Lowest Acceptance Rate Ever

 

Harvard College accepted 3.19 percent of applicants to its Class of 2026 — the lowest rate in the school’s history — as it saw a record high number of candidates apply for the second straight year.

A total of 1,214 students received offers of admission at 7 p.m. on Thursday, joining the 740 students who were accepted via early admission in December. The acceptance rate is down from the 3.43 percent of students admitted to the Class of 2025 last year — which marked the previous record-low.

Applications to the College jumped by almost 7 percent, with 61,220 students submitting applications to the school, compared to 57,435 last year.

Harvard also announced Thursday that families making under $75,000 annually will not be charged tuition. The previous threshold for full financial aid was $65,000. The College expects the average aided family contribution to be $12,700.

Students admitted to the Class of 2026 hail from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. overseas territories, and a total of 98 countries — up from 94 countries the previous year. The plurality of admitted students, 22.2 percent, come from the Mid-Atlantic, followed by 18.2 percent from South, 16.6 percent from Western or Mountain states, 16.4 percent from New England, 9.8 from the Midwest, and 14.9 percent from U.S. overseas territories or abroad.

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