a commuter school several years ago, has seen one of the most dramatic decreases in admissions rate from 28% to 5.8%.

Other sharp decreases in admissions rates:

NYU 31% → 8% (−23pp)

Boston Univ. 32% → 11% (−21pp)

Northeastern 28% → 5.2% (−23pp)

Caltech 8% → 2.7% (−5.3pp)

Georgia Tech 32% → 13.5% (−18.5pp)

Large Percentage of Class Filled through Early Decision:

Several universities fill more than half of their Freshman class with Early Decision (binding) applicants. This is important because each early decision accepted student equals an enrolled student. This boosts universities' yield, which is important in college rankings.

NYU and Washington University filled 60% of their class through Early Decision admits, leaving only 40% of the class to be filled through the Regular Decision round. No wonder their RD admissions rates are so low.

How can you use this information?

1. Parents, take note. The college application environment in which you applied to college is significantly different from the one your children are facing. The Public Flagship schools might not be the "likely" school they used to be. And some private universities, like Northeastern, accepted about 90% of students in the 1990s and now accept 5.2%.

2. Applying Early Decision can increase your chances of admission. And conversly Regular Decision rounds are becoming even more competitive. Consider again Northeastern: applying in the Early Decision Round (if it is your student's top choice) would give your student a much higher chance with a 28% (albeit still very competitive) admissions rate.

3. Find schools that are a great fit for your student (such as academic majors, location, size, and social life), and then find schools with different admission rates (over 60%; between 40 to 60%; and under 40%).