Harvard Applications Drop After Unprecedented Year of Crisis

Applications to Harvard College fell by about 5 percent this year, a small decline that comes after a tumultuous year at the school marked by the dramatic downfall of its president and a Supreme Court defeat.

Some 54,008 students applied to be in Harvard’s class of 2028, the college said, down from 56,937 last year. The 3.59 percent acceptance rate was the highest the college has recorded in four years, according to The Harvard Crimson. It comes amid intense scrutiny around the college’s handling of antisemitism allegations on campus in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in Israel.

The decline in applications to the U.S.’ richest university came even as other elite schools saw their applications increase. Dartmouth and Yale enjoyed record application rates, both increasing their tallies by around 10 percent from last year, according to The New York Times. Columbia University, which also came under pressure over student protests, saw its applicant numbers increase by about 5 percent, while the University of Pennsylvania, M.I.T., and the University of Virginia increased their applicant pools.

Read more at The Daily Beast.