Decision day has come and gone for high school seniors starting college in the fall. But hundreds of tuition-dependent colleges still have unfilled freshman positions and are desperately but quietly looking for students.
INTRODUCTION
Piask any senior or parent about the competitiveness of college admissions and you are likely to cause a mother angst and stress. They're right, thanks to digital advances like the Common Application and optional testing policies at most institutions, the volume of college applications is increasing. According to figures from the Common App, a record 7 million applications were submitted in 2022-23, up 30% from 2019-20. They also report that 17% of high school seniors are applying to more than 10 colleges today, compared to only 7% of seniors in 2013. TikTok is full of perfect GPA and SAT candidates who were rejected from nearly every school they applied to .
In a TikTok with 9,492 likes, a top student with a 4.0 GPA and 1500 SAT feels lucky to have been accepted to the University of Michigan despite being denied or waitlisted at nearly all 14 other colleges she applied to, including of Harvard, of Dartmouth. Cornell, Washington University, Georgia Tech, Northeastern, Johns Hopkins and NYU.
Universities once considered safe schools or even party schools regularly post “Ivy League” acceptance rates. This year New York University accepted only 8% of 120,000 applicants, and for the past three years, Tulane University in New Orleans has accepted less than 10% of its applicants.
But while admissions to elite schools, or the top 100 schools, are more competitive than ever, the vast majority of colleges are beginning to feel the financial effects of the so-called enrollment cliff, which demographers say translates to 10% to 15% fewer college-aged students starting in 2025. As a result, outside of these top colleges, there is a huge supply-demand imbalance that will only get worse as the thousands of schools compete for the shrinking supply of 18- to 24-year-olds. Fortunately, each year after the May 1 decision deadline, hundreds of colleges report to the National Association of College Admission Counseling that they still have openings in their incoming freshman class and encourage students to apply.
For students who are starting the college application game late or who have been overwhelmed by their current offers of admission, Forbes has compiled a list of 43 great US-based colleges that are still accepting applications for the 2023-24 academic year. All of the schools on this list are ranked on Forbes' list of America's Top Colleges, as well as the Princeton Review's list of 388 Best Colleges in America.
The University of Colorado Boulder, ranked #103 on Forbes' list of top colleges, didn't attract enough eligible students to fill its freshman class of nearly 6,000 and is now accepting applications. Located in an artsy town in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies, about 30 minutes from Denver, the school boasts strong chemistry and physics programs (with four Nobel laureates) but also hundreds of business, psychology, and computer science graduates each year. Backpackers, climbers, and hikers will enjoy the numerous nearby dog-friendly trails, such as Sanitas Mountain, with its spectacular views. And if astronomy is your thing, the Fiske Planetarium is one of the largest west of the Mississippi.
Despite these and other attractions, Alex Zoubok, a high school senior in Somers, New York, chose the University of Vermont over CU Boulder. “I was going back and forth between CU Boulder and the University of Vermont, and it was until the last few days before I made my decision,” says Zoubok, who says he applied to 10 schools. “We had visited both Boulder and UVM and both had very strong programs. Ultimately the program at UVM is a little stronger on the wildlife aspect of environmental studies.” Zoubok reports that his other offers included James Madison University, the University of Delaware and Endicott College.
If small colleges have more speed, New College of Florida—the Sunshine State's liberal arts honors public college—is also looking for students. At New College, students agree to semester-long contracts that require them to pass a certain number of courses to maintain credit, and they receive written assessments instead of letter grades. The culture at the tiny school is changing. Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis recently appointed six conservative New College board members and its commissioner of education he has said would like to model the school after Hillsdale College, a notoriously conservative and politically active private college in Michigan. (Hampshire College, a tiny school in Amherst, Massachusetts, takes advantage of conservative review and offers New College students with good admission to Hampshire as well as a tuition match. Hampshire students also receive written assessments in lieu of grades, and the college is still looking for students for the next academic year.)
Another small liberal arts college, Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisc., also needs students for the class of 2027. The university is known for its outstanding music conservatory, boasting a 9-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio and operates on a quarter system. Goucher College in Baltimore, Md., originally founded in 1885 as a women's college but coeducational since 1985, has a strong program in education as well as a five-year program with Johns Hopkins for students who want to pursue a master's degree in nursing. Austin College in Texas and Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, NH are two other small colleges that are looking for more applicants. For a larger liberal arts and sciences school, check out the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., with the top-rated Schulze School of Business (named after Best Buy founder Dick Schulze) and whose alumni include San Diego Padres co-owner Ron Fowler, or Saint Mary's College of California, whose picturesque 420-acre campus is located just 23 miles east of San Francisco.
Looking for a large state university with division one sports? Consider the University of Arizona in Tucson, ranked #131 on the Forbes list of top colleges. The desert university just south of the Santa Catalina Mountains has a strong space science program and storied history in American space exploration and research—the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory's OSIRIS-REx mission will soon deliver asteroid samples, the first ever to be returned to Earth . Noam Chomsky, one of the most influential modern linguists, works as an award-winning professor in the university's linguistics department. The private University of Tulsa also boasts D-1 sports, and the University of Oklahoma, the University of Kentucky and the University of South Dakota are among several large public colleges seeking more students to enroll in the fall. Creighton University in Nebraska, whose D-1 basketball Bluejays defeated Princeton to reach the 2023 March Madness elite eight, is also on the list of students in the hunt.
For students planning to submit additional applications, Bob Massa, co-founder of the consulting firm Enrollment Intelligence Now, offers some advice: “Find out the name of the admissions officer responsible for recruiting in your area and reach out to that person, notifying them on your application, telling him why you're applying now and why you think his college would be a better fit for you than the school you'd otherwise attend—making sure you never 'bad-mouth' the other school,” she says. “Or, if the student was excluded, meaning they didn't get in anywhere, then be honest and say that. Ask to set up a time when you can visit the campus and meet with the admissions officer. Help them see that you really want to be there.”
A word of caution about applying to colleges after the traditional May 1st deadline. Many colleges have exhausted their financial aid budgets, says Mark Kantrowitz, an author and consultant who specializes in financial aid. “Even blind colleges can become need-sensitive when they admit students off the waitlist,” he says.
Just because a college is still seeking applicants after May 1st doesn't necessarily mean prospective students have the upper hand. Kantrowitz cautions students against becoming overconfident. “Some of these colleges aren't exactly desperate. Some offer rolling imports. Others just want to hedge their bets against summer. Some have done their numbers, but they have excess capacity that could accommodate more students,” he says. “Check the college's acceptance rate and performance. If the acceptance rate is 85% or more and the performance is below 15%, they may struggle to cover their class.” But, he argues, if you need additional financial help, it never hurts to ask.
US COLLEGES
Top US colleges are still accepting applications
A handful of notable international universities are also seeking American students to enroll this fall. International colleges are often cheaper than private colleges and out-of-state tuition in the US, although financial aid may not be as generous. The 11 universities on this list are ranked on the Times Higher Education list of universities, as well as on the US News and World Report list of world schools. The list includes the University of Auckland, New Zealand's top college, University College Dublin, Ireland and the University of Alberta in Canada.
INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE
Top international colleges looking for students
Note: For all universities on this list, tuition and fees vary by program. For specific cost information, visit the university website.
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