“Direct admission” is increasingly being offered to high school seniors who meet minimum academic qualifications. The participating schools are eager for more applicants.
Some high school seniors have already received offers of admission to college for the next academic year — even though they didn’t formally apply.
Under so-called direct admissions programs increasingly being tried by states, colleges and third-party services, seniors who meet minimum academic qualifications are receiving unsolicited notifications of admission. Once they are identified as qualifying candidates, the students can complete an often-simplified application online.
Some programs in use or being tested are overseen by states, including those in Idaho, Minnesota, and Georgia. Others are managed by individual colleges, or by services like the Common Application, a nonprofit used by more than 1,000 colleges to manage their applications, and Niche, a commercial college search website.
Details of the programs vary. Some focus on four-year colleges while others include two-year community colleges. With some state-based programs, all high school seniors may be admitted. With the Common Application (popularly known as the Common App) and Niche, students create online accounts with basic information like their grade point average and home state, and participating colleges respond when notified of students who meet their criteria.
Why would colleges do this? Simply put, many of them want more students. The stressful, high-stakes jockeying around applying to college is a reality mostly for students aiming to attend highly competitive, brand-name institutions.
But less selective schools, whether private or public, need more applicants to maintain and grow their student bodies. “The vast majority of colleges accept most students who apply,” said Luke Skurman, chief executive of Niche. If those colleges can reduce the hassles and identify students who meet their minimum qualifications and admit them, the students may consider a college that otherwise may not have been on their radar.
The Common App’s program targets first-generation students or those from low-income families who may be intimidated about applying to college or worry that they won’t be accepted, said Jenny Rickard, president and chief executive of the Common App. An acceptance offer can give such students “a big boost of confidence,” she said.
The Common App began testing direct admissions in 2021, and in November introduced a full-scale program with 70 participating institutions. About 400,000 first-generation and low- and middle-income students in 28 states have received “proactive” admissions offers for the 2024-25 school year. (Currently, students can receive direct offers only from colleges located in their home state.)
When students create their accounts, they are asked about their parents’ education level, which indicates if the student would be in the first generation of their families to attend college. Income level is determined in two ways, Ms. Rickard said: if the student qualifies for a waiver of college application fees, or if census data shows the student lives in a low-income area.
Students typically don’t get more financial aid through direct admission than they would with a traditional application, program representatives said. To obtain need-based financial aid, they must still fill out the FAFSA form. And despite the flurry of interest in direct admissions, so far, data on the effectiveness of the program is mixed.
A study published last year looked at six four-year colleges offering automatic acceptance through the Common App. It found that students offered direct admission were about 12 percent more likely to apply to college but were no more likely to enroll than students who applied through traditional channels — in part because of the cost of attending.
Ms. Rickard said in an email that the study analyzed a pilot program conducted in January 2022, reaching students at a time when many had already set their sights on a specific college. Since then, the program has been changed to reach out to students earlier in the process, in November. “There will continue to be more opportunities like these to evaluate and refine this program,” she said.
A study published in 2022 on Idaho’s in-state program found that direct admissions increased first-time undergraduate enrollment by 4 to 8 percent. But it found little to no impact for low-income students. A Niche spokesman said its direct admission program “has proven to drive meaningful results for our partner colleges with a clear impact on their enrollments.”
Direct admission offers act as a “nudge” for students to consider college, but paying the bill may remain a challenge, said Jennifer A. Delaney, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Education. She was one of the authors of both studies while she was a professor of higher education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “If you can’t pay for it, that’s a problem,” she said.
Some colleges and students are nevertheless enthusiastic.
George Mason University, a large public university in Virginia, offers direct admission through the Common App and through a partnership with local high schools. The university first offered direct admission through the Common App in 2022, when 28 students enrolled. The following year, just six enrolled. That may be because more colleges are now participating in direct admission, so it’s become more competitive, said David Burge, the university’s vice president for enrollment management. Still, “it’s going very well,” he said, adding, “From our perspective, but for the Common App Direct Admissions program these students would not be at Mason.”
James Steen, vice president for enrollment management and marketing at Houston Christian University, a private Baptist college with roughly 4,200 students, including about 2,400 traditional undergraduates, said more than 6 percent of the first-year class enrolling for the fall of 2023 were from Niche’s direct admission channel. “Direct admission is a great fit for H.C.U.,” he said.
The university began offering direct admissions through Niche in 2022 (for applications for the current academic year), offering scholarships based on several G.P.A. “tiers.” (It also began participating in direct admissions through the Common App in November.)
Steven Navarrette, 18, from Manvel, Texas, received an email from Niche when he was a high school senior, saying he had been accepted by Houston Christian. He was initially skeptical, he said, but toured the school, located about 30 minutes from his hometown, and decided to enroll after receiving sufficient financial aid. He is now in his second semester, majoring in computer science. “The process is less of a headache,” he said of direct admission.
Here are some questions and answers about direct admission:
Do colleges verify the information submitted by direct admission students?
Yes. Students self-report their G.P.A., which schools confirm. (Test scores aren’t always required, but some schools accept them if submitted). Self-reported information has proved “remarkably accurate,” said Mr. Skurman of Niche. But if the information doesn’t check out, schools may withdraw an offer or reduce the scholarship offered.
If I am admitted through direct admissions and accept the offer, am I obligated to attend?
No. If you accept the offer but change your mind, you can withdraw as with a traditional application.
How can I find out what schools participate in direct admissions?
Both the Common App and Niche list participating colleges on their websites. You can see if your state offers a program by checking its higher education agency’s website.
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