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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — It's harder than ever to get into Harvard University, which has set a record for its acceptance rate.
The Ivy League school announced Friday that it had accepted 2,037 students for next fall's freshman class out of a pool of 39,041 applicants — a 5.2 percent acceptance rate. Last year, Harvard admitted 5.3 percent of applicants.
The class includes record-high percentages of black and Asian-American students. Fourteen percent of the admitted students are black and 22.1 percent are Asian-American.
William Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions, says the economic diversity of students is also increasing thanks to Harvard's financial aid policy that bases tuition rates on family income. Students from families with an annual income of less than $65,000 pay nothing toward the cost of a Harvard education.
Admitted students have until May 1 to accept their offers.
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