Harvard’s Asian American enrollment surges in 2nd year after affirmative action ban

Harvard College’s Asian American enrollment has climbed to 41% in the Class of 2029, an 11-percentage-point jump since the Supreme Court banned race-conscious admissions in 2023.

By the numbers: The Class of 2029’s Asian American share is a notable increase from 37% in last year’s incoming class and 29.9% in the Class of 2027, which was admitted before the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard ruling took effect in June 2023. Meanwhile, Black student enrollment dropped to 11.5% from 14%, and Hispanic enrollment fell more sharply to 11% from 16%, marking the steepest decline among racial groups.

The demographic shifts come as Harvard required standardized test scores for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The university received 47,893 applications, down from 54,008 the previous year, after reinstating the testing mandate following a five-year suspension. It admitted 2,003 students, pushing the acceptance rate to 4.18%, the highest since 2020. Yet total applications still exceed the Class of 2023 applicant pool by 10%, suggesting the policy shift may have had less impact than some predicted.

International students, meanwhile, account for 15% of incoming freshmen. This held steady despite the Trump administration’s efforts this past spring and summer to restrict their enrollment, including revoking Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification, a move later blocked in federal court.

Behind the scenes: The enrollment shift unfolds as Asian American communities remain divided over affirmative action. In its legal challenge, SFFA accused Harvard of systematically disadvantaging high-achieving Asian applicants through preferences for underrepresented minorities. Whether the new data validates the group’s core claims cannot be immediately ascertained, but they spark renewed debate over whether increased Asian representation signals genuine progress or simply transfers opportunities from one minority group to another in a zero-sum competition for limited seats.

Transparency concerns have also grown. Harvard delayed its demographic release until fall, the federal reporting deadline, while switching to a calculation method that counts students selecting multiple races across each category rather than as a separate group. This makes it harder to track actual compositional shifts year over year. At the same time, the return to mandatory testing raises concerns about barriers for underrepresented students. Harvard justifies the move partly through internal research linking standardized scores to academic success, but administrators maintain that test performance represents just one element in comprehensive applicant reviews.

The big picture: Harvard’s experience mirrors broader national trends at elite institutions. Princeton reported Black enrollment at 5%, the lowest proportion since 1968, while its Asian American population reached 27.1%. An Associated Press analysis of 20 selective colleges found declining Black representation at nearly every campus, with institutions like Caltech and Bates reporting Black students comprise roughly 2% of freshmen.

The data also comes as federal intervention has escalated. In August, the Trump administration mandated comprehensive annual admissions data submissions designed to expose “hidden racial proxies,” while SFFA warned Yale, Princeton and Duke of potential lawsuits over Asian enrollment fluctuations. The pressure appears to be having an effect as fewer than 20 top-tier schools have released enrollment figures compared to more than 30 by this point last year.