Ellie Park, Multimedia Managing Editor

In the first classes admitted after the end of affirmative action, Yale schools saw varying trends in the enrollment of underrepresented students. 

The School of Management saw an increase in students of color yet a decrease in underrepresented students of color. The Law School and the Jackson School both saw a decrease in the share of students of color. 

Racial demographics at the School of the Environment remained stable. Though the School of Medicine saw a decrease in the share of underrepresented students compared to last year, the results were relatively stable in comparison to previous years.

Other graduate schools do not provide a class-by-class demographic breakdown. 

Three graduate schools see a decrease in underrepresented students of color

The School of Management saw a decrease in the share of underrepresented students of color from 18 percent in the class of 2025 to 16 percent in the class of 2026. However, the class of 2026 also saw an increased share of students of color from 48 percent in the class of 2025 to 56 percent in the class of 2026.

The School of Management defines underrepresented students of color as American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islander, Black/African American or Hispanic/Latinx. The definition for students of color includes these groups, as well as Asian Americans.  

This increase in students of color was driven by a growth in Asian American students, rising from 26 percent in the class of 2025 to 38 percent in the class of 2026. The proportion of white students dropped from 49 percent for the class of 2025 to 40 percent for the class of 2026. 

The Law School saw a decline in students of color, dropping from 57 percent in the class of 2026 to 50 percent in the class of 2027. This marks the lowest since 2022 and follows an eight-year trend of increased racial diversity.

At the Jackson School, the trend of decreasing diversity continued, with students of color comprising 43 percent of the class of 2024, 38 percent of the class of 2025 and 35 percent of the class of 2026.

The Admissions Office of the Jackson School declined to comment further on their admissions statistics post-affirmative action.

Two graduate schools report relatively stable numbers 

While the enrollment of students identifying as underrepresented in medicine, or URiM, has dropped to 28 percent in the latest class of 2028 from 35 percent in the MD class of 2027, this number is still slightly higher than the 24 percent in the MD class of 2026. 

The School of Medicine defines URiM as students who self-identify as Hispanic, Latine, or of Spanish Origin; American Indian or Alaska Native; Black or African American; or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, per a spokesperson of the School of Medicine admissions office.

The School of Medicine spokesperson emphasized that the Admissions Office devotes significant time to outreach and career development programs for underrepresented groups. The Medicine School uses a holistic approach when considering applications, evaluating each applicant’s commitment to “medicine, compassion, maturity, curiosity, and resilience.” 

“We believe that attracting talented and hardworking applicants from diverse backgrounds — age, race, ethnicity, country of origin, socioeconomic status, gender and gender identity, familial experience, and more — promotes intellectual creativity and enhances curiosity, compassion, and care for all patients,” the spokesperson wrote. 

At the School of the Environment, the percentage of students of color has remained around 20 percent for both the classes admitted in the fall 2023 and in the fall 2024.

Previously, the News reported that in the Yale College class of 2028, Black and Latine enrollment remained stable while Asian American enrollment decreased. According to the first-year class profile, 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.

Other graduate schools lack data

Other schools, including the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School for Engineering and Applied Science, report school-wide data on underrepresented students through a diversity dashboard. However, these schools do not provide a class-by-class breakdown of racial/ethnicity identity.

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, or GSAS, reports 14.3 percent underrepresented students as of October 2024. The GSAS defines underrepresented students as “enrolled students who are U.S. citizens and have self-reported as an underrepresented student.”

“Because the incoming students are spread over so many programs and schools each making their own admissions decisions, we do not announce GSAS-wide demographic information,” a spokesperson of the GSAS wrote to the News. “We do post the information on the dashboard for people interested in this information by program.”

Similarly, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, or SEAS, reports 14.7 percent underrepresented students as of October 2023, with no information posted up to date with October 2024. The SEAS also defines underrepresented students as U.S citizens who self-report as underrepresented. The SEAS did not respond to requests for comment on data for individual classes and on updating the data for the fall of 2024.

The Divinity School reported racial/ethnic breakdown by class up until the 2019–20 school year but stopped reporting since. 

“We have changed our reporting practices but have not altered our commitment to supporting students from underrepresented groups,” the Divinity School wrote in a statement to the News.

The School of Architecture did not respond to the News request for comment on this article. The School of Drama provided no further comment beyond referring to the yearly factsheet released by the Office of Institutional Research.

According to a spokesperson from the Office of Institutional Research, it will publish its annual factsheet on the 2024–25 school year sometime between January and February. 

The Supreme Court ruled on Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard on June 29, 2023.