Harvard applications drop 5% after year of turmoil on the Ivy League campus

Harvard said it received 5% fewer undergraduate applications this year compared with a year earlier, a dip that follows a tumultuous year for the Ivy League school that included the resignation of President Claudine Gay and a backlash over antisemitic incidents on the campus.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based school received 54,008 applications for the class of 2028, according to the Harvard Crimson, the campus newspaper. The undergraduate college at Harvard University accepted 1,245 of those applicants, giving the incoming freshman class an acceptance rate of 3.59% — the highest admission rate in four years, the publication noted.

The decline at Harvard stands in contrast to rising student applications at other Ivy League establishments, with Yale's admission pool jumping 10% and Columbia University reporting an increase of 5.4%. Because of their larger applicant pool, Yale said its 3.7% acceptance rate was its lowest ever, while Columbia's admission rate narrowed to 3.85% from 3.9% a year ago.