Another year, another record number of applicants for Northwestern University. Last year, for the Class of 2025, 47,633 students applied to the Evanston, Illinois-based institution. This year? The school received 51,554 applications — nearly 4,000 more applications from last year’s record tally (and, to put this in perspective, 8,000 more students applied last year compared to two years ago). Among the 51,554 students who applied to the Northwestern University Class of 2026, 7% earned admission (or approximately 3,609 students — compared to approximately 3,239 from last year). So in spite of the record applicant pool, due to the increased offers of admission, the acceptance rate for the Class of 2026 actually rose from 6.8% for the Class of 2025 to 7% this year.

And leave it to Northwestern University student journalists to make their release about the admissions cycle — pieces that are typically quite dry at most universities — super juicy. Hey, Northwestern does boast arguably the top journalism school in the nation — Medill. As Maia Pandey writes in a piece for The Daily Northwestern entitled “As Northwestern admits 7% of applicants for its class of 2026, President Schapiro says he still reads application files,” “Amid ongoing litigation alleging Northwestern privileges wealthy applicants in the admissions process, NU accepted 7% of first-year applications, according to University spokesperson Hilary Hurd Anyaso. Two NU alumni are among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which cites a 2019 Daily article in which President Morton Schapiro said he personally reads some applications, including from legacy students and applicants connected to wealthy donors. In an interview with The Daily earlier this month, Schapiro said he has continued that practice, reading several hundred applications in the current cycle from ‘all kinds of people.’ The files included those from Evanston Township High School and Chicago public high school students, as well as ‘a lot’ of applicants who are siblings of NU students, he said.”

Uh huh. It sure does sound like Northwestern’s President Shapiro had a slip of the tongue incident in an interview with The Daily Northwestern and got himself in quite the pickle. It seems quite obvious he’s now trying to cover his tracks, saying he reads all sorts of applications these days — very few of which are from legacy applicants. Overcorrect much, President Shapiro? In any case, congratulations to all of Ivy Coach’s students who earned admission to the Northwestern University Class of 2026. Go Wildcats!