Accepted to college before applying: How Common App is recruiting students

More than 300,000 people this month received acceptance letters from at least one college or university in their state − before they had even completed their applications.

The prospective students unknowingly qualified for the direct admissions program led by the Common App, the nation’s most used and widely accepted college application. The program – involving 70 schools across 28 states – examines incomplete applications and doles out acceptances to those who meet certain GPA and test requirements set by each participating college; live in poverty-stricken areas or whose parents have not gone to college.

The batch acceptances from participating colleges come as undergraduate enrollment rates may be coming out of a decline that's persisted since the pandemic and months after the Supreme Court ruling to reverse affirmative action, which effectively gutted race-conscious admission practices.

Recent data from the National Student Clearinghouse found that college enrollment is up overall this fall, with Black, Hispanic and Asian students making up most of the undergraduate and graduate enrollment growth. And new data from the Common App shows applications for enrollment next fall are greater than before the pandemic too.

"The goal here is to have every student in Common App feel not only worthy but welcomed," Jenny Rickard, CEO of the Common App, told USA TODAY. "It's to inspire them to explore the many opportunities that they have ahead of them."

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Rising popularity of direct admissions programs

Direct admissions programs are popular among institutions seeking to drive up enrollment and for students who, because of direct admissions programs, can bypass lengthy admission processes that often require test scores, essays and letters of recommendation. These hurdles, which can be diminished by parental guidance, private tutors and other costly programs, disproportionately affect low-income students and those whose parents did not go to college or university, said Jennifer Delaney, a professor of higher education at the University of Illinois.

The number of direct admissions programs has surged over the last decade. In 2015, Idaho became one of the first states to introduce the program – proactively admitting all public high school seniors to at least six in-state colleges and universities each year.

This year, Georgia introduced a similar initiative in which all public high school seniors are to be sent a letter notifying them of what in-state colleges and universities they will receive acceptances from if they decide to apply. Minnesota recently tapped thousands of students to participate in its pilot direct admissions program. And Niche, a for-profit education technology company that says it helps find and enroll students in the right schools, has expanded its program to 68 colleges.

Because of their proactive approach, Rickard said direct admissions programs effectively combat the misconception that most colleges have low acceptance rates, which she said can prevent prospective students from applying in the first place.

"That's what the narrative is, but it's not true," Rickard said. About 90% of the more than 1,000 schools that use the Common App each year accept more than half of its applicants.

Delaney, who has co-authored several research articles on the impacts of direct admissions, compared the admissions process to dating and said direct admissions reverse the typical roles of students and colleges.

"Historically, it's been students who'd go out and search for schools," she said. "We've now entered a moment where we've got robust enough data systems, and schools can search for students and say to them 'Hey, we know you've got the qualifications. You can get in here, and there's a place for you if you want to come.'"

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College costs remain largest hindrance for prospective students

An article Delaney co-wrote in August, and which used data from the Common App, showed students who received acceptances were more likely to submit a college application and were nearly twice as likely to apply to the institution where they were offered direct admissions "signaling their intent to 'claim their place' and enroll," the study said. These impacts were much higher for minority, first-generation and low-income students.

However, the study did not find evidence that the program increased the number of students who followed through and enrolled at the schools where they were accepted. This, Delaney and Rickard say, is likely the fault of the largest obstacle in the way of many college-seeking young people – the hefty price tag.

Between 1980 and 2020, the average price of tuition, fees and housing for an undergraduate degree increased by 169%, far outpacing wages, according to a recent report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

And the cost of tuition continues to increase. For the 2023-24 school year, the cost of tuition at public four-year colleges rose 2.5% from the year prior, averaging $11,260, according to the College Board. For private four-year institutions, tuition and fees rose 4%, to an average of $41,540.

Both Delaney and Rickard said the next version of direct admissions programs could be coupled with scholarships to address the burdensome cost of college.

"Proactive admissions work, but they're only a nudge," Delaney said. "It's not a silver bullet."