10 Colleges That Receive the Most Applications
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California dominates the playing field when it comes to the sheer volume of applications its colleges receive.
Among the 10 schools with the highest number of applications for fall 2014, nine were located in the Golden State.
The University of California--Los Angeles once again attracted the most applications, according to data submitted to U.S. News by 1,258 institutions. At UCLA, 86,548 Bruin hopefuls sent transcripts and test scores. It outpaced the University of California--Berkeley, which was runner-up, by more than 10,000 submissions.
[Understand three ways colleges evaluate applications.]
Boston University is the lone non-Californian among these application-inundated schools, receiving 54,190 applications from prospective students.
The school receiving the fewest submissions for admission was California's American Jewish University, which enrolls around 100 students, and read through just 92 applications.
Among the 1,258 ranked schools reporting numbers to U.S. News, admissions departments received 7,172 applications on average.
[Discover what makes a strong application essay.]
The following schools received the most applications from potential first-time students for fall 2014. Schools designated by U.S. News as Unranked were excluded from this list. U.S. News did not calculate numerical ranks for Unranked programs because they did not meet certain criteria that U.S. News requires.
School | Number of applications | U.S. News rank and category |
|---|---|---|
86,548 | 23 (tie), National Universities | |
73,779 | 20, National Universities | |
73,440 | 39 (tie), National Universities | |
66,813 | 37 (tie), National Universities | |
66,505 | 39 (tie), National Universities | |
60,506 | 41 (tie), National Universities | |
56,921 | 149 (tie), National Universities | |
56,357 | 32 (tie), Regional Universities (West) | |
54,190 | 41 (tie), National Universities | |
51,920 | 23 (tie), National Universities |
Don't see your school on the list? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find application data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
U.S. News surveyed nearly 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2015 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The application data above are correct as of Sept. 17, 2015.
Susannah Snider is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering paying for college and graduate school. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at ssnider@usnews.com.
