At NACAC 2025, one thing was clear: the landscape of readiness and enrollment is evolving. Policies are shifting, students are exploring earlier, and college and career readiness now goes beyond grades — encompassing real-world skills, experiences, and tangible evidence of impact.

High schoolers want personalized guidance, meaningful opportunities, and experiences that align with their interests and aspirations — all while lingering questions about the value of higher education remain in families’ minds. At the same time, colleges are recalibrating admissions strategies, student engagement, and enrollment planning.

Here are seven key takeaways from NACAC 2025 — practical insights for K–12 counselors and higher ed leaders that can truly move the needle.

🏫 K–12 Trends: Preparing Students for College and Career

K–12: Test-Optional Is Being Recalibrated — Portfolios Are Filling the Gap

Test-optional isn’t going away, but admissions teams are increasingly looking for authentic, holistic evidence of readiness — especially for students without scores. Portfolios showcasing leadership, service, research, competitions, and micro-credentials are emerging as high-impact “brag sheets.” They reveal a student’s skills, thinking, and initiative in ways a transcript or test score alone cannot.

• Counselors: Guide students to curate 3–6 “greatest hits” artifacts with brief reflections connecting each piece to academic and career goals.
• Colleges: Invite portfolios and evaluate them using program-specific rubrics to understand fit and potential — creating a fuller story of long-term student success.

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K–12: Career Readiness Is a High School Story — Make Skills Visible Through Experiences

High school experiences like internships, volunteering, micro-internships, and passion projects give students clarity about potential majors and career paths— long before they start college. These experiences also produce tangible artifacts that strengthen applications and demonstrate readiness.

• Counselors: Encourage students to take on internships, short-term work, or volunteer experiences. Have them document outcomes and reflect on what they learned.
• Colleges: Invite applicants to showcase skill evidence in portfolios — design projects, code repositories, or business plans. Early alignment with student capabilities supports stronger retention and graduation outcomes, creating a win-win.

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K–12: Personalized Guidance & Portfolio Reuse — Brag Sheet as a Compass

Gen-Z and Alpha students respond best to guidance that is relevant, personal, and actionable. The same portfolio or “brag sheet” used for college applications can also serve as a roadmap for high school — guiding internship choices, enrichment programs, mentorship, and career exploration.

• Counselors: Encourage students to treat their portfolio as a living tool for both high school guidance and college prep. Use it to match students with internships, enrichment programs, and mentorship opportunities that align with their interests, skills, and aspirations.
• Colleges: Highlight how portfolios can showcase student fit for programs and scholarships, supporting personalized engagement early and fostering stronger intent.

These high school experiences—portfolios, internships, and personalized guidance—don’t just prepare students for graduation; they also lay the groundwork for successful college applications and meaningful engagement with higher education.

🎓 Higher Ed Trends: Navigating Enrollment and Engagement

Higher Ed: Modest Enrollment Gains Mask Structural Risk

Many colleges celebrated record incoming classes in 2025. It’s a welcome headline, but it can also give a false sense of security. Institutional consolidations, closures, and tuition discounting mean that even a strong year may mask structural challenges.

Headwinds such as the enrollment cliff, student loan policy shifts, immigration rules affecting international enrollment, and ongoing skepticism about the ROI of higher education remain significant. Long-term enrollment health requires looking beyond headcount to revenue, program sustainability, and student outcomes.

• Colleges: Monitor discount rates, and net revenue too. Evaluate institutional health beyond just class size.
• Counselors: Advise families to consider institutional stability, financial health, and degree completion pathways early in the search.

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Higher Ed: International Enrollment Is Softening — Overdrive Domestic Pipeline

Many campuses reported flat or declining international enrollment in 2025, with overall numbers down roughly 15% compared with last year. Visa backlogs, geopolitical uncertainty, and tighter work pathways have contributed to a soft market (read our previous article on Impacts of H1B Fee Hike on College Enrollment). Relying on few international sources is no longer enough — a robust domestic strategy is essential.

• Colleges: Diversify international recruitment beyond a few dominant countries and double down on domestic pipelines. Focus on micro-segmentation, early opt-in engagement, and personalized outreach to attract Gen-Z and Alpha students.
• Counselors: Highlight institutions that combine experiential learning with realistic career outcomes for international students — without over-promising post-study work opportunities.

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Higher Ed: Earlier, In-Context Engagement Wins

One theme echoed in hallway conversations: the colleges that win are the ones “students grow up hearing about”. Students explore internships, part time jobs, scholarships, and various majors long before they create a formal college list.

Engaging students in these early moments builds familiarity, trust, and a deeper understanding of your programs. It shifts the relationship from transactional (“apply now”) to relational (“we understand who you are and what you want”). Early engagement helps students understand programs, fit, and outcomes — laying the foundation for stronger yield and long-term success.

• Colleges: Place program stories, events, and RFIs inside the student journey when they are actively exploring options — not just on your website. Use personalized, context-driven outreach to nurture interest early.
• Counselors: Direct students to platforms and experiences that allow them to discover colleges organically, explore programs, and showcase their work or skills.

Higher Ed & K–12: Direct-Admit at Scale Creates Noise — Focus on Intentional Engagement

The direct-admit movement promised frictionless access, but at scale, it’s creating new headaches. Students are flooded with multiple, indistinguishable offers, leading to choice paralysis and diluting perceived program value. Yields often remain uncertain because many “admits” were never true prospects.

What’s working better: brand-ambassador style presence where students engage in context – exploring internships, scholarships, and programs. When a college shows up in-context with program stories, outcomes, and next-step nudges, the signal cuts through the noise, and interest is earned through opt-in engagement, not assumed by default.

• Colleges: Shift focus from mass direct-admit campaigns to targeted, in-platform, opt-in discovery. Use tight RFIs and next-step nudges to cultivate genuine interest and improve yield quality.
• Counselors: Help students weigh fit and outcomes thoughtfully, rather than counting offers. Guide them to consider where they can thrive academically and personally.

🤖 Shared Trend: AI Is Useful — But Only with Guardrails

AI is increasingly supporting communications, triage, and content review in both K–12 and higher education settings. But over-automation can backfire: generic responses, opaque scoring, and privacy gaps quickly erode trust. Effective teams combine AI with human oversight, clear disclosures, and robust checks for bias or errors.

• Colleges: Keep humans in the loop for admissions, aid, and communications. Audit AI for bias and hallucinations, and accuracy. Be transparent about AI use and never compromise consent for speed.
• Counselors: Use AI to scale reminders, resources, and research support — but maintain personal relationships. Keep sensitive student data off experimental tools.
• Students & Families: Expect faster answers, but verify important information and manage your consent settings carefully.

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✍️ Final Thoughts

As NACAC 2025 highlighted, the landscape of college and career readiness is evolving rapidly. Holistic evidence, authentic engagement, and early, personalized relationships are shaping the future of college admissions and career readiness.

Students thrive when their skills and achievements are visible; colleges succeed when they engage authentically and strategically. Portfolios, internships, and personalized guidance are no longer optional — they are the foundation for readiness and success outcomes for both students and colleges.

By emphasizing intentional engagement and thoughtful use of technology, counselors and higher education leaders can guide students more effectively and build stronger, lasting connections.

Institutions and advisors who adapt thoughtfully — balancing innovation with human insight — will be best positioned to help students succeed and flourish in the years ahead.

About Cirkled In:
Cirkled In helps colleges and universities engage and recruit students more effectively by providing access to high-quality prospect data, targeted hand-raiser inquiries, and actionable insights into student interests and pathways. Our platform supports enrollment leaders in building diverse and robust pipelines, connecting with students both domestically and internationally, and optimizing recruitment strategies for today’s competitive higher education landscape.