Class of 2030 Early Decision Trends
Here are some early trends in this year’s admissions cycle.
Some majors, including business, engineering, and computer science are becoming even more competitive. If a student wants to pursue these majors, it is important to show a commitment to these academic interests in their extracurricular activities.
This year, submitting strong standardized test is becoming more important at many selective colleges. Many have returned to requiring ACT or SAT scores, including Brown, MIT, Stanford, Cornell, Penn, and UT Austin. Even some colleges that are “test optional” are admitting a higher percentage of students who submit test scores. For example, last year Emory 63% of admitted students submitted test scores (which is likely to be even higher this year).
Prominent state universities are becoming as selective for out-of-state students as the many ivy league colleges. For example, UT Austin’s acceptance rate for out-of-state students in 2025 was below 12%. At UNC Chapel Hill the admission rate for out-of-state applicants was around 8%. These universities often consider whether the student’s record reflects a commitment to the major they indicate on their application. If a student wants to attend a large state university, they should consider universities within their home state and be willing to consider universities that have higher admit rates for students applying from outside the state. Students should also review their classes and extracurricular activities to determine whether they support a fit to a specific major.
Several colleges are giving students the opportunity to submit a video to introduce themselves. Applicants should be sure to submit these or request interviews to give the college a chance to learn more information about them.
Ivy League Universities
Many Ivy League universities do not release admissions date from the ED round. Here are the details for those that do.
Brown University
Admitted 890 students Early Decision out of 5,406 applicants for an 16.5% admission rate (down from 18% in 2024).
16% of admitted ED students are the first in their families to attend college.
New York, California, and Massachusetts were the states with the highest numbers of ED applicants. Read more here.
Dartmouth
Did not release its Early Decision acceptance rate but did provide the following information.
93% of accepted students submitted standardized tests scores that were in the top 25% of test-takers at their high school.
98% of the admitted students were ranked in the top 10% of their high school class, with 33% projected as class valedictorians. Read details here.
Yale
Admitted 779 students under its Single Choice Early Action plan out of 7,140 applicants for an acceptance rate of 10.9%.
Yale deferred 18% of early applicants to the regular decision round and denied 70%, showing Yale’s continuing trend of rejecting a high percentage of early applicants. Read the press release here.
Other Notable Early Decision Results
Duke
Duke admitted 847 Early Decision students out of 6,159 applications, with a 7% drop in ED applications.
The ED admission rate is 13.8%. Read the full release here.
MIT
Admitted 655 Early Action students out of 11,883 applicants for a 6% admittance rate.
MIT deferred 7,738 applicants and rejected 2,703. Read the full article here.
UVA
UVA saw an increase in Early Decision applications from last year for a total of 5,108 (3,077 in-state and 2,031 OOS).
1,225 students were admitted (766 in-state and 459 OOS). The acceptance rates for ED are 25% (in-state) and 23% (OOS). Residency continues to be a major part of UVA’s application process. Read the blog here.
Some Early Action Acceptance Rates
Many universities do not release Early Action decisions (which are not binding) until late January or February. Here is the data from the schools with December release dates.
University of Georgia
60% of its EA applications came from out-of-state and international applicants. Georgia admitted 4,600 of those for a 22% admit rate. As a comparison, Georgia’s EA acceptance rate is around 44% for in-state applicants. Read article here.
Tulane
Tulane received approximately 14,000 EA applications and admitted 2,000 students EA for a 14% acceptance rate. In the ED1 round, Tulane received 1,600 applications and admitted 840 students for a 53% admit rate. If Tulane is a student’s first choice for college, it is clearly an advantage to apply ED.
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