How Many Students Apply to College Each Year?

By Staff WriterLast Updated December 08, 2023

More than 20 million students apply to colleges each year, with about 21 million students attending American colleges and universities in the fall of 2014. More than 25 percent of students who apply submit seven or more applications to different colleges or universities.

In 2013, the University of California’s nine institutions received 174,767 applications, a record number for the educational system.

The number of 18- to 24-year-olds in the United States was 31.4 million in 2012, with about 41 percent of Americans in that age category enrolled in college.

For the class of 2017, Ivy League schools received more than 300,000 applications.