Recently, the undergraduate enrollment of American colleges and universities has been making great moves, which not only makes the American higher education circle "noisy", but also makes prospective study abroad families anxious.
For example, at the beginning of the 2024-2025 application season, Yale's standardized optional became test-flexible, Dartmouth resumed standardized requirements, Duke no longer scored essays and standards, and Brown began to adopt a need-blind admissions policy.
Stanford, Penn, Northwestern, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Michigan, and Emory have also successively announced changes in admissions policies and majors.
How exactly should I prepare for standardization? Is the Shenduk paperwork still important? The need-blind policy is good or bad for Chinese students. How much does the new policy affect admissions?
Today, I will take you to learn about the latest changes in the top 30 schools in 2025fall!
princeton
Princeton University
2024u.s.newsNational Comprehensive Ranking: 1
Admissions Policy:For direct freshmen, Princeton plans to expand its enrollment by 500 undergraduate students over four years (starting in fall 2022).Theoretically, Fall 2025 is the final year of undergraduate expansion
Image source |Official website.
stanford
Stanford University
2024u.s.newsNational Comprehensive Row: 3
Standardization Policy:For the 2024-2025 application season, Stanford still has a test-optional policy, which does not require students to submit SAT ACT scores, and applies to both direct freshmen and transfer students.
Image source |Official website.
yale
Yale University
2024u.s.newsNational Comprehensive Ranking: 5
Standardization Policy:For the 2024-2025 filing season and beyond, Yale will adopt a test-flexible policy for standardization.
Applicants must submit standardized test scores, but applicants may choose to submit any of the following four standardized test scores:
actadvanced placement（ap）
international baccalaureate（ib）
SAT admissions officers don't favor one test over the other.
If applicants are struggling with which standardized scores to submit, Yale recommends that applicants consider the following six questions:
Does the score indicate that I am ready for college classes?
Do scores reflect strength in the academic field?
Do scores help demonstrate my academic proficiency?
Can scores make up for courses and grades on a high school transcript?
Are my secondary school grades particularly impressive?
Am I proud of my scores, and do they reflect the hard work I put into preparing for the exam?
Image source |Official website.
pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
2024u.s.newsNational Comprehensive Ranking: 6
New Majors:On Feb. 13, Penn announced the launch of the School of Engineering and Applied ScienceBachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering, which will be open to direct applicants for new and transfer students during the 2024-2025 application season.
The Bachelor of Science in AI Engineering is one of the first undergraduate engineering programs in artificial intelligence in the United States, and Penn is the first Ivy League school to offer it.
Image source |Official website.
duke
Duke University
2024u.s.news: 7
Application Policy:On Feb. 20, The Chronicle, the Duke school newspaper, published an article saying that Christoph Guttentag, director of undergraduate admissions, said:Starting this year, essay and standardized test scores will no longer be graded in the undergraduate admissions process
Previously, the Duke Admissions Office evaluated 6 different categories of factors (course intensity, academic performance, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, essays, standardized test scores) on a scale of 1 to 5, with a maximum score of 30. Admission is assessed based on the applicant's performance in each category and overall score.
After the policy was revised, the Duke Admissions Office was only rightCourse intensity, academic performance, extracurricular activitieswithLetters of recommendationThese 4 items are scored.
However, not grading does not mean that it is not important, and the admissions office will still consider the essay and standardized scores in the review.
Image source |Official website.
northwestern
Northwestern University
2024u.s.newsNational Comprehensive Row: 9
Standardization Policy:For the 2024-2025 application season, Northwestern University continues to adopt a test-optional policy, which does not require direct applicants and transfer students to submit SAT ACT scores
Image source |Official website.
brown
Brown University
2024u.s.newsNational Comprehensive Row: 9
Admissions Policy:At the beginning of the 2024-2025 application season, Brown adopts a need-blind admissions policy for both American high school and international students
That is, the applicant's family financial situation is not considered at all when recruiting, and once the student is admitted, 100% of the financial help required will be met.
Image source |Official website.
cornell
Cornell University
2024u.s.news: 12
Standardization Policy:For the 2024-2025 application season, Cornell University continues its test-optional and score-free policies
Undergraduate admissions for the following 3 faculties do not look at SAT ACT scores at all:
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Faculty of Architecture, Art and Planning.
Charles H. under the Johnson School of BusinessDyson School of Applied Economics and Management and Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hospitality Management.
Undergraduate admissions to the following 5 faculties will be considered if SAT ACT scores are submitted:
College of Arts and Sciences. Faculty of Engineering.
Faculty of Human Ecology.
jeb e.Brooks School of Public Policy.
Faculty of Labor Relations.
Image source |Official website.
dartmouth
Dartmouth College
2024u.s.newsNational Comprehensive Ranking: 18
Standardization Policy:As the 2024-2025 application season begins, Dartmouth will restart the requirements for standardized scores.
For applicants attending high schools in the United States, SAT or ACT scores are required, and admissions officers have no preference for both test scores, and accept super-scored.
For applicants attending high schools outside the United States, submission is requiredSAT, ACT, or 3 AP scores, or IB, A-Level, etc
For applicants whose English is not their first language or where English has not been their primary language of instruction for at least 2 years, TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo, or Cambridge English test scores are required.
Image source |Official website.
vanderbilt
Vanderbilt University
2024u.s.newsNational Comprehensive Ranking: 18
Standardization Policy:In Fall 2025, Fall 2026 and Fall 2027, Vanderbilt continues to have an optional policy for the SAT ACT. Applicable to new students, transfer students, international students, and homeschool students
Image source |Official website.
Scholarship Policy:On Feb. 18, Vanderbilt pledged to offer full-tuition scholarships to students whose families earn less than $150,000 a year, without the need for a loan.
But this scholarship is mainly for U.S. citizens, and international students are few and hard to get.
Image source |Official website.
notre dame
University of Notre Dame
2024u.s.newsNational Comprehensive Ranking: 20
Standardization Policy:For the 2024-2025 application season, the University of Notre Dame continues to adopt a test-optional policy
Image source |Official website.
ann arbor
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2024u.s.news: 21
Standardization Policy:On February 21, the Michigan Daily, the Michigan daily newspaper, published an article saying that the University of Michigan will continue to adopt the test-optional policy at the beginning of the 2025 winter enrollment cycle.
Image source |Official website.
emory
Emory University
2024u.s.newsNational Comprehensive Ranking: 24
Standardization Policy:For the 2024-2025 application season, Emory University continues to adopt a test-optional policy for the SAT ACT.
Image source |Official website.
The above is the latest undergraduate enrollment changes of the top 30 universities, and the enrollment policies of other colleges and universities will also change at any time.
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