A Guide to the Direct-Admission Landscape

Recent months have seen a rapid proliferation of direct-admission programs nationally, as well as an increase in the number of participating students, colleges, and universities. The number of institutions signing on for the largest non-state initiatives grew by 85% between 2023 and 2024, and more than 400,000 students received direct-admit offers through such platforms for entering class 2024. Of the more than 20 existing state programs, more than a quarter were established in the past year.

This trend presents enrollment leaders with a number of urgent questions, including: Should you embrace direct admission? If so, what version of it? And what impact, if any, will it have on your team’s work?

EAB answers these and other questions in its new insight paper, A Guide to the Direct-Admission Landscape. Included in the piece are:

• An overview of the different types of direct admission
• A summary of the evidence regarding its efficacy
• An examination of what direct admission means for recruitment marketing
• Self-tests for determining whether you should embrace direct admission and which approach is right for you
• Case studies of admissions teams who have embraced direct admission

Download the Insight Paper