Trinity Announces ED Results for Class of 2026; Applications Rise From Previous Year

Olivia Silvey ’25

News Editor

Trinity College announced Early Decision (ED) results for the Class of 2026 which saw a significant increase in applications compared to previous years. Regular Decision letters were sent out that week as well marking the final stretch in spring admissions.  

Trinity received a total of 6,198 applications for this year’s cycle which is a five-year high for the college. The Tripod previously reported that there were 5,697 applicants for the Class of 2025 which was a drop from 6,121 for the Class of 2023 and 6,112 for the Class of 2022.  

Through two rounds of ED, the College admitted 257 students out of 472 applications for a 54.4% acceptance rate. Last year, the College accepted 235 students out of 438 applications marking a 53.6% acceptance rate. Trinity expects ED enrollments to make up about three percent more of the Class of 2026 than last year’s admitted class. 

Responding to questions regarding the increased number of applications, Director of Admissions Anthony Berry told the Tripod that “It’s not possible to isolate the reasons why more students applied to Trinity this year since every student has their own reason for deciding to apply.” He indicated that the increase in applications for the Class of 2026 could be attributed to factors such as more in-person campus tours being offered, more access to information through virtual events, more in-person college fairs across high schools, and stronger student and parent satisfaction with their Trinity experience.  

Nat Smitobol, a former Assistant Director of Admissions at New York University (NYU) and a current college admissions counselor at IvyWise, attributed the low number of applications that Trinity received during last year’s admissions cycle to the drop in applications from students of less privileged backgrounds. Nat told the Tripod: “The students most profoundly affected by the pandemic did not apply. The easiest way to capture that data is to look at the Common Application data, and how many kids were requesting a fee waiver or how many kids were indicating that they are first generation.” Nat indicated that many of these students returned to the applicant pool this year.

Nat also linked the drop in applications for Trinity’s Class of 2025 to the decision of many colleges and universities to suspend their standardized testing requirements. “Trinity has been test optional for a few years before the pandemic and so they didn’t get quite the same increase as some of the other places that have strict testing profiles and testing requirements.”

Trinity saw an increases in the percentage of first-generation college students (16%), international students (14%), and students from outside New England region (61%).  The percentage of American students of color has remained the same as last year at 21%. 44% of students admitted through ED identify as women and 56% identify as men.  

Berry told the Tripod that 66% of students (167 total) admitted through ED were given some level of financial aid. He also indicated that Trinity named seven Presidential Scholars, seven Davis United World College Scholars, 13 1823 Scholars, and nine Posse Scholars.  

Regarding test-optional applications, Berry informed the Tripod that 82% of ED students did not submit test scores which is a slight decrease from last year’s 88%. Trinity has been test-optional since 2015.