The number of students applying to attend BYU jumped to nearly 13,500 for the 2024-25 school year, the university announced Friday on its website.
That represents a 15% increase in applicants over the past two years.
BYU received:
- 11,709 applications for the 2022-23 school year, university spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said.
- 12,976 applications for the 2023-24 spring, summer and fall semesters, up about 11% from the year before.
- Nearly 13,500 applications for this year’s terms, up another 4%.
BYU did not offer a reason for the increase in its announcement.
“Students and their families want to gather in a place that deepens faith,” Elder Clark G. Gilbert said in a post on X announcing the increase.
Elder Gilbert is a General Authority Seventy and the Commissioner of Church Education for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which sponsors BYU.
He has recently said the church’s governance of the university provides critical protections for a modern religious university.
BYU’s fall semester enrollment grew 2.4% at the same time that enrollment grew at the other church colleges and universities. Elder Gilbert said in November those numbers show that, “Counter to the narrative sometimes heard that young people are leaving their faith, the numbers actually show that youth and youth adults in the Church Educational System are flocking to their faith.”
The new data about BYU applications does not represent a school record, but it does mean BYU will welcome one of its largest freshman classes in the fall. Applicants will be notified whether they were accepted at BYU in mid-February.
The university’s announcement also said the latest number marks the most applications the school has had since it expanded its application requirements six years ago. BYU moved to a new rigorous, holistic application process in 2018.
The school’s website said the holistic review is “an attempt to identify students who have demonstrated alignment with our mission.”
The application process includes a review of a student’s academic record, essays, activities, recommendations and participation in the church’s Seminary and Institute programs.
Most applicants are not required to submit an ACT or SAT score, but students can submit them for consideration if they desire.
To learn more about what the school is looking for in applications, visit enrollment.byu.edu.
