Arlington’s graduating seniors are reaching far beyond Virginia for higher education, applying to twenty of the nation’s most‑visited out‑of‑state colleges and universities, Arlington Magazine reports. The data, supplied by Wakefield High School, Washington‑Liberty High School, Yorktown High School, H‑B Woodlawn Secondary Program, Arlington Tech and the Arlington Career Center, show the schools that attracted the most interest from the APS Class of 2026.
Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA, topped the list with 363 applications and 316 acceptances. The University of Pittsburgh followed with 276 applications and 239 acceptances. Indiana University‑Bloomington recorded 121 applications and 103 acceptances, while the University of Maryland‑College Park saw 118 applications and 49 acceptances.
Other schools with strong Arlington interest included the University of South Carolina‑Columbia (149 applications, 91 acceptances), Clemson University (137 applications, 83 acceptances), and the University of Delaware (142 applications, 115 acceptances). The University of Michigan‑Ann Arbor attracted 136 applications but only 19 acceptances, illustrating the competitive nature of some flagship programs.Tuition and fee figures, taken from US News, highlight the financial range of these choices. The most expensive institutions on the list are Fordham University at $70,474 and New York University at $68,576. The least expensive among the top twenty is the University of South Carolina‑Columbia at $38,498. Enrollment numbers vary widely, from 6,730 students at American University to 42,822 at Pennsylvania State University.
School officials caution that the acceptance data are self‑reported by students and cannot be independently verified, but the figures still provide a clear picture of Arlington’s college‑going ambitions. The breadth of applications—from large public research universities to private schools—reflects a community eager to pursue diverse academic pathways.
Families and students will continue to track admission decisions and financial‑aid offers as the spring semester approaches, shaping the next wave of Arlington’s college‑bound cohort.
Sources: arlingtonmagazine.com
