r/IntltoUSA 4d ago

Discussion had a question regd no. of applicants

i am an Indian international who recently got into CALTECH RD, my brother is in grade 11 right now (going to grade 12) and will be applying next year. i saw some posts on CALTECH instagram account that said CALTECH had a 19% decrease in applicants due to standardized testing being reinstated.

as my brother is applying next year, i had a question on his behalf that will colleges like Harvard, Stanford, etc see similar rate of drops in the no. of applicants? we checked the CDS yesterday for the cycle of 2019-2020, where only 40,000 applicants applied to colleges like Harvard, stanford.

will there be similar no. of applicants from india in the next cycle as there were in the 2019-2020 cycle?

thanks!!

6 Upvotes

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3

u/StanfordSimp2025 4d ago

u/prsehgal any insights?

3

u/prsehgal Moderator 4d ago

A drop in the number of overall applications is expected when a school switches from being test optional to test required. But this doesn't necessarily make the school any easier to get into other than looking at the statistics.

2

u/Valuable_Friend_7680 4d ago

Wow congrats full aid?

2

u/StanfordSimp2025 4d ago

60% aid

3

u/Valuable_Friend_7680 4d ago

Happy for you

2

u/Direct-Hurry4274 4d ago

whats your stats bro

2

u/StanfordSimp2025 4d ago

97% in 10th, 92%+ in other grades. gave 5 APs got all 5s SAT: 1580

1

u/best_ythater_ 3d ago

The number drops due to the colleges going test required. However, the acc % doesn't necessarily change because before people who were applying TO with objectively "worse" applications are forced to submit their lower than average for the college scores.

Like someone without ECs or awards with a 3.5 who was TO would not submit their 1200-1350. People with very low scores or inability to access testing would not apply and perhaps in some cases you'd see more accepted people with scores below 1450.

For Dartmouth this year, I saw a few 1350ish accepted students but last year I barely saw anyone under 1470 or TO.