While college admissions typically bring to mind essay writing, SAT scores and extracurriculars, a new trend has emerged in higher education—direct admissions, with high school students now being able to get accepted to college without ever truly applying.
Why It Matters
As many colleges experience a major drop in enrollment each year, direct admissions are a way to keep student numbers higher by offering one major appeal—instant acceptance.
The college enrollment crisis has many contributing factors. For one, birth rates have declined, leading to fewer students in college across the country. A surge in Gen Z Americans looking into the trades has also prompted a departure for many that might have attended a four-year university otherwise.
What To Know
Several schools have opted for direct admissions in recent years including San Francisco State University (SFSU), which has lost around 6,000 students since 2020, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. That’s roughly a quarter of the college’s undergraduates.
Under SFSU’s new rules, every high school senior in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) will automatically be contacted with an acceptance letter. They will also receive information about financial aid and attending college more generally to boost their chances of attendance.
When SFSU implemented the direct admissions program, they saw a 47 percent boost in enrollment between 2024 and 2025, San Francisco Chronicle reported.
To qualify for direct admission, high schoolers must complete their A-G classes with at least a C and have a GPA of at least 2.5 in courses taken from grades 10 to 12, the newspaper added.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has also signed Senate Bill 640 into law, creating a California State University (CSU) Direct Admission Program which will enable every California high school student to be admitted automatically to CSU if their grades pass a certain threshold.
This only applies to 43 of the state’s 937 school districts, however.
Minnesota also started offering direct admissions in 2022, with around half of the state’s public high schools participating.
What People Are Saying
Maria Su, superintendent San Francisco Unified School District, said per the San Francisco Chronicle: “This partnership is an incredible opportunity for our students. By knowing in advance that they have a guaranteed path to San Francisco State, our graduates can plan with confidence and focus on their academic success.”
Katie Lynch, head of enrollment management at SFSU, said per the San Francisco Chronicle: “We believe that this will help create opportunities to mitigate our enrollment challenges.”
Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek: “The recent moves by some colleges to attempt direct admissions, which involves notifying students who haven’t even applied to their institution they are ‘accepted,’ is a concerning sign, but, sadly in many ways, necessary. With birth rates declining and some Americans favoring trade school or going directly to the workforce after high school, universities are preparing for potentially catastrophic declines in enrollment in coming years.”
“Partnerships with school systems and more incentives like direct admission could be pivotal to the future of their institutions, even if it could potentially flood campuses with students who aren’t as prepared as their successors.”
Kevin Thompson, the CEO of 9i Capital Group and the host of the 9innings podcast, told Newsweek: “The direct admission process has made it easier for some students to get into college, even allowing some kids to receive acceptance letters without ever applying. The process takes your high-school GPA and test scores and automatically applies you to schools in the direct admission program. Hundreds of schools across the country use the program in multiple states such as California, Nevada, and Texas among others.”
What Happens Next?
Since enrollment is declining alongside birth rates, direct admissions will continue to be one solution colleges seek out, Thompson said.
“Enrollment has declined and will continue to decline as birth rates fall and kids move to trade skills,” he said. “The expansion of direct admission’s goal is to increase enrollment. The reality, this is a cycle for this generation of children where many will not attend college and move into more service or trade-oriented jobs, while the white-collar space may shrink.”
