World-renowned Harvard University was founded in 1636 and is currently ranked #3 in National Universities by the 2024 U.S. News and World Report. Around 6,700 undergraduate students attend classes at Harvard’s urban location in Cambridge, MA, where 97% of students will live on-campus for all four years.
HARVARD ACCEPTANCE RATE: HIGHEST IN FOUR YEARS AS APPLICATION NUMBERS FALL
Harvard accepted 3.59% of Regular Decision applicants to its Class of 2028, or 1,245 students. They will join the 692 applicants accepted during the Early Action cycle.
Harvard’s early acceptance rate increased by more than 1% from last year, with 8.74% of applicants admitted to the Class of 2028 from a pool of 7,921.
This year, Harvard received a total of 54,008 applications, a 5.14% decrease from last year. In an even more stark decline, applications to Harvard in the Early Action round fell by 17% this fall.
Decisions for transfer students have not yet been released and waitlist decisions will be released once admitted students accept or decline their offers.
HARVARD REVERSES COURSE ON TESTING REQUIREMENT
Despite Harvard’s previous commitment to remaining test-optional through the Class of 2030, the college announced on April 11 it would require students applying for fall 2025 admission to submit either an SAT or ACT score.
Other Ivy League institutions, including Dartmouth College, Yale University, and Brown University, announced recently they would require standardized test scores again, effective for the Class of 2029.
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Harvard will accept alternative forms of testing, such as AP exam results, only in exceptional circumstances.
“Standardized tests are a means for all students, regardless of their background and life experience, to provide information that is predictive of success in college and beyond,” Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Hopi Hoekstra, said. “Indeed, when students have the option of not submitting their test scores, they may choose to withhold information that, when interpreted by the admissions committee in the context of the local norms of their school, could have potentially helped their application. In short, more information, especially such strongly predictive information, is valuable for identifying talent from across the socioeconomic range.”
Harvard added that “the majority of undergraduates” entering Harvard in the past four years have submitted standardized test scores.
Top Tier Admissions Senior Private Counselor and Harvard alum, Nellie Brennan Hall weighs in:
This is very late in the game for Harvard to reinstate a testing requirement for the upcoming admissions cycle, as many juniors may have already planned to apply test optional. I imagine we will see a rise in students signing up for additional ACT and SAT tests to boost scores. It has always been challenging for students to find open test sites in the summer, so this could actually create an equity issue for those who are unable to access the test on such short notice. I imagine application numbers will continue to fall, though this may be intentional, as the COVID balloon in applications at highly selective schools was mainly due to students who may have been out of range with testing, deciding to submit applications test-optional.
CLASS OF 2028 FAST FACTS
The 2028 admissions cycle is the first since affirmative action was ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. Harvard has decided to withhold race and ethnicity information until the incoming class is finalized.
More than 15% of admitted students are international. In fact, international students represented nearly 17% of Harvard’s early admits this year, a significant jump from 14.1% in the Class of 2027 and 12.6% in the Class of 2026.
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Meanwhile, more than 20% of admitted students are the first in their family to attend university, with a similar percentage being Pell Grant recipients.
For the seventh year in a row, women make up a slight majority of Harvard’s admitted class.
TTA Takeaway: Applicants to the Harvard Class of 2029 have six opportunities left to take the ACT and the SAT before Harvard’s regular decision application deadline on Jan. 1 — and even fewer if students are looking to take advantage of its early action deadline of Nov. 1. Students who had counted on a test-optional policy through the next two admissions cycles should familiarize themselves with the new digital SAT and other standardized testing changes. Don’t waste any time in preparing for these exams, our expert SAT & ACT tutors have proven results and are ready to help get you up to speed.
At Top Tier Admissions, we are committed to making the college admissions process more transparent. Easy access to clear data helps families understand trends in college admissions to make more informed decisions. We’re collecting acceptance rate data at selective schools and providing insight and analysis of our own. For historical data, see our collection of Ivy League and Top College Acceptance Rates and Admissions Statistics, including the Class of 2028 Ivy League admissions data and admissions stats for a range of additional selective schools.
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Want To Read More About Harvard?
- Harvard: 2028 Early Acceptance Rate
- Harvard’s Supplemental Essays
- The Harvard Ready Quiz
- Harvard Acceptance Rate: How to Get Into Harvard
- The End of Affirmative Action and the Future of College Admissions
- How to Get Into Harvard Business School
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- Dartmouth: Class of 2028 Acceptance Rate - May 3, 2024
- Columbia University: Class of 2028 Acceptance Rate - April 26, 2024
- Brown University: Class of 2028 Acceptance Rate - April 19, 2024
