For high school seniors around the country, fall is the season of drafting essays, requesting recommendation letters and constantly tracking deadlines. The experience of applying to college in 2025 carries added nuance. Recent changes to diversity, equity and inclusion policies across the United States have raised questions about how colleges consider identity in admissions and how campuses preserve support systems for students.

These national shifts are being felt within school communities, and impacts both educators who help build inclusive spaces and students applying to represent their backgrounds on college campuses.

Honors chemistry teacher Jeremy Horner has seen the lasting influence that supportive communities can have. For about 10 years, Horner served as sponsor of the Gay Straight Alliance, a student organization focused on creating visibility and safe spaces for LGBTQ+ students.

Horner said he stepped into the role because students needed an opportunity to “build community,” particularly those seeking peers who understood their identities. When the previous sponsor stepped down, he said the club’s mission was too important to lose.

“It gives a common space for those students to find and talk about issues that are important to them,” Horner said. He noted research suggesting that clubs addressing identity and diversity benefit the broader school by increasing visibility for marginalized groups. That visibility, he said, is often “a first step” toward ensuring all students feel seen.

He views these groups as early components of a larger national movement toward inclusion in schools, which expanded beginning in the 1990s. Although much of the dialogue within these clubs happens outside the public eye, Horner believes their presence communicates that every student has a place.

However, he acknowledges the current environment has shifted. DEI-protected spaces in schools and colleges nationwide face new legal and political challenges.

“There is a lot of uncertainty, and I would even say, in some spaces, some fear,” he said.

That uncertainty extends into the college search process for many students. Senior Bhavana Rupakala is applying to universities as an international student. She said the process already requires extensive research, financial planning and logistical coordination. Higher application fees are common. So is navigating visa requirements and financial documentation.

“There is always extra research that you need to do,” Rupakala said. “You never really know what is going to happen.”

Rupakala has also been paying attention to how universities respond to changing state and federal restrictions on DEI initiatives. She said she removed several institutions from her college list after learning they were implementing what she described as “strict anti-DEI policies.”

“I do not want to risk changing policies again and something happening to me,” she said.

Despite concerns, Rupakala believes colleges still seek students with a wide range of backgrounds. Many essay prompts she has encountered focus on how applicants would contribute to campus communities.

“A lot of the prompts look for what would you contribute, and what is different about you,” she said. She said that although admissions offices may still value diverse experiences, administrators sometimes face pressure from outside forces.

The process has required her to reflect on how she presents her own story. Rupakala said she revised her personal statement several times before finding a version that felt true to her.

Argentinian junior Catalina Ufor shares the belief that diversity strengthens educational environments. She said a college community benefits when students bring perspectives shaped by different cultures and experiences.

“Having people from different backgrounds enriches the environment and culture of a college,” Ufor said. She believes a broad spectrum of viewpoints helps foster creativity, expression and collaboration.

Ufor moved to the United States from Argentina, and she said that transition demonstrates a dimension of diversity colleges should value. The change built adaptability and open-mindedness, she said, qualities she hopes will allow her to contribute new ideas to her future campus.

“By coming from a different culture I can bring new perspectives and ideas to the people around me,” Ufor said.

Both Ufor and Rupakala said the application process has encouraged them to consider not only where they hope to study, but whether their identities will be supported in that environment.

Educators like Horner hope that inclusive communities remain central in education regardless of changing state or national directives.

Milestones such as acceptance letters still offer excitement each spring. Yet in the background, students and staff continue navigating a shifting national conversation. For many applicants, the pursuit of a degree is now intertwined with another pursuit: confidence that who they are will be respected when they arrive on campus.