What is Direct Admissions?

Direct admissions is a form of college admissions that allows colleges to proactively offer acceptance to students they know they would admit. Niche Direct Admissions^® allows high school seniors to be immediately accepted to college with a scholarship based on their Niche Profile.

Yes! Niche has official partnerships with all the colleges listed on our site that have the Niche Direct Admissions icon. Each participating college or university sets its own custom criteria for acceptance and merit scholarships. That means the colleges are offering acceptance, not Niche itself. But don’t take it from us — hear from students who actually went through the program and enrolled at a Niche Direct Admissions college.

Each participating college or university sets its own custom criteria for acceptance and the scholarship it would award. Niche then matches the institution’s criteria with student Niche Profiles, and students who qualify will see the offer of acceptance and scholarship on their dashboard immediately. Before enrolling, a student must take a few final steps, such as verifying their information and/or submitting official transcripts (these steps vary by institution). Once the college confirms the acceptance, the student may submit a deposit and formally enroll.

Niche Direct Admissions is available to high school seniors who are U.S. residents and who have completed their Niche Profile. Students must have their contact preferences set to allow all colleges to contact them to participate in Niche Direct Admissions. To change your preferences, log in and go to Account Settings > College Contact Preferences > “All colleges can connect with me.”

Each participating college has worked with Niche to set their individual criteria, such as GPA, for the type of student that qualifies for direct admission. Based on this process, we use the information in your Niche Profile to match you with colleges that want to accept you. Because each institution has different criteria, you may qualify for acceptance to certain colleges, but not others.

Because acceptance and scholarship offers are based on your Niche Profile, your profile must be accurate and up-to-date. To make edits or updates, visit your profile and click the pencil icon within the section you’d like to make changes to. Remember to save your changes!

All Niche Direct Admissions acceptances that are offered to you will appear on your Niche dashboard, so be sure to check it frequently throughout the year. You will also receive regular email updates containing your offers.

Some institutions will start extending offers as early as mid-August. New institutions join Niche Direct Admissions constantly, so you could continue to receive new offers throughout the school year! Check this page frequently to view all participating institutions, and make sure to add the ones you like to your list to help expedite a potential offer.

Yes! The scholarship you see on your offer is the amount the college is willing to award you per year based on the information you report in your Niche Profile, such as your GPA. You do not have to apply separately to receive the scholarship — it is part of your acceptance offer.

The amount shown is your expected scholarship — it may be adjusted if your GPA has changed or was misreported. You’ll need to verify your self-reported information (such as your GPA) with the college before they can formalize your scholarship.

No. Niche Direct Admissions scholarships are not the same as Niche scholarships. When they join the program, Niche Direct Admissions colleges set criteria for scholarships based on several factors in your Niche Profile, such as GPA. The scholarship shown on your Niche Direct Admissions offer is unique to each college, and would only be provided by the college if you complete their admissions process through the next steps included in your Niche offer and choose to enroll. It is not a scholarship awarded by Niche, like the monthly “no essay” scholarships on the Niche website.

No. Because participating colleges provide the scholarships shown on Niche Direct Admissions offers, you would only receive the scholarship shown on your offer if you enroll at that specific college.

Before you can receive your official acceptance details (including financial aid) and enroll, you’ll need to complete a few final steps with the college. The details for every Niche Direct Admissions acceptance on your dashboard will include a link for next steps. The steps vary by institution, but usually include verifying your information through a form and submitting official or unofficial high school transcripts.

Nope! Completing the next steps for a Niche Direct Admissions college does not mean you are making a binding decision. You should follow those steps for any schools you’re interested in so you can receive your official acceptance details, which will include financial aid information and final steps to enrollment. However, you should only submit an enrollment deposit or decision to the one school you’d like to commit to attending.

If you’ve received an offer of acceptance from a college you’re not interested in, you can remove it from your dashboard by clicking “I’m not interested.” This action is final, so only remove offers you’re 100% certain you will not be pursuing.

For the 2024-25 college application season, all offers from Niche Direct Admissions colleges will be valid until June 2025.

Once you’ve completed the college’s next steps and received your official acceptance details, you will be able to enroll in the institution. Each college’s class registration process will differ, so be sure to ask the admissions office for details.