2025 Was a Historic Mess, Contd.

So…2025 was so crazy that we needed a Part 2. (For Part 1, click here) Surprisingly, though, not everything was about Trump. Here are the remaining big headlines that you need to be aware of, along with a little explanation or two of why they matter.

6. UPenn discontinues Alumni Interviews

Why is a quiet change in one school’s interview process worthy of a #6 spot on our list? Well, this news was indicative of a far bigger trend in the industry. For years now, the Ivy+ private American universities have been eliminating interviews from their application processes. What used to be a standard practice for private universities is now going the way of the dodo, similar to how large public universities have had to be realistic for far longer. The sheer volume of applications has made it near impossible to promise an interview for all applicants, since interviews depend on alumni volunteers, who exist in a limited number and have limited time or incentive to help their alma mater choose new students each cycle. (In desperation, some universities, such as Yale, have even turned to interviews hosted by current students.)

On a philosophical level, several elite universities—such as Brown—have also decided that interviews are fundamentally unfair because they also favor the interviewer’s subjective biases (particularly since alumni interviewers are often from older, less-diverse generations and untrained to represent the admissions department’s priorities). In other words, the stench of elitism that accompanies this old-fashioned, once-standard practice has become indefensible. Therefore, the solution has been to eliminate them altogether, or replace them with what’s called a “video introduction,” a brief recording that captures your personality and voice without having a conversation with an actual interviewer. Because only the admissions offers get to see it, the assumption is that its evaluation will be more equitable for all.

Why It Should Matter to You

UPenn appears to be the latest to join the likes of Brown and UChicago in forgoing interviews, meanwhile the likes of Harvard, Princeton, and Yale have kept going strong. As the latter group faces more challenges of interviewer availability and workload management, they may follow suit. Either way, we can see video introductions or virtual interviews hosted by third-party services such as Glimpse (US residents) and InitialView (international residents) gaining popularity, respectively, as they help outsource and standardize the process. Universities appear to want some form of human connection with applicants beyond their writing (essays), but the process is necessarily becoming less personal and more standardized via technology.

7. US Universities Sued for Binding Early Decision Policies That Restrict Financial Options

Early Decision has recently come under fire for how it restricts applicants’ ability to compare financial aid awards from other schools in the regular round. In a landmark case, 32 elite universities, including Brown and Dartmouth, face a federal lawsuit for how their ED policies belie a fundamentally predatory nature. The argument is that, under the current system, ED applicants are forced to take whatever financial aid package that they receive, regardless of whether they can afford it—a real disadvantage if money is a dealbreaker for them. The counterargument is that ED applicants are fully warned of the risks well ahead of time, and should only pursue ED if they’re prepared to receive a financial aid package that doesn’t fully meet their needs. Many of the wealthier universities are committed to meeting applicants’ “full demonstrated need,” which is a vague idea that’s determined by the financial aid departments, not the families that must ultimately pay.

Why It Should Matter to You

Perhaps never before have we seen such a widespread legal battle in the American admissions process (aside from affirmative action in the 1960s and later 2023). The ramifications can’t be understated. It just goes to show that the second Trump administration has placed a target on higher education reform, and it’s unafraid to take drastic measures execute its aims. If this case proceeds to a ruling in favor of applicants, universities may be forced to adjust their ED policies soon, which would hopefully help applicants better afford their education amid a time of increasingly exorbitant tuition rates. (U.S. News has a useful breakdown.) Other major legislation could arise in its wake during 2026.

8. Several Elite US Schools Become Tuition-Free for Certain High-Income Brackets

On the flip side of financial aid, we saw more universities up their game in offering more free money to broader swathes of the applicant pool. For 2025-26, MIT began guaranteeing a USD 0 parent contribution for families below USD 100,000 in income and USD 0 tuition for families below USD 200,000 in income. Princeton also unveiled a new financial aid package, promising:

Most families with incomes up to $150,000 a year will now pay nothing for their student to attend Princeton, receiving aid to cover the total cost of attendance, including tuition, housing, food, books and personal expenses. Most undergraduate families with incomes up to $250,000 will pay no tuition.

In addition, many families living in the U.S. with incomes up to and even beyond $350,000 will receive grant aid, including those at higher income levels with multiple children in college.

Ostensibly, such developments mean that more applicants (and current students), domestic and international, will be able to afford their education comfortably. Rampant inflation and stagnant salaries in recent years have made the value of a dollar, and thus the power of a middle-class income, weaker, meanwhile college tuition has continued to rise. If universities want to keep attracting strong applicants, they must make themselves enticing.

Why It Should Matter to You

For the past few cycles, we’ve seen this trend among the wealthiest US universities. Places such as Harvard and Princeton began switching to need-blind evaluation for all applicants and extending their generous 100%-need-based financial aid awards to international students, in an obvious effort to win over applicants who’d been sidelined by their need-aware policies or discouraged by their expensive fees. The result should be increasing socioeconomic diversity at these institutions, even if other universities (with much more modest endowments) simply won’t be able to afford to compete. Either way, applicants win, since, in an increasingly cutthroat field (with more international applicants likely considering non-US options, post-Trump 2.0) and uncertain global economy, rich universities are willing to spend big to attract top talent.

9. Forfeiting State Funding, Stanford Continues Legacy Admissions

We can already hear you asking that question again: is a minor headline for one school worthy of a #9 spot on our list? Well, it turns out that this isn’t a minor headline at all. During the past few years’ crackdown on DEI—from the US Supreme Court’s repeal of affirmative action in 2023 (see the #1 headline in our Part 1 post), to elite universities’ return to test-required policies (see the #3 headline in our Part 1 post)—the persistence of legacy admissions has come under fire for its clear bias toward the privileged. In fact, the infamous 2019 case of Hollywood celebrities engaging in fraudulent activity to get their kids into Ivy Leagues has also fed into a general narrative that traditional, shadowy practices such as legacy admissions and athletic recruitment (often derided as “affirmative action for white people”) should be abolished outright. In their blatant elitism and nepotism, they represent an affront to the high-minded meritocratic ideals that these universities claim to believe in. Per the argument, admissions can only be fair and objective if all forms of preferential treatment are elminated.

Why It Should Matter to You

Unlike the far-older UK system, however, which surprisingly doesn’t allow for legacy admissions, the US system has legacy written into its DNA. The Ivies still practice it—with passionate defenses—as do many comparable institutions. Since, in 2024, the state of California banned legacy admissions under the treat of rescinding funding (known as the “Cal Grant”), it established a stark precedent: progressive-minded states wish to eliminate the old system. Yet, Stanford’s action proves that legacy is important enough to Stanford’s process (and they’re independently rich enough) that the university is willing to ditch state funding altogether. Similar wealthy universities, such as the Ivies, may do the same if faced with similar state laws, which are likely coming soon in 2026 and beyond. As they say, So goes California, so goes the rest of the country…

10. NYU admissions data from 1989–2024 hacked

Our last headline is remarkable because it’s such an uncommon wealth of information (25 years!). Not since Harvard was forced to reveal its confidential admissions process during the 2019 lawsuit regarding Asian American admissions have we seen a major university’s internal methods laid bare in this way. Usually, there’s a significant degree of guesswork or hearsay from former admissions officers; rarely are we made privy of the actual goings-on that take place behind closed doors. Contrary to the Harvard case, though, NYU’s data was released without their permission. The novelty of this theft reflects how, thus far, colleges have either been quite rigorous about cybersecurity or absent from hackers’ lists of targets.

Why It Should Matter to You

Perhaps, in the age of AI, we’ll see more events of this nature. Never before has admissions been this transparent, thanks to leaks and hacks, such as UNC–Chapel Hill’s internal data being shared via their student-run campus newspaper. As we see these obscure, secretive procedures coming to light, they cease to be indecipherable black boxes. They place more power in applicants’ hands, enabling a more democratic process. Sure, the less scrupulous applicants will try to game the system, but it’s safe to say that a more open process is a better one. Like the emperor who famously had no clothes, universities will learn to tread confidently while being exposed.

Honorable Mention: Georgetown to begin accepting the Common App

FINALLY. After years and years of students wondering why they can’t find it in their “Browse Colleges” feature…then being annoyed at having to start a separate app from scratch for just one school…Georgetown will open up to the Common Application just like (pretty much) everyone else. Hallelujah! It’s about time!

One of the great benefits of standardized application platforms such as the Common App and Coalition App is that you get to apply to essentially all of your schools from one place, with the same primary essay and personal/academic information inputs. Why should colleges make it harder for you, knowing that you’re obviously applying to multiple schools?

(For reference, the article continues that “Of the top 50 national universities according to the U.S. News and World Report’s rankings, only Georgetown, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and schools within the University of California system are not on the Common App.”)

Why It Should Matter to You
If you’re interested in Georgetown (a fine Ivy+ school in the US capital, particularly well known for social scientists, policymakers, and future political leaders), your job is about to get a whole lot simpler. Now if we can just get pesky MIT and UC to follow suit…