College admissions is the process through which students enter undergraduate colleges. The system varies widely from country to country.

In many countries, prospective university students apply for admission during their last year of high school or community college. In some countries, there are independent organizations or government agencies to centralize the administration of standardized admission exams and the processing of applications.

Students apply to one or more colleges or universities by submitting an application which each college evaluates by its own criteria. The college then decides whether to extend an offer of admission (and possibly financial aid) to the student. In general, students are admitted to the college as a whole, and not to a particular academic major, which is chosen later. The system is decentralized: each college has its own criteria for admission, even when using a common application form.

Admissions criteria may be completely mechanical, especially at large public colleges: a threshold for grade point average and/or standardized test scores, or even simply a high-school diploma ('open admissions'). They may be completely subjective at some small colleges: a perceived motivational and intellectual 'fit' based on essays, interviews, and personal recommendations. Most colleges combine the two.

The application form typically asks applicants to provide details about their academic preparation, their extracurricular activities, and special talents. Additionally, the majority of schools require applicants to write one or more essays related to their personal backgrounds, obtain recommendations from one or more teachers and a representative of their school such as a guidance counselor or principal. The Common Application is a standardized admissions application used by over 200 colleges and universities, including many of the most elite schools in the U.S. It can be submitted online and is a good way for students to minimize the paperwork associated with applying to colleges.

The prestige, ranking, and presumably the quality of a college is roughly in inverse proportion to its acceptance rate; 10-20% of applicants at elite institutions are accepted, so admission is very competitive. Many students base their entire high school education on gaining entry into the college of their choice.

Considerations that go into admissions are: scores on standardized tests, typically the SAT or ACT; grade point average (GPA) in high school; teacher recommendations; an admissions essay or personal statement; a personal interview at the college or with an alumnus/a; special skills or talents which could contribute to the college (especially sports, but also music); service to the community; and other extracurricular activities.

High SAT scores and GPAs are not enough at the most selective institutions, which look for that 'something extra' that differentiates one high-achieving applicant from another. This may include a unique passion, or dedication to extracurricular activities. Additionally, many schools look closely at student essays and recommendations from teachers and school personnel. Interviews can also be considered at some colleges.

Many colleges also actively seek to increase racial, economic, cultural, and geographic diversity among their students both by making special efforts to recruit diverse students, and by taking their background into consideration in admissions. Thus, disadvantaged and underrepresented minorities, including Native Americans, Blacks, and Latinos, often receive a boost in their applications due to their comparatively low representation among elite schools, a process known as affirmative action.

Another select group of students receiving a comparable boost are known as legacy preferences. These are children of alumni, who are often preferred because the college wishes to maintain strong alumni ties--especially with those who contribute towards the college financially. Race preferences in admissions is a controversial practice contended by opponents who object to white and Asian students being displaced by the process. An affirmative action study by Princeton researchers in 2005 attempted to quantify the effect on applicants. According to the study, if preferential admissions were eliminated, black and Hispanic acceptance rates would dramatically fall and four out of five admissions spots that would have been offered to those students would instead be turned over to Asian students. The effect on admission rates for white students would not be pronounced. Study PDF of study

For students striving for the most elite institutions, a balance of good SAT I and SAT II scores (or ACT scores, which many schools accept and which is a more common test in parts of the country), good recommendations, good essays, a high GPA with a high class rank along with good awards and good extra curricular activities are the key to acceptance. Although this balance will help in admissions, sometimes they can be viewed as prerequisites to truly succeed in an elite institution of higher learning.

Occasionally the applicant may not get into a college due to factors outside of his or her immediate control. This pertains to the concept of need-blind admissions and yield protection.

In need-blind admission, applicants are evaluated without regard to their ability to pay. However, need-blind admission does not necessarily mean that the financial need of an admitted student will be met. Only a handful of schools in the U.S. guarantee to meet 100% of the demonstrated financial need of all admitted students. It is therefore important to always ask colleges and universities, even those that are "need-blind" whether they guarantee to meet full need. If a school does not guarantee to meet full need, other important questions to ask include the percentage of students who apply for aid and have their full need met, the amount of an average financial aid package, and how the typical financial aid package is broken down (i.e., loans, grants, work study, etc.) Other schools practice what is called "need aware" admissions. In other words, they do consider the ability of students to pay in deciding who to admit.

Less well-endowed universities such as Tufts University and Washington University in St. Louis have need-based admissions policies, where some high-achieving applicants may be waitlisted or even rejected because the school cannot provide enough aid for the applicant's education. This is known as "admit-deny." Some of these schools will still meet the full financial needs, however dire, of the not-so-well-off students they accept. However, without the huge, mature endowments of universities such as Yale and Harvard, schools such as Tufts and Washington University must factor financial need in the admissions process in order to maintain their programs.

Extremely few schools in the U.S. are need-blind for international applicants. For the most part, these are the most selective schools in the U.S. Additionally, very few U.S. schools offer any form of financial aid for international applicants. Some schools do offer merit scholarships, based on academic achievement, to international students even though they may not offer financial aid. "Full rides" to U.S. colleges and universities are extremely rare for international students. The few colleges that do set aside financial aid for international students often offer it only to the best qualified applicants. Therefore, international undergraduate students who need substantial financial aid to study in the United States must have exceptional grades and test scores to maximize their chances of receiving it.

All students applying for financial aid must complete the Free Application for Financial Student Aid (FAFSA). International students have additional forms to complete before they can enroll, including a statement of finances required by the U.S. government.

Yield protection often occurs with the strongest applicants at schools that are yield-conscious. Yield refers to the proportion of students who matriculate (i.e. accept an admissions offer and attend the college) after acceptance to a college. If the yield rate is too low, some may view the school as undesirable. Yield-conscious schools who wish to inflate their yield or otherwise protect their yield from lowering employ such methods as waitlists and guaranteed transfer options to promising applicants who may appear to have numerous other college choices. Through waitlists, the applicant is not technically accepted and may never be unless the applicant shows active signs of interest in attending thereby not harming the school's acceptance rate or yield. Although the applicant has no real control over such policies, they can apply to other schools without such policies so as to not limit their options. The term "Tufts Syndrome" is sometimes used on college admissions message boards to refer to such practices of forced yield-protection, as schools like Tufts are perceived to waitlist and reject overqualified candidates for fear that they will choose other schools.

The United Kingdom has a centralized system of admissions to higher education, UCAS. In general, students are not admitted to colleges as a whole, but to particular courses of study.

As Australia uses a Federal system of government, responsibility for education and admission to Technical and Further Education colleges, and undergraduate degrees for domestic students, devolves to each of the states and territories (see Education in Australia. All states have centralised processing units for admission to undergraduate degrees, for citizens of Australia and New Zealand, and Australian permanent residents. Admissions for international and postgraduate students are usually accepted by individual universities. The Australian government operates the Higher Education Contribution Scheme, so admission is rarely limited by prospective students' ability to pay. All states use a system that awards the recipient with an Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank, or ENTER, and the award of an International Baccalaureate meets the minimum requirements for admission in every state. The Special Tertiary Admissions Test is the standard test for non-school-leavers in each state and territory. In all cases, applicants must be proficient in the English language to be considered and meet the course requirements listed by the admitting institution.

The Universities Admission Centre accepts applications for all NSW and ACT tertiary institutions. Applications usually comprise of standardised test results, adherence to the university's selection criteria for the applicable course, and a suitable application. The standard test for school-leavers is the Higher School Certificate in NSW, and the Year 12 Certificate in the ACT.

The South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre accepts applications for Northern Territory tertiary institutions. Year 12 students are awarded the Northern Territory Certificate of Education and must meet course requirements.

The Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre accepts applications for Queensland tertiary institutions. Year 12 students are awarded an Overall Position, based on their performance in class subjects and their result in the Queensland Core Skills Test, as well as meeting course requirements.

The South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre accepts applications for South Australian tertiary institutions. Year 12 students are awarded the [[South Australian Certificate of Education], and must meet course requirements.

The Victorian Tertiary Admission Centre accepts applications for Victorian tertiary institutions. Applications comprise of standardised test results and meeting institutional requirements. The standard test for school-leavers is the Victorian Certificate of Education.

The Tertiary Institutions Service Centre accepts applications for Western Australian tertiary institutions. The standardised test for school-leavers is the Tertiary Entrance Examination.

Post-Secondary Application Service of British Columbia (British Columbia), Ontario Universities' Application Centre (Ontario).

Joint University Programmes Admissions System, using HKALE (developed and administrated by Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority).

National Center for Examinations and Evaluation

National Center for University Entrance Examinations

Entrance is done after perfomring well in examinations which are a local version equivalent to the General Certificate of Education

Student Selection and Placement Center ÖSYM, prepares ÖSS

Prospective students who have passed the Abitur may decide freely what subjects to enroll in. However, in some popular subject fields such as medicine or business administration, students have to pass a certain numerus clausus — that is, they cannot enroll unless they have scored a minimum grade point average on their Abitur.

These countries probably have the most liberal system of university admission anywhere in the world, since anyone who has passed the Matura may enroll in any subject field (or even several at no additional cost) at a public university. In Belgium as well, the only prerequisite for enrolling in university studies is to have obtained a high-school diploma. In both Switzerland and Belgium, medical studies are an exception, which have a numerus clausus system due to overcrowding. This liberal admission practice led to overcrowding and high dropout rates in the more popular fields of study like psychology and journalism, as well as high failure rates on exams which are unofficially used to filter out the less-capable students. Following a ruling by the European Court of Justice issued on July 7, 2005, which forces Austria to accept nationals of other EU Member States under the same conditions as students who took their Matura in Austria, a law was passed on June 8 allowing universities to impose measures to select students in those fields which are subject to numerus clausus in Germany. Starting in 2006, the three medical universities (in Vienna, Innsbruck and Graz) will introduce entrance exams. There are no intentions to introduce a numerus clausus in any subject field.

Prospective students have to choose, two years before graduation, for a graduation type (e.g. natural science graduation type). Subjects at Dutch universities freely accept all students who have chosen the correct graduation type (e.g. to enroll in physics, the graduation type 'natural sciences' is required). All other students have to pass an exam to be enroll (this is the exception). Popular subjects, such as medicine or dental medicine have a numerus fixus, meaning that a limited number of students may enroll for this subject at a particular university. To decide who is allowed, a lottery is held in which ones grades influence chances of being chosen (an indirect and incomplete numerus clausus).

• AdmissionsAdvice.com- Regularly updated news blog on college admissions topics. Hundreds of links to college admissions resources.
• College Confidential - Popular forum for college admissions advice; geared towards applicants to elite colleges.
• The Common Application- Application form accepted by over 200 colleges and universities in the United States. Free to use, can submit applications online.
• AutoAdmit - Often off-topic law and college admissions advice forum; geared towards elite applicants.