Ellie Park, Multimedia Managing Editor

The class of 2028, Yale’s first group of students admitted since the Supreme Court ended race-conscious college admissions, saw changes in its share of Asian American and white students compared to last year’s class, while Black and Latine enrollment remained largely the same. 

According to the first-year class profile released by the admissions office, 14 percent of the class of 2028 identifies as African American, 24 percent as Asian American, 19 percent as Hispanic or Latino, 3 percent as Native American and 46 percent as white. 

Compared to the class of 2027, admitted in the last race-conscious admissions cycle, the class of 2028 saw a 4 percent increase in the share of white students and a 6 percent decrease in the share of Asian American students. The percentage of both Black or African American students and Native American students remained the same. 

Yale’s report comes as some other colleges have seen drops in Black and Latine enrollment.

The share of Hispanic or Latino students increased by 1 percent, giving the class of 2028 the largest share of Latine students in Yale’s history.

Students who opted not to answer the optional race question in their application were not included in the demographics data and some students indicated two or more races, meaning the percentages do not add up to 100.

“Yale College’s newest students bring with them an extraordinary collection of interests, ambitions, and talents that will enrich the undergraduate learning environment,” Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Jeremiah Quinlan wrote in a Yale News press statement. 

The Yale News story noted that the class of 2028 had the “most applications ever from students who identify as members of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.”

The News could not confirm whether changes in enrollment demographics for the class of 2028 were directly caused by changes in the post-affirmative action admissions process. Quinlan and Associate Director of Admissions Mark Dunn did not answer further questions about the results before the class profile release.

Post-affirmative action demographic shifts in elite universities

Following the fall of affirmative action, some of Yale’s peer colleges such as MIT and Amherst College experienced a steep drop in enrollment from African American and Hispanic or Latino students. 

Compared to the class of 2027, MIT’s newest class saw a decrease in the percentage of Black students, dropping from 15 percent to 5 percent. The share of Latine students also dropped to 11 percent from 16 percent last year. 

At Amherst, the percentage of Black students in the class of 2028 dropped to 3 percent from 11 percent in the class of 2027; at Tufts University, it dropped from 7.3 percent to 4.7 percent.

Like Yale, some colleges did not see a drastic decrease in Black students’ enrollment this year. At the University of Virginia, Black student enrollment decreased only from 7.9 to 7 percent this year. At Emory, this share decreased from 12.6 percent for the class of 2027 to 11.1 percent for the class of 2028.

While Asian American enrollment increased from 40 percent to 47 percent at MIT, the share of Asian American students in Yale’s class of 2028 dropped to 24 percent from 30 percent the year prior. 

Yale’s share of white students rose from 42 to 46 percent from the class prior; MIT’s class of 2028 saw a small 1 percent decrease in white students’ enrollment.  

Modified post-affirmative action admissions process

At Yale, the admissions process for the class of 2028 underwent several changes. 

In a letter to the Yale community last September following the ruling on affirmative action in college admissions, Quinlan and Dean of Yale College Pericles Lewis wrote that “Yale College should build on existing programs and take new concrete steps to attract exceptional students from underrepresented communities.”

Lewis and Quinlan highlighted three “unwavering priorities” following the fall of affirmative action for college admissions in their September 2023 letter: “fully complying with the law, continuing to support a diverse and inclusive community, and maintaining a world-class admissions process that considers each applicant as an individual.” 

While last year’s applicants could still answer the optional question about self-identified race on the Common Application, their responses were not accessible by admissions officers involved in the selection process. The University could access the data after students had been admitted.

Last year, Yale College’s supplemental essay prompts were modified to allow students to respond to one of three questions that were intended to “invite students from all backgrounds to reflect on the experiences that have shaped their character and strengths.”

The admissions office also began using place-based data from Opportunity Atlas, a nationwide mapping project that measures economic mobility at the census tract level and has been shown to improve the committee’s evaluation of applicants from under-resourced areas. 

The admissions office told the News last year that the use of the Opportunity Atlas tool will supplement the admissions office’s existing use of the College Board’s Landscape tool, which provides data about an applicant’s high school and neighborhood. 

In the process of admitting the class of 2028, the admissions office introduced several new initiatives to expand outreach to prospective students, including the “Yale in MOHtion Student Fly-In Program.” The initiative is a fly-in program for high school students and their families that introduces 50 prospective students to Yale’s four cultural centers: the Afro-American Cultural Center, the Asian American Cultural Center, La Casa Cultural and the Native American Cultural Center. 

Yale also introduced a test-flexible policy, under which students can choose which scores to include from their ACT, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and SAT tests. The policy starts this fall.

The updated test policy did not apply to the class of 2028. While Yale’s class of 2028 was selected through a COVID-era test-optional admissions, MIT’s class of 2028 was required to submit a standardized test score.  

Other initiatives included the hiring of two new full-time admissions office staff members to increase year-round engagement with college access organizations, expanding the distribution of the Diversity Viewbook and developing new relationships with leaders of college access organizations and school counselors who serve students from underrepresented backgrounds. 

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is located at 38 Hillhouse Ave.

Update, Sept. 4: This story has been updated to clarify Tufts University saw a drop in African American enrollment, not Hispanic or Latino enrollment.