YuLin Zhen, Photography Editor

Yale College received 6,754 early applications to the class of 2029, a 14 percent decrease from early applications from the previous year. This group of applicants will be the first to be evaluated under Yale’s test-flexible policy and the second since the Supreme Court axed affirmative action. 

After four years of a test-optional policy that allowed applicants to decide whether to submit test scores, the class of 2029 applicants must submit standardized test scores. Applicants may select one or more types of tests from a list of four options — SAT, ACT, Advance Placement and International Baccalaureate. Those who choose to send AP or IB scores are required to include results from all subject exams that they have taken.

“The small decrease in this year’s early action applicant pool is exactly in line with what we anticipated following the change in our standardized testing policy,” wrote Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid.

The decrease in applications from international students was significantly larger than that from domestic applicants. International student applications dropped approximately 30 percent compared to domestic applicants dropping approximately 9 percent. Many international students previously expressed concern about test-flexible admissions because of the difficulty accessing standardized test centers in many of their home countries.

This divergence was also in line with the Admissions Office’s expectations, according to Mark Dunn ’07, senior associate director for outreach and recruitment.  

Compared with the 2019-20 admissions cycle, the most recent cycle in which Yale required standardized testing of all applicants, this year’s early action pool has approximately 1,000 more applications, an increase of 17 percent.

Yale’s single-choice early action applications were due on Nov. 1. Applications are non-binding, but students may not seek admission to any other private, domestic institution in the early round. Students are still free to apply to public American colleges, any rolling admissions programs or schools abroad.

The admissions office will release its early action decisions in mid-December.

“As always, the strength and diversity of the applicant pool is much more important than the number of applications we receive in any given year or application round,” Quinlan wrote to the News. “It will take our staff the many weeks and months ahead to understand those qualities of the pool as we review applications one at a time.”

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is located at 38 Hillhouse Ave.