{"id":359171,"date":"2026-07-31T19:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T19:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/359171\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T19:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T19:04:15","slug":"fall-2026-admissions-become-less-competitive-higher-admissions-and-lower-test-scores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/359171\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall 2026 admissions become less competitive, higher admissions and lower test scores"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Fall 2026 applicant cycle data shared by the University of Miami<\/p>\n

Statistics from the fall 2026 applicant cycle reveal that the acceptance rate is above 20% for the first time since 2022 and standardized testing scores decreased.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the 2026 fall applicant class profile<\/a>, the University of Miami received 54,218 applications and admitted 11,961 of those applicants, making the acceptance rate 22%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That is an increase of 4.5 percentage points from the fall 2025 applicant cycle\u2019s<\/a> acceptance rate.<\/p>\n

This rise in admissions comes after 2025\u2019s record high of 58,139 completed applications. Prior to this year\u2019s 6.74% decrease in applicants, UM had been experiencing an upward trend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The decrease could be related to the newly-reinstated requirement to submit standardized test scores, which has not been mandatory since 2020<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rising sophomore Angelica Santeliz was among the last class admitted under the test optional policy and was glad she did not submit her scores.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I feel like I still would have gotten accepted if I submitted my scores I don\u2019t think I would have received the same scholarship that I received without submitting my scores,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Santeliz feels that not submitting her scores allowed for her academics, GPA and extracurriculars were a better reflection of who she is as an applicant rather than test scores.<\/p>\n

Incoming freshman Isabella Alvarez also felt that her standardized test scores could have impacted her chances of being admitted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cStandardized testing has never been one of my strengths, so when I found out scores were required again, it made the entire admissions process more stressful for me,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cI felt like I had to work harder to make sure every other part of my application was as strong as possibe to balance out a score that I did not feel represented me.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Best Colleges<\/a>, other selective universities across the country experienced a similar decrease in applicants during the applicant cycle that standardized testing was reinstated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schools like Dartmouth and Yale experienced a 11% and 12.5% decrease in applicants,respectively, and also experienced an increase in acceptance rate.<\/p>\n

After reinstating standardized testing, UM\u2019s middle 50% ACT superscores experienced a decrease, dipping from 30-34 in 2025 to 28-33 in 2026. The middle 50% of SAT superscores for admitted students remained mostly unchanged from last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fall 2026 applicant cycle data shared by the University of Miami Statistics from the fall 2026 applicant cycle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-359171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}