I just finished putting the final touches on a presentation I’m giving tonight on the 12 college admissions trends for 2026.
Every year, going through this exercise forces me to slow down and really look at what’s changing – and what isn’t.
At AcceptU, we’re fortunate to see this from a wide vantage point. We work with students across grade levels, review thousands of applications and spend a lot of time talking with families who are trying to make sense of a process that feels more opaque every year.
Here’s what stands out right now:
Students are applying to more schools, which continues to push acceptance rates down. Public flagships are absorbing a lot of that volume. Early Decision keeps taking up a bigger share of incoming classes. Strong test scores are once again the norm among competitive applicants. Legacy status matters less than families often assume. Long, polished activity lists aren’t as compelling as sustained depth. AI is everywhere, on both sides of the process, and it’s changing how files are read. And the applications that rise to the top still sound unmistakably human.
When you line all of that up, the bigger shift is timing.
Many families still think of college planning as something that starts in junior year. From where we sit, that window has narrowed. The students who keep the most options open are the ones who begin building direction and momentum earlier – often without feeling like they’re “starting the process.”
That’s the mindset we keep coming back to as the year gets underway.
Marc is the author of Untangling the Ivy League, a best-selling guidebook on the Ancient Eight. He earned a BA from Cornell University and an MBA from University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. Marc chaired the admissions ambassadors at Cornell and the admissions advisory board at UNC.
