Niche Direct Admissions® Named One Of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2024

Best Inventions list features Niche as one of 200 extraordinary innovations changing our lives

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Niche Direct Admissions^® has been selected as one of TIME’s 2024 Best Inventions, an annual list that celebrates the most groundbreaking innovations in the world.

The list, released today, showcases 200 products, software and services (and 50 special mention inventions) that are making the world better and smarter — “changing how we live, work, play, and think about what’s possible,” said TIME’s editors.

A winner in the Education category for elevating how we learn, the Niche Direct Admissions program is revolutionizing the college admissions landscape by modernizing the way students and families choose their best-fit colleges, and how institutions build their future classes. With Niche Direct Admissions, colleges come to students by sending them real-time acceptance and upfront scholarship offers based solely on a student’s online profile with Niche.

“Students simply complete a free profile (with details like grade point average) and colleges come to them—automatically offering admissions and even scholarships via the platform,” wrote TIME.

This prestigious award reflects the strength of Niche’s vision, impact and people, said Niche CEO and Founder Luke Skurman.

“This is a real testament to our exceptional team that I’m very honored to lead,” said Skurman. “We are transforming the college admissions process from one that is complex, time-consuming and intimidating into a student-first experience that is frictionless, inclusive, transparent and free. Over 580,000 students already have acceptance and scholarship offers for next fall thanks to Niche Direct Admissions. We’re really proud to be providing so many young people and their families with well-deserved peace of mind.”

Niche Direct Admissions allows institutions to set their own unique acceptance criteria, like GPA and intended major. In real time, students see if they’ve been accepted, receive a scholarship offer, access detailed information about the institution and have the option to initiate the enrollment process — all within their Niche account.

For institutions, Niche Direct Admissions helps navigate a rapidly changing industry, while providing a new source of enrollment and tuition that seamlessly complements existing strategies. In the 2023-24 cycle, Niche Direct Admissions generated nearly $100 million in estimated first-year net tuition, averaging 10% of partner institutions’ total deposits, with some reaching as high as 30%.

Nearly 130 institutions across 38 states have committed to offering Niche Direct Admissions for the 2024-25 cycle, with dozens more expected to join soon. Students and families can review the institutions that have already been added to the program here. New institutions are added on a rolling basis.

“A huge thank you to each of our incredible direct admissions partners,” said Skurman. “These forward-thinking institutions are helping pave a new path to higher education in a way that benefits all parties.”

The TIME 2024 Best Inventions are evaluated based on key factors such as originality, efficacy, ambition and impact. You can read more about Niche’s selection at TIME.com or in the upcoming print issue of TIME.

Higher education institutions seeking more information on how to accelerate and increase enrollment by meeting students where they are should visit niche.com/about/partners/direct-admissions.

ABOUT NICHE:

Niche is changing how colleges connect with students and build their future classes. As the trusted partner to hundreds of colleges, Niche is helping higher education institutions across the country streamline operations, forge genuine connections with students and achieve their enrollment targets. Our nationally recognized Niche Direct Admissions^® program enables colleges to proactively accept qualified students based on their Niche Profile alone. Through real-time acceptance and scholarship opportunities, Niche Direct Admissions offers a modern experience for today’s students, resulting in more enrollments for college admissions teams. Learn more about how over 125 institutions are already leveraging Niche Direct Admissions.

Press contact:
Nick Liberati

Director, PR

[email protected]

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