College Applications Are Up: 2025 Common App Report

More students are applying to more colleges using the Common App, according to the annual College App report. This past year saw a 5% increase in students using this popular way to streamline the application process, with about 1.5 million people doing so. Those 1.5 million applicants submitted more applications as well, as over 10 million applications were sent in this year, rising 8% from 2024.

The average number of applications per student was up as well, going from 6.64 to 6.80, meaning that, while we read in the media about the students who applied to 20 or 30 schools, the average of 6-7 applications per student is far less (and more normal).

Most students, 61%, applied to both public and private institutions, with 27% applying only to publics and 11% only to private colleges. The numbers of students applying onto to public schools has been rising while those applying only to privates has been falling. A little over 1 in 4 (28%) only applied to colleges in the state in which they lived.

Speaking of states, applications to colleges in Texas soared to make this the state with the most applications through the Common App. Texas applications were up by 43%, although the Common App admits that this might be due less to student preference and more because several public universities in Texas joined the Common App in recent years.

Although the take aways are limited, since not every student uses the Common App, and that can introduce a bias in the numbers (see the issue with Texas above), the numbers of students using this process are strong enough that it is a good source of college application behavior in the US.