Yale University: Class of 2025 Profile

Following a 33% increase in applications from last year, Yale University accepted 2,169 students in their most competitive admissions cycle to date, cutting their acceptance rate by almost two percentage points — down to 4.62%.

It’s safe to say that this year’s college admissions cycle will go down in history as the most competitive to date. After hundreds of US colleges made SAT and ACT scores optional to provide more leniency amid COVID-19 restrictions, many leading universities reported record-high application numbers, resulting in record-low acceptance rates. In a series of blogs over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing information about the makeup of the Classes of 2025 admitted to top US universities to shed light on the demographics of the lucky few students who got accepted.

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In the most competitive admissions cycle yet — especially for the Ivy League and other top-ranking US universities — acceptance rates dropped to record lows, and Yale’s 4.62% for the Class of 2025 was no exception. Notably, despite a substantial portion of the Class of 2024 electing to take a gap year likely due to COVID-19 restrictions, the university still extended roughly the same amount of offers to Class of 2025 applicants, with 2,169 receiving that lucky letter of acceptance.

In recognition of the many obstacles applicants in the latest admissions cycle have faced, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Jeremiah Quinlan said of the admits:

Their resilience, leadership, service to their families and others, and commitment to their academic pursuits have been truly remarkable. Our newest students will bring an extraordinary range of experiences and identities, insights and ambitions, talents and intelligences to Yale.

Geographic Representation

Admitted students hail from all 50 states, as well as D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. International students represent around 72 countries worldwide, graduating from 1,600 secondary schools with intended majors in 79 of Yale’s 80 undergraduate programs.

Even with the monumental upswing in deferrals the previous cycle (approximately 20% of the admitted class last year deferred their acceptance), Yale still stood firm in its commitment to accept the same amount of people as it usually would. Mr. Quinlan commented, “I am very grateful to the university leaders who approved our plan to offer admission to the same number of students this cycle as in a typical year.”

Socioeconomic Distribution

Yale offered admission to 72 students (down from 87 last year) through its binding admissions program with Questbridge, a nonprofit that connects exceptional students from low-income backgrounds with opportunities in higher education. Those students qualify for the university’s most generous financial aid award.

The number of incoming Yale students receiving a federal Pell Grant has increased from 12% to more than 20% over the better part of a decade, and since 2019 students whose families make less than $75,000 have benefitted from “zero parent share” awards, in which a students’ parents are not expected to contribute anything to the cost of a Yale education. Admirably, Yale is one of very few US universities (alongside Harvard and Princeton) that uses a need-blind admissions policy for all applicants, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, and offers full-need financial aid to all students including international applicants.

Legacy and Ethnicity

Stats on legacy and ethnicity for Yale’s Class of 2025 won’t likely be released until the fall, when the university typically shares its own profile for the incoming class of enrolled students (which is, of course, a much smaller pool than the pool of accepted students).
However, for the Class of 2024, 45% of admitted students self-identified as White, with Asian American students accounting for 29%, Hispanic/Latinx students representing 14%, African American students representing 13%, and Native American students representing 2% of the class. International students made up 9% of those who matriculated.

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