Harvard Accepts Record Percentage of Black Students

College admissions letters are out, and for the Class of 2018, Harvard University has accepted a record-high percentage of black students.

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According to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, of Harvard’s total acceptances for the Class of 2018, 11.9 percent are black, the highest ever for the university. The journal estimates that nearly 170 black students will enter Harvard this fall. Overall, Harvard accepted only 2,023 students from a pool of 34,295 applicants.

Harvard is not alone in its overall low acceptance rate. Other top-tier institutions accepted between 5 and 10 percent of the students who applied.

Williams College, the No. 1 liberal arts college in the country, also accepted a high percentage of black students. This year, the college has offered admission to 165 black students. Black students account for 14.3 percent of all Williams College’s acceptances this year. Half of the admitted students at Williams are black, Asian, Latino or Native American.

Editor's note: Read “How an HBCU Prepared Me for Harvard.”