Issue 01 (August 2026)
What is changing in undergraduate education — and what may matter for your students
A five-minute briefing for college counselors, educators, and parents. We select a small number of developments that appear consequential rather than trying to summarize everything happening in admissions.
1. THE 2026–27 COMMON APP IS OPEN
The 2026–27 Common App launched on August 1. Students applying for fall 2027 enrollment can now work in the shared application used by more than 1,100 member colleges.
August 1 is an opening, not a deadline. Early Action and Early Decision dates at many institutions still cluster around November 1.
For counselors and families: Use August to sequence recommendation letters, activity lists, testing plans, and college-specific supplements — not to rush incomplete applications out the door.
Source: Common App.
2. DIRECT ADMISSIONS EXPANDS TO 234 INSTITUTIONS
On August 25, Common App announced that 234 institutions will participate in Direct Admissions for the 2026–27 cycle.
Qualified first-generation and low- and middle-income students can receive non-binding admission offers before submitting an application, using information already entered into Common App. Offers for this cycle begin in mid-September.
More than 800,000 students received at least one direct-admission offer during the previous cycle.
For counselors and families: Students may encounter colleges through an admission offer rather than the traditional search-and-apply sequence. The question becomes less "Can I get in?" and more "Is this institution actually a good academic, financial, and personal fit?"
Source: Common App.
3. THE 2027–28 FAFSA IS IN BETA
The U.S. Department of Education began beta testing of the 2027–28 FAFSA in August, ahead of public availability expected by October 1, 2026.
Beta 1 started August 5 with a limited group of districts, organizations, and institutions. Beta 2 broadens access: students and families can request to participate at StudentAid.gov/joinbeta.
For counselors and families: Put FAFSA on senior-family calendars now. Given recent implementation problems, early completion is particularly sensible for families applying to institutions or programs with priority financial-aid deadlines.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid.
4. DO NOT ASSUME "TEST OPTIONAL"
Testing policy has become sufficiently fragmented that requirements need to be checked institution by institution.
For current first-year applicants, institutions including Cornell, Harvard, Brown, and MIT require standardized testing, although individual policies and reporting procedures differ.
For counselors and families: Testing strategy should be established early enough that a student's eventual college list is not unintentionally constrained by a requirement discovered late in the process.
Sources: Individual university admissions policies.
5. LAST CYCLE'S APPLICANT PICTURE — MORE APPLICATIONS, FEWER INTERNATIONAL
Through March 1 of the 2025–26 cycle, approximately 1.43 million first-year applicants had submitted more than 9.4 million applications through returning Common App institutions.
Applicant growth was particularly strong among first-generation students and students from below-median-income ZIP codes.
International applicants were down approximately 9% year over year at that stage of the cycle.
For counselors and families: National application growth should not be translated into a simple "college is getting harder everywhere" narrative. Domestic and international demand are moving differently, and aggregate numbers conceal considerable variation by institution and applicant market.
Source: Common App.
DATAWATCH
234 — Institutions participating in Common App Direct Admissions for 2026–27.
800,000+ — Students receiving at least one Common App direct-admission offer in the previous cycle.
+6% — Year-over-year growth in first-generation Common App applicants through March 1, 2026.
+8% — Growth in applicants from below-median-income ZIP codes during the same period.
–9% — Change in international first-year Common App applicants through March 1, even as domestic applicants increased.
WHAT WE ARE WATCHING
- The first Direct Admissions offers of the 2026–27 cycle (mid-September)
- FAFSA Beta 2 and the October 1 public launch
- Early-application volume
- Continuing changes in standardized-testing requirements
- How universities adapt admissions and undergraduate education to widespread student use of AI
VELLUM INSTITUTE
Vellum Institute is a small, application-based online institute built around live university-faculty seminars for high-school students, with optional guided research or apprenticeship with the same professor. Every seminar is live. Every cohort is capped at fifteen students. velluminstitute.org. Forward to a colleague · Subscribe to The Vellum Brief.