See below for the common app data thru January 1 (so more apps to come).
Obviously the common app doesn’t represent all the application volume, maybe 70% or so? Much of the remaining app volume would be test blind or test optional…the UCs and CSUs are probably the largest part of that non-common app volume and they are test blind.
Trends in applicants’ test score reporting behaviors
As reported in the past, the share of Common App members requiring standardized
test scores has changed dramatically over the past decade — from about 55% in
2019–20 to an all-time low of just 4% in 2023–24. This season, 5% of members
require a test score to submit an application. In Figure 20, the number of applicants
reporting a test score has grown faster than the number not reporting a test score,
with a 10% increase among reporters while the number of non-reporters has
remained steady since the 2023–24 season. This reversed two seasons of faster
growth in the number of applicants not reporting a test score between 2022–23 and
2023–24.In our December deadline update, there were 9,455 more students reporting test
scores than not reporting. In this update, there are now 6,162 more students not
reporting test scores. We see that first-generation students, URM students, fee
waiver eligible students, and students from below median income communities
were more likely to apply without submitting a test score. However, the number of
students reporting test scores consistently grew faster than the numbers not
reporting test scores within these subgroups. Appendix Figures A6–A13 illustrate
test score reporting disaggregated by first-generation status, URM status, fee
waiver eligibility, and ZIP code-level income.
