Surge In Indian American College Applicants, Overseas Numbers From India Drop

Photo: UC Berkeley

India-West News Desk

WASHINGTON, DC — While international applicant numbers from India plummeted by 15 percent during the 2025–26 admissions cycle, Indian American students surged ahead as one of the fastest-growing domestic applicant demographics in the United States.

According to the Common Application’s end-of-season report released on August 20, the number of Indian American applicants rose six percent to reach a record 40,949 – more than doubling from nearly 18,500 in 2016–17 and outpacing Chinese American applicants, whose numbers grew just one percent to 26,296.

This domestic surge highlights a striking divergence in the admissions landscape: the number of Indian American applicants continues to expand rapidly even as applications from students residing in India experience contraction.

The report revealed that international applicants from India dropped from roughly 16,900 in the previous cycle to 14,424, reversing nearly a decade of continuous growth that had previously positioned India to overtake China as the leading international source country on the platform.

The drop in Indian international students was significantly sharper than the two percent decline recorded for China, which tops the international spot with 18,435 applicants.

In fact, Common App noted that the overall 11 percent fall in Asian international applicants was primarily driven by this 15 percent drop from India.