Record number of applications received
20% increase seen as academics, location, Coach Prime’s popularity appeal to prospective students
The University of Colorado Boulder has received a recordbreaking 68,000 applications for the fall of 2024 so far, about a 20% increase from last year.
As of Wednesday night, CU Boulder extended offers to roughly 51,000 students, including about 14,000 Colorado residents, 35,000 non-residents and 2,600 international students.
“CU Boulder was excited to see so much interest from prospective first-year students throughout the application period,” said Amy Hutton, associate vice chancellor of enrollment management.
“Our campus has seen a steady increase in applications since 2012, and the increase in applications of new students for the 2024 fall semester is consistent with that trend.”
Jennifer Ziegenfus, assistant vice chancellor of admissions, said this is the most diverse applicant pool CU Boulder’s seen. Applications from Black and African American students are up about 50.5%, Hispanic and Latino applications are up about 25.6% and American Indian and Alaskan Native student applications are up about 15%.
“If you were to look at the entire non-white student population applying to CU Boulder combined we’re at about a 29.3% increase,”
Ziegenfus said.
CU Boulder can’t discuss the racial demographics of admitted students due to the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision. The university is still accepting applications and will be able to discuss it once applications close.
Ziegenfus said the hiring of football coach Deion Sanders has been a great contribution and great for anecdotal conversation when speaking to prospective students nationwide and globally.
“No doubt the exposure that CU Boulder has received since Coach Prime was hired has been tremendous,” she said. “It obviously showcases that a number of our national media outlets are attracting applicants from all over the world, but it’s really difficult for us to draw that causational line between Coach Prime and this application increase.”
CU Boulder accepted students from all 50 states, Washington D.C., three U.S. territories and about 117 countries. Additionally, roughly 13% of admitted students self-reported as first-generation college students.
About 51.2% of admitted students report they have a 4.0 or higher high school grade point average, and about 91.7% of admitted students report having a 3.5 GPA or higher. Ziegenfus said admissions started to notice this trend last year and that it continues to increase.
“That’s been extremely impressive, and it really just goes to show that there continues to be considerable interest in attending CU Boulder because of our strong academic programs and also this really desirable location,” Ziegenfus said.
She said CU Boulder is seeing students from all parts of Colorado apply at higher rates, and nearly all in-state students that qualify for admission are accepted.
“As Colorado’s flagship university, serving in-state students is a top priority for CU Boulder, and having those resident applications up 16.4% really speaks strongly to that desire that we have as a university,” CU Boulder spokesperson Nicole Mueksch said.
Because applications for first-year students have been steadily increasing during the last decade, CU Boulder anticipated seeing another increase this year.
“Nationally, the number of high school graduates is still increasing, and so that adds to the numbers of students applying to universities,” Hutton said.
Between 2015 and 2023, CU Boulder saw the number of applications increase every year ranging from 0.2% to 11.2% except for a 23.9%
increase in 2021.
Another trend that began during the previous academic year, Ziegenfus said, is more men are applying to the College of Media, Communication and Information wanting to become sports broadcasters and sports journalists.
Ziegenfus said because there are more applications, it’s likely that admission into certain colleges has become more selective. CU Boulder does provide options for students who don’t get into their college of choice, for instance, alternate career paths or majors.
“Since 2012, the applicant
pool has continued to increase, so we can only anticipate that the volume of students applying into those more selective majors like engineering and business will probably increase,” she said. “We are attracting students of a higher academic caliber each year.”
All data surrounding application numbers is subject to change as CU Boulder continues to accept applications for the fall through July 31. Students who have already applied decide whether to enroll at CU Boulder by June 1, and final enrollment numbers will be announced a few weeks into the fall semester.