By Laurel White
Offering “direct admission” to college increases college applications, particularly for minority and low-income students, but those applications don’t always lead to enrollments, according to a new study co-authored by a UW–Madison School of Education faculty member.
The practice of “direct admission,” a policy by which students are proactively admitted to college based on existing data, like their GPA, is growing across the country. Hundreds of schools in at least nine states are currently offering direct admission opportunities to prospective students.
According to the new study, published as a working paper by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, students offered direct admission were 12% more likely than peers not offered direct admission to “apply” to college (in the case of direct admissions, “apply” refers to the student submitting the direct admission form to connect with a college or university, intending to enroll). The increase in applications was larger for Black, multi-racial, low-income, and first-generation students. The study also found students were most responsive to direct admission offers when they came from larger, higher quality institutions.
Taylor Odle, an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies, co-authored the study. He says the findings reinforce the idea that many college applications have too many complex and technical requirements.
“This complexity and uncertainty disadvantages many, but especially first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented minority students,” he says. “Direct admission attempts to lower these hurdles.”
Odle explains that direct admissions “flips the script” on admissions by proactively pushing individualized information and opportunities to students, rather than waiting for them to find their way to specific colleges and universities — and navigating the unique application requirements of each institution.
“This allows students to focus on college choice and match, rather than on completing unnecessary tasks,” Odle says.
The study of 32,000 students was completed in partnership with six universities and The Common App, a nonprofit organization that offers a standardized application for a number of colleges and universities across the country. Researchers randomly assigned some of the students to receive direct admission opportunities, which also included a proactive nudge, fee waiver, and structural application simplification.
The study found that while direct admissions increased “application” engagement from students, it did not increase enrollment. Odle says that is likely because other barriers — including financial obstacles — continue to block many students’ college enrollment.
“Ultimately, students still have to pay for college, and affordability remains a pressing challenge,” Odle says. “We show that direct admissions can effectively and equitably connect students with institutions, pushing them further down the college-going pathway. But direct admissions needs to be a strategy used in tandem with other college-going supports, like coaching and financial aid.”
The study has received media coverage from a number of national outlets, including Inside Higher Ed, The Chronicle, Diverse, EdSurge, HigherEdDive, and Axios.
Odle co-authored the study with Jennifer Delaney, an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Odle’s previous research on direct admissions has been published in Research in Higher Education. In 2022, Odle lent his expertise on direct admissions to The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. He continues to advise the UW System’s Direct Admissions Taskforce. Two institutions in Wisconsin, UW–Green Bay and UW–Oshkosh, are piloting direct admissions programs with local high schools.
Odle says direct admission policies are one way for institutions to raise declining enrollment levels by removing “unnecessary obstacles along students’ pathways” and signaling that college is an opportunity available to them.
Generally, Odle’s research leverages quantitative methods and data science techniques to study issues concerning the economics of education and education policy, with a specific focus on college access and success.
The full working paper is available here.