How many people are in Harvard 2024?

Outside of “Encourage your ultra-wealthy parents to donate a building” or “Be a heavily-recruited athlete who also happens to have an SAT score in the 99th percentile,” there is no meaningful succinct nugget of wisdom that is going to unlock the gates to Harvard Yard. Every successful Harvard applicant possesses a sparking transcript, perfect or near-perfect standardized test scores, and prodigious talents that extend outside of the classroom. Unfortunately, these attributes are necessary but often not sufficient, as Harvard rejects valedictorians every single day of the admissions cycle. However, your quest to get into Harvard can be greatly enhanced from better understanding their admissions standards and how their decision-making process works.

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• Harvard: REA Acceptance Rate – Class of 2026
• Harvard Acceptance Rate – Class of 2026
• Harvard Admissions – SAT, ACT, GPA, and Class Rank
• Admissions Trends & Notes 
• Being “Well-Rounded” is Not Enough  
• How Harvard Rates Applicants
• Who Actually Gets Into Harvard?
• Most People Who Get Accepted Choose to Attend
• Tips for Applying to Harvard
• Should I Apply to Harvard?
• How many students applied to Harvard 2024?
• Is Harvard requiring SAT 2024?
• How hard is it to get into HLS?
• How many people get off Harvard waitlist?

The intent of this article is to give those considering applying to Harvard University a full understanding of the following topics:

• Harvard’s Class of 2026 Restrictive Early Action acceptance rate
• Harvard’s Class of 2026 overall acceptance rate
• SAT, ACT, GPA, and class rank of accepted Harvard applicants
• Admissions trends
• Why being “well-rounded” won’t help you get into Harvard.
• Harvard’s system for rating applicants
• A look at the demographics of Harvard undergraduates
• The percent of accepted students that attend the university
• Tips for applying to Harvard
• Harvard essay prompts and tips
• How to assess whether applying to Harvard is even worth the $75 application fee (for you)

Many students applying to Harvard may also find the following blogs to be of interest:

How to Get Into:

• Columbia University
• Stanford University
• MIT

Let’s begin with an examination of the most recent admissions data.

Harvard: REA Acceptance Rate – Class of 2026

Those applying Restrictive Early Action to the Crimson Class of 2026 were accepted at a 7.9% clip. There were 9,406 early applicants and 740 were admitted. Looking at the Class of 2025 REA numbers, out of 10,086 REA applications to join the 2021-22 freshman class, only 747 individuals (7.4%) were admitted. While 8,023 of those applicants were deferred to the regular cycle, 924 did receive an outright rejection.

Harvard Acceptance Rate – Class of 2026

Out of an all-time record 61,220 applicants, a mere 1,954 of Class of 2026 hopefuls were admitted. This translates to a stunningly low (even by Harvard’s standards) 3.19% acceptance rate. This is similar to the 3.43% rate for the Class of 2025. For contrast, there were 40,248 applications submitted for a place in the 2020-21 freshman class; just 1,980 were accepted. This equates to a 4.9% acceptance rate.

Harvard Admissions – SAT, ACT, GPA, and Class Rank

According to the most recent official statistics available (Class of 2024), the mid-50% SAT range for admitted freshman was 710-770 on the EBRW section and 750-800 on the math section; on the ACT the range was 33-35. Ninety-three percent had earned a place in the top 10% of their graduating high school class and the average GPA was 4.18. Just shy of 93% of successful applicants possessed an unweighted GPA of 3.75 or higher.

The university was test-optional when selecting the Class of 2026. Harvard will remain test-optional for Class of 2027, Class of 2028, and Class of 2029 applicants.

Admissions Trends & Notes 

• Applications jumped 7% for the Class of 2026.
• The average SAT for a recruited athlete was 1397. The non-athlete average was 1501.
• Legacy students actually had a higher average SAT (1523) than non-legacies (1491).
• 20.5% of 2026 admits were Pell Grant-eligible.
• 20.3% of those admitted into the 2022-23 freshman class are first-generation students.
• Admitted students hail from all 50 States in the U.S. and 98 countries.
• The regular decision round acceptance rate was approximately 2.3%.

Being “Well-Rounded” is Not Enough  

Being a so-called Renaissance man (or woman) was impressive in the 16th century. The local genius might be the very best person in their village at painting, writing, conducting scientific experiments, jousting, and playing the lute. However, in a technologically modern and globalized world, you don’t need to rely on the neighborhood genius when you have a hankering for some lovely lute music. Instead, you can listen to the very best lutenists in the world on Spotify whenever you like.

What does this have to do with Harvard admissions? Simple: Harvard is looking for young people who are among the best, or, have the potential to be among the very best at something in the world. They are less interested in a jack of all trades, master of none type of individual. Just look at the list of notable Crimson alumni and you’ll get a sense of what the university is looking for: the next generation of politicians, award-winning writers, scientists, intellectuals, actors and actresses, musicians, and tech geniuses whose inventions will literally change the world in which we live.

For advice about how to stand out on the extracurricular front, check out our previous blog entitled How Many Extracurricular Activities Do I Need for College?

How Harvard Rates Applicants

Like a jeweler sifting through piles of perfect diamonds trying to find the “most perfect” of the bunch, Harvard admissions officers need a way to categorize differing levels of excellence. As such, they assign a rating of 1-4 (or 1-6, according to some), with 1 being the top rating in four areas: 1) academic, 2) extracurricular, 3) athletics, and 4) personal. Pluses and minuses can be added on to the numeric rating for further distinction.

This gives us pretty good insight into how Harvard goes about sifting through its hordes of over-qualified applicants.

In order to project your chances at admission, try to accurately assess yourself in these four areas and remember our previous comments about Renaissance men/women. You aren’t going to earn a 1 or a 2 in athletics for playing a year of JV Volleyball in high school. Someone high in that category is being actively recruited by the coach of one of Harvard’s 42 Division I sports teams. Likewise for extracurriculars—Harvard is not going to be impressed that you filled the ten spaces on the Common App Activity List; they are looking for genuine excellence in one or more activities. For example, you won a prestigious international math competition or you are one of the top cellists in the United States. Perhaps you published original scientific research or started a charitable organization that made a monumental impact.

Who Actually Gets Into Harvard?

Let’s look at the demographics of the Class of 2025.

Geographically, the Class of 2025 was comprised of students from:

• International: 15.6%
• Mid-Atlantic States: 20.7%
• Southern States: 18.3%
• Pacific States: 13.2%
• Central States: 1.8%
• Midwestern States: 9.9%
• New England States: 16.6%
• Mountain States: 3.4%

Competition is stiffest among those hailing from states with endless streams of qualified applicants (the entire Northeast & the West Coast). If you hail from a less-populated state like Wyoming or North Dakota, your location is more likely to boost your admissions chances. This is due to something called geographic diversity.

Looking at ethnic identity, the breakdown of the Class of 2025 was as follows:

• Asian: 25.9%
• Hispanic: 12.5%
• African American: 15.9%
• Native American: 1.1%

Amazingly, one study revealed that 43% of white students admitted into Harvard in the last six years were either legacies (their parents were alumni), recruited athletes, children of faculty members. or teens whose relatives had donated large amounts of money to the university. A case of alleged discrimination against students by Harvard made its way all the way to the United States Supreme Court, but the university prevailed.

The intended majors of those admitted to the Class of 2025 were:

• Humanities: 15.3%
• Social Sciences: 28.1%
• Biology: 18.3%
• Physical Sciences: 7.6%
• Engineering: 10.3%
• Computer Science: 8.1%
• Math: 6.0%
• Undecided: 6.3%

Most People Who Get Accepted Choose to Attend

The percentage of accepted students who elect to enroll, divided by the total number of students who are admitted is 85%. This number is absurdly high and helps to explain why the acceptance rate is so very low. For comparison, elite schools such as Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory, and Georgetown all have yield rates closer to (or under) 50%.

Tips for Applying to Harvard

If you plan on joining the 61,000+ Harvard hopefuls for the next admissions cycle, you should know the following:

• Harvard does schedule alumni interviews for most qualified applicants; over 15,000 alumni around the globe serve as interviewers. For advice on what types of questions you should be prepared to answer/ask visit our blog—College Interview Tips.
• Harvard does not consider “demonstrated interest” so you will not be judged on whether or not you made a campus visit, contacted an admissions officer, etc.
• Make sure to dedicate sufficient time and effort to the supplemental essay and short answers required by Harvard. In the 2021-22 cycle, they were as follows:

1. Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (50-150 words)
2. Your intellectual life may extend beyond the academic requirements of your particular school. Please use the space below to list additional intellectual activities that you have not mentioned or detailed elsewhere in your application. These could include, but are not limited to, supervised or self-directed projects not done as school work, training experiences, online courses not run by your school, or summer academic or research programs not described elsewhere. (150 words)
3. You may wish to include an additional essay if you feel that the college application forms do not provide sufficient opportunity to convey important information about yourself or your accomplishments. You may write on a topic of your choice, or you may choose from one of the following topics:

Topic Choices

– Unusual circumstances in your life

– Travel or living experiences in other countries

– What you would want your future college roommate to know about you

– An intellectual experience (course, project, book, discussion, paper, poetry, or research topic in engineering, mathematics, science or other modes of inquiry) that has meant the most to you

– How you hope to use your college education

– A list of books you have read during the past twelve months

– The Harvard College Honor code declares that we “hold honesty as the foundation of our community.” As you consider entering this community that is committed to honesty, please reflect on a time when you or someone you observed had to make a choice about whether to act with integrity and honesty.

– The mission of Harvard College is to educate our students to be citizens and citizen-leaders for society. What would you do to contribute to the lives of your classmates in advancing this mission?

– Each year a substantial number of students admitted to Harvard defer their admission for one year or take time off during college. If you decided in the future to choose either option, what would you like to do?

– Harvard has long recognized the importance of student body diversity of all kinds. We welcome you to write about distinctive aspects of your background, personal development or the intellectual interests you might bring to your Harvard classmates.

4) For International Students: What specific plan do you have, if any, for using the education you hope to receive? (0-50 words)

For detailed advice on how to write the Harvard essay/short answers, visit our blog: Harvard University Supplemental Essay Prompt and Tips.

Should I Apply to Harvard?

If you are academically qualified, there is no harm in filling out a Harvard application. However, as with all uber-elite colleges in 2022-23—even the best and brightest teens need to have a rock-solid backup plan. For more on creating a balanced list, revisit our blog entitled: How Many Schools Should I Apply to?

Dave has over a decade of professional experience that includes work as a teacher, high school administrator, college professor, and independent educational consultant. He is a co-author of the books The Enlightened College Applicant (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016) and Colleges Worth Your Money (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020).

How many students applied to Harvard 2024?

Applications for admission to Harvard College's Class of 2024 totaled 40,246, the third time in Harvard's history that applications have exceeded 40,000. Last year, 43,330 students applied for the Class of 2023.

Is Harvard requiring SAT 2024?

Harvard College will allow students to apply for admission without requiring SAT or ACT scores for the upcoming Harvard College Classes of '27, '28, '29, and '30.

How hard is it to get into HLS?

1. How hard is it to get into Harvard law school? Getting into Harvard Law School can be difficult because it is such a selective school and there is a lot of competition. On average, for every 100 applications that Harvard receives, only 7 applicants are admitted.

How many people get off Harvard waitlist?

How big is the class of 2024 at Harvard?

How many students applied to Harvard 2024?

How many people join Harvard every year?

How many people are on the Harvard Waitlist 2025?