Clemson received a record number of freshman applications. They’ve tripled since 2014

Clemson University says it received an unprecedented 57,988 freshman applications for the 2023 fall semester.

Prospective Tigers were notified of their admission to the university by early March. Of the applicants, approximately 36% — or about 21,000 potential students — were granted a spot at the school.

Interest in Clemson has grown by leaps and bounds. It’s had a consistent upward trend in the last 10 to 12 years, said David Kuskowski, Clemson’s associate vice president of enrollment management, but the last several years have been particularly significant.

“It’s really accelerated,” Kuskowski said.

Clemson had a slight dip in applications for the fall of 2020, but the rebound was paramount.

“When COVID hit in 2020, that really shook the higher (education) market around the country, but the impacts were not felt equally everywhere,” Kuskowski said.

In a time when many colleges saw a decline in applications, Kuskowski said, larger public land-grant institutions came through strong.

In a year, the university went from 28,600 applications for the fall of 2020 to 47,007 applications for the fall of 2021, according to Clemson’s Office of Institutional Research.

In fact, this year’s nearly 60,000 applications is almost triple the 20,757 received in 2014.

Kuskowski said Clemson’s academic reputation, postgraduate preparation and high retention rates and graduation rates are a draw.

“Across the country students are seeing it as a place where students are super successful ... and also have this incredible experience outside of the classroom,” Kuskowski said.

But the thing Clemson applicants really note is the sense of family and community on campus, Kuskowski said.

“I think Clemson is one of those special places,” Kuskowski said.

Clemson sees a lot of out-of-state growth, he said, but every year there’s also an increase in South Carolina residents applying and enrolling.

Will this kind of interest in Clemson continue to climb? Kuskowski said its hard to predict, though he expects it to stabilize.

University spokesman Alex Brooks said they expect around 4,500 admitted student to accept their spot at Clemson.

The University of South Carolina also saw an application record of more than 46,000.