234 Colleges to Participate in Common App Direct Admissions

Starting in September, 234 colleges will begin reaching out to first-generation and low- and middle-income students with proactive college admissions offers through Common App’s growing direct-admissions program, the nonprofit announced Tuesday. The group includes public and private colleges from 42 states and Washington, D.C.

Last year, more than half of the 1.5 million Common App applicants received a direct admissions offer from at least one of the 215 participating institutions, according to the announcement. Common App said that of those students, 25 percent received an offer from a college they hadn’t previously considered applying to. 

Jenny Rickard, Common App’s CEO, said in a statement that the direct-admissions program helps expose students to colleges that may not otherwise be on their radar, reflecting the organization’s commitment to “help give them the confidence and security that they are welcome and wanted on college campuses.”

The expansion comes as Common App’s overall applicant pool is growing, data shows. In the 2025–26 application cycle, almost 32,000 more students submitted applications than the year before, despite a 10 percent decrease in international applicants. Common App reported a growing number of domestic applicants who are Black, low-income, first-generation or from non-metropolitan areas.