Janice R. Andrews
Harvard College announced that it had admitted 3.59 percent of applicants to its Class of 2028 in a historic admissions cycle. This is the first admissions cycle since affirmative action practices were reduced, which forbade the consideration of race during the process. It also represents the greatest acceptance rate in four years.
In addition to the 692 students who were already admitted in the early admission cycle in December, the College extended admission offers to 1,245 candidates, increasing the total number of students admitted to 1,937.
William R. Fitzsimmons ’67, dean of admissions and financial aid, expressed pleasure about the admitted class and emphasized how excited Harvard is to have them on campus.
Harvard continues to have a consistent stream of applicants, breaking the 50,000 mark for the fourth year in a row, even though the overall number of applications received was 54,008, a tiny reduction from the year before.
Remarkably, the announcement chose not to disclose the race and ethnicity of the incoming class, delaying enrollment decisions until later in the summer for accepted students.
For those without financial assistance, the cost of tuition for the next academic year is $82,866, an increase of 4.3 percent from the previous year. But the cutoff point for full financial help is still the same as it was in 2023, raising concerns about whether the current response from donors influenced this choice.
Twenty-seven percent of the admitted class are Pell Grant eligible, a small increase from the previous year. Furthermore, more than 20% of admitted students are the first in their family to enroll in college.
With 53.1 percent of the admitted class being female, women continue to make up a modest majority of the class, a pattern that has been seen for seven years.
The Class of 2028 is geographically composed of all 50 states, with Massachusetts having the highest admittance rate, followed by California, New York, and New Jersey. The mix of the selected applications is notably multinational, with over 15 percent coming from 94 different countries, the United Kingdom, China, and Canada being the most represented.
Harvard’s efforts to promote diversity include joining the Small Town Outreach, Recruitment, and Yield collaboration, which seeks to attract candidates from rural areas.
Harvard will continue to admit students without tests starting with the Class of 2028 and up to the Class of 2030.
The deadline for accepted applicants to accept or reject their offers is May 1. Visitas, the annual admissions program, is set to take place on April 14–15 on campus.
