For the first time in the 30-year history of the JBHE surveys, a college has enrolled a first-year class that is more than one-fifth Black. There are 96 Black students in this year’s entering class at Amherst College. They make up 20.6 percent of the total.
The progress of the Ivy League schools over the past decade in admitting Black students has been impressive. In 2006, Columbia University had the highest percentage of Black first-year students at 9.6 percent. This year, all eight Ivy League schools have entering classes that are 12 percent Black or higher.
Recent admissions cycles have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. But most of the nation’s leading research universities continue to make significant progress in increasing Black enrollments.
There are 100 Black students in the Class of 2025 at Amherst College. They make up 19.5 percent of the class. This is the largest percentage of Black students in an entering class in the history of our surveys.
In 2009, only three of the nation’s high-ranking liberal arts colleges had entering classes that were at least 10 percent Black. This year, despite the pandemic, there are eight leading liberal arts colleges that have an entering class that is at least 10 percent Black.
In 2004, only two of the nation’s highest-ranked universities had incoming classes that were more than 10 percent Black. This year there are 16 with an entering class that is more than 10 percent Black.
After requesting data on Black student acceptance rates from 29 leading universities this year, we received data from only nine schools. When JBHE began collecting this data in the early 1990s, almost all high-ranking universities complied with our request for data on Black student acceptance rates.
This year, Amherst College once again sits on top of the survey. There are 81 Black students in this year’s entering class. They make up 17.2 percent of the first-year class.
In 2004, only two of the nation’s highest-ranked universities had incoming classes that were more than 10 percent Black. This year there are seventeen with an entering class that is more than 10 percent Black.
We note that there appears to be a greater reluctance to divulge information about Black student acceptance rates. The recent litigation involving the admissions practices of Harvard University concerning Asian American students appears to have struck a nerve in higher education circles.
Over the past 25 years, the nation’s highest-ranked research universities have made significant progress on the admission of Black students in their entering classes.
There are 501 students in the current first-year class at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. The 72 Black students make up 14.3 percent of the first-year class. This ranks Bowdoin second in this year’s annual survey of Black first-year students at the nation’s leading liberal arts colleges.
After a string of three first-place finishes, Amherst College dropped to second place in JBHE’s 2016 survey of Black students in entering classes at the leading liberal arts college. This year Amherst is back on top.
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