Students from 77 Countries Admitted to Class of 2026

NYU Shanghai made its final round of admissions offers for the Class of 2026 earlier this month, bringing the total number of students invited to join our first year class this fall to 1,335 international and U.S. students. Chinese students are selected from a separate admissions process, with final decisions announced in July, after the gaokao, or China’s national college entrance examinations.   

This year’s admitted international students were selected from a pool of 16,059 international applicants and hail from 76 countries, and 42 U.S. states. Over 26% of the admitted class will be the first in their families to attend college.  

“As the world is still facing the challenges presented by the pandemic, our admitted students overcame enormous challenges with resilience and stand out by showing us a genuine and strong interest to make the world their major,” said Director of Admissions Annie Lu. “They are a diverse and talented group of young people, whom I can see will be great bridge building leaders and changemakers and will make a contribution to a better society in their own way.”

International students, including students from the U.S., will ultimately represent 50 percent of the enrolled Class of 2026, with students from China comprising the other half of the class. This year, 2,507 Chinese students applied to the Class of 2026, an increase of around 12% compared with the previous year.

Chinese nationals who were extended conditional offers or invitations to join a waitlist earlier this month will know their final admission decisions when they receive their gaokao results.

“As a school committed to promoting cosmopolitan values, NYU Shanghai is more important than ever to cultivating the students who will solve the world’s growing challenges,” said Chancellor Tong Shijun. “I’m glad that so many youngsters and their parents agree. Congratulations to the Class of 2026. I hope to meet you all on the new Qiantan campus of NYU Shanghai!”

The NYU Global Network received a record 105,000+ applications for the Class of 2026, a 5% increase over the historic numbers from last year when NYU surpassed 100,000 for the first time.