Harvard’s early admission applications have slid to a four-year low as the elite university continues to face backlash for its administration’s unwillingness to condemn antisemitism on campus — while its rivals see gains.
The Ivy League school saw a 17% drop in applications from students applying through early admission, with just 7,921 high school seniors seeking to secure their spot, compared to the 9,553 that did so last year, according to figures released by the university.
That is the smallest figure since the pandemic began, but still exceeds the number of early applications submitted each year from 2017 through 2019.
Its competitors, meanwhile, saw increases in the number of students seeking early admissions.
Yale University counted 7,856 early applications this year — a 1.4% increase from last year and the second-highest number in the school’s history, it announced Friday.
The University of Pennsylvania, which has also come under fire after its former president failed to assert that calls for genocide of Jews constituted harassment under its code of conduct, saw 500 more applications than just one year prior, Bloomberg reports.
Early admissions applications were due on Nov. 1 — one month before Harvard President Claudine Gay and ousted University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill’s disastrous congressional testimony.
But at that point, Harvard had already been facing more than three weeks of turmoil after more than 30 student groups signed a letter claiming Israel was “entirely responsible” for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish nation.
The university also faced criticism as leaders waited to issue a statement condemning the attack and antisemitism on campus, with more than 1,600 alumni threatening to halt donations to the school.
Matters only became worse when Gay claimed students have a right to free speech as they called for the genocide of Jewish people during pro-Palestine rallies on campus.
Aly Beaumont, owner of college coaching service Admissions Village, said she had two top students drop Harvard from their applications list due to its response to this antisemitism, she told CNN.
Bob Sweeney, a retired college counselor at Mamaroneck High School, also said the incidents of antisemitism may have contributed to the decline in early admission applications at the school.
“That’s possibly one of several reasons, about the concern of safety on the campus,” he told Bloomberg, though he noted: “There may be other factors as well as students are being more realistic about their expectations and chances for acceptance.”
This year’s early admissions deadline also marked the university’s first since the Supreme Court struck down its affirmative action practices.
It is unclear what effect the high court’s decision may have had on the number of applicants, but in an announcement Thursday, university officials declined for the first time to include information about the racial and ethnic identities of the 692 students they decided to accept.
They said only that of the students granted early admission, 15.5% came from “first generation college backgrounds” and nearly 21% received a waiver of the $85 application fee due to financial hardship.
Additionally, they noted that more than 22% of the students live in New England, almost 2% reside in the mid-Atlantic and more than 17% are from western states.
Nearly 17% are foreign students.
“We continue to attract applications from a diverse range of secondary schools and communities around the world,” Harvard Director of Admissions Joy St. John said in a statement.
William Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid, also said he was excited about the students they accepted.
“It’s exciting to see that so many of the nation’s and the world’s most promising students have been admitted early to the Class of 2028,” he said.
“Their extraordinary range of talent and many contributions to their communities will add immeasurably to Harvard over the next four years and beyond.”
Students who have received admission offers are not required to accept and have until May 1 to decide.
