A Good Year in Admissions?

The Common Application continues to find encouraging news in its tabulations of applications it has received.

The Common App released data through Feb. 1; they largely resemble those from the last update, which contained information through Jan. 1.

Among the highlights:

• There were 1,215,022 distinct first-year applicants to 841 returning members of the Common App (an increase of 21 percent from 1,006,531 in 2019–20, the last year with data that predate the pandemic).
• Underrepresented minority applicants increased by 31 percent over 2019–20, while first-generation applicants increased by 36 percent, nearly three times the rate of continuing-generation applicants over the same period.
• The number of distinct applicants residing outside the United States increased at nearly triple the rate of applicants in the United States since 2019–20 (53 percent versus 18 percent). China, India, Nigeria, Ghana and Canada were the leading countries for international applicants.