The University offered admission to 6,243 early action candidates out of 31,143 applicants Friday, for a 20 percent admission rate. 45 percent of those admitted identified themselves as students of color, six percent are foreign nationals and 43 percent are white.
The application pool for early action to the Class of 2026 saw a seven percent increase over the Class of 2025, when 28,897 candidates applied — this year, a record 31,143 prospective students applied.
Early action is a non-binding and unrestrictive admission plan for students who feel their application is strong enough without senior grades being included. This also means students are not required to attend the University upon acceptance, as is the case with early decision. Decisions to admit, defer or deny are generally delivered by mid-February.
The admissions office extended offers to a diverse array of students — notably, there was a 63.8 percent increase in early action offers to Black students, with 749 Black students offered compared to 478 in the Class of 2025. Less than one percent of students offered admission were American Indian, and 624 Hispanic students got offers. 56 percent of admission offers were given to female students.
In an previous statement to the Cavalier Daily, the Dean of Admissions Greg Roberts has said that the University was able to host three open house programs in the fall for Black, Hispanic and first-generation students and families despite the pandemic. Members of the University Guide Service were also able to offer tours to prospective students during the fall semester.
“There has been a significant effort over the last 12 months to identify and recruit, and enroll, students who will be the first in their family to attend college,” Roberts said. “We have work to do but we are pleased by the progress so far this year.”
Between early decision and early action, the University has made 956 offers of admission to first-generation students compared with 691 last year — a 72 percent increase. Nine percent of offers went to children of University alumni, roughly the same percent as the Class of 2025 admission cycle.
22,626 out-of-state students applied early action — 2,573 students, or 41 percent of those given offers, were Virginia residents, compared to 3,669 out-of-state students. The offer rate for out-of-state students was 16 percent, while it was 30 percent for Virginia residents.
In-state residency is a major consideration because the University is a public institution — the Office of Undergraduate Admissions has committed to having two-thirds of the undergraduate student population be Virginia residents.
Applicants were also not required to submit test scores, a policy the University first announced for the fall 2020 admissions cycle that will remain in place until at least the 2023 admissions cycle. This change came in order to ease the burden on applicants during the ongoing disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The highest offer rate of 24 percent was to the School of Architecture and the School of Engineering, with 153 and 1369 students given offers respectively. The lowest offer rates were for the School of Education and School of Nursing, which sent offers to 73 and 85 students, respectively.
Regular decision offers will be released by April 1.
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