Early admissions 2025–26: what Common App's data said about the applicant pool
Common App's November 1, 2025, snapshot showed record applications, 9% fewer international applicants and 11% more students reporting test scores. Here is what CRI expected it to mean for early decisions.
Admissions Insights
Early-round decisions arrive in December, but the shape of the 2025–26 competition was visible weeks earlier. Common App's snapshot of applications submitted through November 1, 2025, pointed to three shifts: the applicant pool reached a new high, standardized testing made a clear comeback, and the international field was reshuffled. Here is what the data showed, and what CRI expected it to mean for early results.
A bigger pool than ever
Common App's figures covered 916 member colleges, and every headline number was up on the year before:
Applications: 4,716,352, up 10%
Applicants: 962,284, up 5%
Applications per applicant: 4.90, up from 4.68
Applications have climbed every season since 2021–22:
Season
Applications as of Nov. 1
2021–22
2,823,310
2022–23
3,309,764
2023–24
3,867,636
2024–25
4,268,736
2025–26
4,716,352 (+10%)
Applications grew twice as fast as applicants. Because each student was sending more applications, the competition felt tighter than the head count alone suggests.
Fewer international applicants, but no easier for them
International applicants fell 9%, to 72,405. Applicants from Asia still formed the core of that group: China and India remained the two largest countries of citizenship by a wide margin, and South Korea was among the top ten.
Country of citizenship
Applicants, 2025–26
Change
China
13,004
−1%
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Source: Common App, first-year applicants as of November 1, 2025.
A smaller international pool did not make the top colleges any easier to reach. Among international students aiming for the most selective schools, competition stayed as dense as ever.
Test scores are back
The sharpest change was in testing. Applicants who reported a test score rose 11%, to 543,844, while those who did not slipped 1%, to 418,440. In a single year, the gap between the two groups nearly doubled.
2024–25
2025–26
Change
Reported a test score
489,562
543,844
+11%
No score reported
423,525
418,440
−1%
Gap
about 66,000
about 125,000
With MIT and Harvard among the selective colleges that have made scores a formal requirement again, the weight of testing is hard to miss.
Where the growth went
Applications to public and private colleges grew at the same pace, each up 10%, to 2,951,645 and 1,755,190 applications respectively. The split by selectivity was more revealing:
Admit rate
Applications, 2025–26
Change
75% or higher
1,743,966
+10%
50–74%
1,287,585
+13%
25–49%
924,562
+12%
Under 25% (most selective)
743,327
+4%
Where students applied shifted too. The number of students applying only to out-of-state colleges fell 3%, while those applying in state, or in state and out of state together, rose by 6 to 10%. Students were building their lists more realistically and more strategically.
Four trends CRI expected in early results
Reading Common App's data alongside recent policy changes at top colleges, CRI expected the 2025–26 early decisions to move in four directions.
1. A higher bar for grades and activities
The international pool shrank, but the students competing for top colleges were stronger than before. High scores and a typical set of extracurriculars no longer set anyone apart, and CRI expected more students with excellent scores to be turned down. Students who could show in-depth research, sustained academic inquiry and experience with a topic that is genuinely their own, by contrast, stood to gain a powerful advantage.
2. Scores return, and holistic review gets stronger
Harvard, Yale and MIT once again ask for test scores. Yale calls its policy "test-flexible": from the 2024–25 cycle it requires scores from all applicants but accepts AP and IB exam results alongside the SAT and ACT. Even colleges that remain test-optional clearly tend to view applicants who submit scores more favorably.
That does not mean a strong score is enough on its own. As scores cluster at the top, admissions officers look harder at a student's academic potential, depth of thinking and capacity for research. Every college still practices holistic review, and the transcript, essays, recommendations and the real depth of a student's activities have to add up to one coherent story.
3. Steady at the top, fiercest in the middle
Applications to the most selective colleges grew just 4%, while the next two tiers rose 12% and 13%, the fastest of any group. With students weighing stability, value and their realistic odds together, CRI expected competition in that middle range to be the fiercest.
4. Wider access, led by public universities
The number of applicants from underrepresented minority, first-generation and low-income backgrounds grew by 10 to 12%. CRI expected these groups to make up a somewhat larger share of admitted students than the year before, especially at public systems such as the University of California.
What sets an application apart
As decisions arrived that December, two forces were at work at once: the return of standardized testing and a stronger emphasis on holistic review. The more important point, in CRI's view, is that competitiveness is not about how many people apply. It is about how different your story is from everyone else's in the same pool.
Three things have become the most credible evidence an applicant can offer:
Substantive research experience with leading faculty
Recommendation letters grounded in real observation of a student's growth, not formality
Long-term inquiry that connects to a single intended field of study
By early December, two students who had joined CRI's summer 2025 programs and applied early had already reported admissions to Harvard and Boston College.
CRI's focus is less on adding credentials than on deepening how a student thinks about a subject. To see what that looks like in practice, explore the Seoul and Global Research Programs, where students work with university faculty on a research question and write the manuscript in English.
