Harvard College admission rate falls to 5.8 percent

Admissions rate edges down slightly—in Cambridge and throughout the Ivy League.

Harvard College announced Thursday that offers of admission to the class of 2017 had been sent to 2,029 students, 5.8 percent of the applicant pool of 35,023. During the prior admissions cycle, 2,032 prospective freshmen were offered places in the class of 2016—5.9 percent of 34,302 applicants.

The figures for both years reflect the resumption of early-action applications and admissions; because those applicants are considered highly likely to attend if admitted, the “yield” on offers of admission has risen compared to prior years, and so the number of offers has been decreased to assure that the freshman class is not over-enrolled.

For the class of 2017, some 895 early-action applicants were offered admission last December; 4,856 students filed early applications. (For the prior year, 774 of 4,228 early applicants were offered admission.) That means that the admission rate for applicants following the regular, spring calendar has fallen below 4 percent.

As The New York Times and Bloomberg reported, admissions rates almost universally headed in the same direction: downward. Columbia and Yale admitted less than 7 percent of applicants, and Princeton neared that threshold.

Read the College news announcement here.

You might also like

‘Passengers’ at A.R.T. Blends Acrobatics with Einstein’s Relativity

Review: Quantum mechanics meets circus arts at the American Repertory Theater’s performance

Harvard Research Funding Cuts Are Illegal, Judge Rules

The Trump administration violated the University’s First Amendment rights and must restore all funding, the court said.

In Sermon, Garber Urges Harvard Community to ‘Defend and Protect’ Institutions

Harvard’s president uses traditional Memorial Church address to encourage divergent views.

Most popular

Harvard art historian Jennifer Roberts teaches the value of immersive attention

Teaching students the value of deceleration and immersive attention

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Jodie Foster Honored at Radcliffe Day 2025

The actress and director discussed her film career and her transformative time at Yale.

Explore More From Current Issue

Man, standing in small group of people outside the courthouse, holding a sign that reads "HANDS OFF HARVARD" in red letters

Harvard’s Summer in Court

What Columbia’s settlement means for the University

Two people moving large abstract painting with blue V-shaped design in museum courtyard.

A Harvard Art Museums Painting Gets a Bath

Water and sunlight help restore a modern American classic.

Student walking under bright stage lights shaped like smartphones displaying social media apps.

Two Years of Doxxing at Harvard

What happens when students are publicly named and shamed for their views?