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Undergraduate Admissions Uncensored

Early Decision applicants to make up nearly 60% of Boston University’s Class of 2028

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Those students who are being reviewed Regular Decision for Boston University’s Class of 2028 will receive their admissions decisions on Saturday, March 23, 2024. Such first-year applicants will receive emails when their decisions are available within their BU web accounts on the MyBU Applicant Portal.

The news comes as Boston University also announced that it received 78,634 applications for its Class of 2028, and 6,916 applications of these applications were submitted through BU’s binding Early Decision and Early Decision 2 programs. The ED numbers represent a 0.4% increase over last admissions cycle, and BU expects to enroll approximately 58-60% of its first-year class through ED1 or ED2. BU’s enrollment target for the Class of 2028 is now 3,300 students, which is 155 more than last year. For context, over 80,400 students applied to join BU’s Class of 2027, which was made up of 57% of students accepted through ED1 or ED2 and 43% of students accepted through Regular Decision. BU’s overall admit rate will end up at roughly 10.7% this year.

In total, only 42% of BU applicants during the 2023-2024 admissions cycle indicated an interest in having standardized test scores considered. Meanwhile, enrollment of first-generation, low-income, and students from underrepresented groups continues to be a priority for BU, and applications from first-generation college students made up 25% of BU’s applicant pool. International students contributed 15,469 applications to the mix, and these applicants hail from 167 countries.

Regular Decision at Emory University becomes more selective

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Emory University’s campus.

Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, has become more selective to get into when applying Regular Decision.

While approximately 78%, of admission offers at Emory are made Regular Decision and roughly 22% of offers are extended to Early Decision applicants, that doesn’t mean an applicant’s statistical odds of getting into Emory Regular Decision are better than getting in Early Decision. The university, which accepts first-year applicants into two colleges – Emory College and Oxford College, has shared that in 2023 Emory College’s Regular Decision acceptance rate was 8.4% and Oxford College’s Regular Decision acceptance rate was 15.1% whereas Emory’s overall Early Decision I acceptance rate earlier in the 2022-2023 admissions cycle was roughly 37%. Last year (2022), Emory accepted 9% of students who applied Regular Decision.

2023-2024 Regular Decision (RD) Applicant Pool

Emory College Oxford College
RD Applicants 29,330 18,612
RD Admits 2,463 2,815
Offered Spot on Wait List 5,663
(plus additional 199 placed on wait list from ED II)		 2,991
(plus additional 37 placed on wait list from ED II)

Regular Decision Admitted Class Composition

Emory College
RD Class		 Oxford College
RD Class
Mean Recalculated GPA 3.92 3.90
25-75th Percentile Max Testing (of students who opted to share their SAT or ACT scores with us) 1470-1560 1470-1550
% Admitted Without SAT/ACT 36% 33%
# of States Represented 50 plus DC, PR, VI, Mariana Islands, and Guam 49 plus DC, PR, and Guam
# of Non-US Citizenships 71 58

Of course, final acceptance rates are contingent on what action occurs on Emory’s waitlist.

Interestingly, only roughly one third of those accepted to both Emory College and Oxford College Regular Decision did not submit ACT or SAT scores. These numbers were a bit lower than numbers released earlier this cycle when 38% of the admitted Emory College Early Decision class and 41% of the Early Decision class admitted to Oxford College applied without an ACT or SAT score.

For Regular Decision at Emory College, nearly 22% of domestic admits would be the first generation in their family to graduate from college. The most represented high school states in the admitted RD class are Georgia, California, New York, Texas, and Florida respectively and the most represented high school countries in the admitted RD class are India, Canada, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Singapore respectively. Approximately 9% of the Emory College RD admitted class are from rural or small town communities across the United States.

For Regular Decision at Oxford College, approximately 16% of domestic admits would be the first generation in their family to graduate from college. The most represented high school states in the admitted RD class, in order, are California, Georgia, New York, Texas, and Florida. The most represented high school countries in the admitted RD class, in order, are India, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom and China. Finally, as was the case with Emory College, approximately 9% of the Oxford College RD admitted class are from rural or small town communities across the United States.

Ultimately, the university is aiming to enroll 1,420 students at Emory College and 525 students (up from 450 last year) at Oxford College this fall.

Emory will remain test-optional for first-year and transfer applicants during the 2023-2024 admissions cycle.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Releases Admissions Decisions

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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is projected to enroll slightly above its enrollment target of 8,000 first-year students for the fall 2023 semester.

According to Andy Borst, Director of Undergraduate Admissions at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), final admission decisions will be released on Friday, March 3 at 4:00 p.m., at which time students will be able to view their decisions through myIllini. He also provided estimates related to University of Illinois’ admissions statistics for the 2022-2023 cycle and noted that while Regular Decision applicants were admitted to all programs, students who applied Early Action received an advantage in review, with about a 25% higher admit rate.

Of the approximately 4,450 students who were deferred in early action, about 1,400 will be offered admission during regular decision, 1,300 will be denied, and 1,750 will be moved to the waitlist. Despite being more selective, the university will offer admission to a record number of Illinois residents – over 15,000 for the first time ever. At the same time, “the university was more competitive for non-resident and international applicants, especially for non-Illinois students who applied in our regular decision pool.” added Borst.

Computer science continues to be University of Illinois’ most competitive program. Meanwhile, the Grainger College of Engineering, Gies College of Business, School of Information Sciences, and UIUC’s CS + X programs are all now admitting at similar levels of competitiveness – in the 20% – 25% admit rate range. Applicants also showed strong interest in the university’s new programs in data science, neuroscience, and neural engineering.

Of note: scholarship offers will not be included in the notice of admission on March 3. Financial aid notification for students who applied during regular decision and those who were previously deferred but are now being admitted will be available beginning on March 17. Scholarship notifications will be available by April 1.

The 3,200 applicants waitlisted, which is a smaller pool than in past years, will only be considered for admission if they accept their spot on the waitlist by April 1, and Borst adds that the university does not plan admit students from the waitlist until after May 1 while also planning to wrap up waitlist admissions by June 1. Waitlisted students should not send letters or emails of continued interest, since such information will not be added to their application file or improve their chances of later being admitted.

Finally, Borst noted that many students with strong academic profiles, wonderful essays and statements, and inspiring activities were denied due to space limitations in certain majors. Given the competitiveness of the university’s applicant pool this admissions cycle, UIUC only considered students for programs to which they applied unless they sufficiently demonstrated a willingness to explore alternative majors. UIUC’s admissions committee carefully and thoroughly evaluated each student’s application file using a number of factors, including grades, course rigor, test scores (if available), essays/statements, and extracurricular activities.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a public university known for its top-ranked programs, with particularly well-regarded programs in engineering, computer science, business, agriculture, and many other fields. As a a top research institution that allows undergraduate students to have the opportunity to participate in cutting-edge research projects alongside faculty and graduate students, UIUC is in growing demand from out of state applicants. Overall, UIUC has a large and diverse student body, with over 33,000 undergraduate students from all 50 states and over 100 countries. The campus offers a wide range of student organizations, clubs, and events, which provides ample opportunities for students to get involved and meet new people.

Located in the twin cities of Urbana and Champaign in central Illinois, UIUC offers a blend of small-town charm and big-city amenities. The campus is relatively accessible by car, train, or plane, making it a convenient location for students from all over the country and the world.

University of Texas at Austin Releases First Class of 2023 Acceptances

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UT at Austin’s Office of Admissions began admitting students to its Class of 2023 on Friday evening December 7 when a few thousand fall 2019 freshman applicants received an email asking them to visit their MyStatus page for an update.

According to Miguel V. Wasielewski, University of Texas at Austin Executive Director of Admissions, the institution is “delivering about a third of our fall 2019 admission offers to majors this week.”

Wasielewski went on to explain that Fall 2019 applicants not admitted on December 7 will still be considered for the thousands of spots that remain to be filled in the first-year class UT at Austin’s admissions team is assembling, and that all students who applied this fall to be Longhorns will receive their final decisions “no later than – and perhaps well before – March 1.”

Good luck to all UT at Austin applicants.