Union’s Class of 2027 has already seen an increase in applications, according to admissions data received by Concordiensis. This is based on data from Grant Admissions Center, that shows a marked increase in the number of applicants to Union and the number of accepted applicants compared to last year. This comes before the January 15 regular application deadline, where Union is expected to also see an increased number of applicants. Union’s acceptance percentage has slowly but markedly increased over the past ten years, making early applications, both Early Action and Early Decision potentially weightier in Union’s choice of students.
In last year’s application period for the class of 2026, 3,179 students applied Early Action, and this year for the class of 2027, 3,550 students applied Early Action, representing a 12 percent increase in applications. The number of accepted applications has also increased from last year, with 1,842 students admitted during Early Action for the class of 2026, and 1,928 admitted during Early Action for the class of 2027. This number itself is subject to change, with the office of admissions due to send out more decision letters in the coming days.
For the class of 2026, 408 students were deferred from Early Action (different from Early Decision,) and those students had the option to defer to the second round of Early Decision (ED2) or Regular Decision (RD). 12 students deferred to ED2 and 11 were admitted; 396 deferred to RD and 219 were admitted. Concordiensis did not receive deferral data for the class of 2027. For the first round of Early Decision (ED1) for the class of 2027, 153 students applied and 117 were admitted. By contrast, for the class of 2026, 126 were admitted of the 142 who applied.
Regular Decision applications are due on January 15, but it has already seen an increase in applications compared to this time last year: 1,403 students had applied for Regular Decision in 2022. However, as of January 4, 2023, 1,638 students had applied for Regular Decision . This represents a 17 percent increase in applications for Regular Decision over last year.
Union’s current acceptance rate is 44 percent, representing an increase in the acceptance rate over five years. The increase between years 2022 and 2023 came after a slight decrease from the 2021 to 2022 years. However, across the past ten years, according to College Admission Compare, the acceptance rate has slowly but steadily increased.
Right alongside an increase in the acceptance rate has been a growth in the College’s push for Early Action applicants. “The reason we added [Early Action] is so that we can get more applicants around the world… When we didn’t have that option, we had some students step out.” Matt Malatesta ‘91, Vice President for Admissions, Financial Aid and Enrollment described in a phone interview with Concordiensis.
The percentage of Early Action applicants who were admitted was 57.9 percent, making it an even higher percentage than the Regular Decision.
