Direct Admissions Expands College Opportunity in California. Three Lessons from California State University’s Pilot - IHEP mentions that CSU did a pilot program of automatic or passive application in Riverside County.
It also has a link to https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/03/06/state-colleges-direct-admissions-programs-high-school-students/ (registration wall) that mentions other states, although some appear to be automatic or passive application (ID, MN, WI) while others may admit students who used The Common Application but did not specifically list that state’s public colleges (CT, IL). Some private schools also do the latter.
Admitting students who did not specifically apply to the college seems to be called “direct admission” in some places, but that term is also sometimes used in context of admission to competitive majors like nursing. I.e. use care to ensure that it is clear which use of the term is intended.