High-Ranking Universities That Have Made the Most Progress in Increasing Black Freshman Enrollments Over the Past Decade

Each autumn since 1993 JBHE has surveyed the admissions offices of the nation’s high-ranking universities to determine the number of black first-year students who enroll at these institutions. Our database permits us to examine the enrollment trends to see which high-ranking universities are making the most progress in increasing the number of black students on campus.

Overall, 18 of the 26 highest-ranked universities posted an increase in black first-year enrollments during the 1997 to 20007 period. The largest increase in actual numbers is at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Black first-year enrollments more than doubled during the period, from 82 to 172.

On a percentage basis there was an even larger increase at the University of Chicago. There, black enrollments were up more than 111 percent during the period. Black first-year enrollments at Rice University showed an increase of 93 percent in the 1997 to 2007 period.

Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore showed a major increase of 66.1 percent during the period.  MIT and the University of Notre Dame also posted gains of more than 50 percent.