Indian Applicants to U.S. Colleges Fall 15% in 2025-26 Admissions Cycle

Washington — The number of students from India seeking first-year undergraduate admission to U.S. colleges through the Common Application fell 15% during the 2025-26 admissions cycle, reversing years of strong growth, according to a new report.

India recorded 14,424 applicants, down from about 16,900 in the previous cycle, according to Common App’s end-of-season report released Aug. 20.

The decline was steeper than the 2% drop recorded for China, which remained the largest source of international applicants on the platform with 18,435 students.

China now has 4,011 more international applicants than India. The gap had narrowed to about 1,000 during the 2023-24 admissions cycle following years of rapid growth from India and a prolonged decline in applicants from China.

Common App did not identify a reason for the drop in Indian applications.

International applicants overall declined 10% from the previous year. Applicants from Asia, the largest source region outside the United States, fell 11% to 79,287. The report said the regional decline was driven in part by the 15% reduction in applicants from India.

The decrease contrasts with growth in the overall Common App applicant pool. A total of 1,527,328 first-year applicants used the platform during the cycle, up 2% from 2024-25.

Those students submitted about 10.79 million applications to 1,146 member institutions. Total applications increased 6%, suggesting students applied to more colleges even as growth in the overall number of applicants slowed.

Applicants submitted an average of 7.06 applications each, up from 6.79 during the previous cycle.

India’s latest decline follows nearly a decade of expansion. Common App recorded about 7,900 first-year international applicants from India in 2016-17, compared with nearly 29,700 from China.

The number of Indian applicants rose steadily before reaching about 16,900 in 2021-22 and remained near that level for the next three admissions cycles, bringing India close to overtaking China as the largest international source country on the platform.

The latest decline to 14,424 applicants erased a significant portion of those gains. China, meanwhile, has fallen from nearly 29,700 applicants in 2016-17 to 18,435 in the latest cycle.

A different trend emerged among applicants already living in the United States. The number of domestic applicants identifying as Indian increased 6% to 40,949, more than double the roughly 18,500 recorded in 2016-17.

Domestic applicants identifying as Chinese increased 1% to 26,296.

The figures show that the number of U.S.-based applicants identifying as Indian continues to grow even as the number of students applying from India has declined.

The Common App report covers applicants to its member institutions and does not represent every undergraduate applicant or university in the United States.

India remains the largest source of international students in the United States. The latest Open Doors data counted 363,019 students from India during the 2024-25 academic year, up 10% from the previous year. (Source: IANS)