The Admissions Experience
What You’ll Learn:
We analyzed the admissions pages of the top 50 US universities by academic ranking, measuring mobile and desktop performance, accessibility compliance, security posture, and technology stack. The results reveal a consistent and significant gap between institutional prestige and digital experience quality.
Key Findings
- 1 of 49 admissions pages achieved a "good" mobile performance score (90+) by Google's standard
- 48% of sites have detectable WCAG accessibility violations
- 36 of 50 universities received a security grade of D or F
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About This Ebook
Admissions sites are failing prospective students
The admissions page is a university's highest-stakes marketing asset but most are slow, inaccessible, and insecure. Our study reveals a consistent gap between institutional prestige and the digital experience prospective students actually encounter.
Pantheon analyzed admissions pages across five dimensions: performance, accessibility, security, technology stack, and traffic in May 2026. The results expose systemic underinvestment in the digital experience, regardless of ranking, platform, or institutional size.
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