Direct admissions programs have been included in my writings before, but they have grown tremendously in popularity since they were last mentioned. If you don’t know what direct admission means; this pathway to higher education is a unique idea that can result in opportunities that students may otherwise have missed.
With direct admission, students enter their high school scores and activities onto a third-party site for consideration by colleges participating in the program. At the moment Niche, Common App and the state of Texas along with about a dozen other states are sites where students can register to participate in direct admission programs. This is the site for participating Texas colleges. https://www.mytexasfuture.org/
Programs like direct admissions are designed to remove barriers that could get in the way of students seeking higher education degrees. In addition to taking the stress and anxiety out of the college application process, direct admission programs put the student in direct contact with colleges that want them on their campus. If the student is accepted by a college that they believe is a good match, they complete an application knowing that it will be accepted and can begin moving forward on questions like financial aid and housing instead or waiting anxiously until the spring semester for a reply.
Since starting their program in 2022 with two colleges, Niche has expanded to 91 participating colleges. The Texas program is new for the 2024 applications season and as of June 15th had twelve colleges onboard with more on the way. The Common App services more than 1,000 colleges. Not all of them will participate in the direct admission program but all of them will have access to the student profiles in the system.
It is impossible to do a detailed evaluation of all the colleges that could be a good fit when there are more than 4,000 of them in the United States. Why not let the colleges give you a shout out and say that they are interested in you for a change?