In 2013, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) filed a lawsuit against Harvard University in the U.S. District Court in Boston. They alleged that Harvard's undergraduate admission practices violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against Asian Americans. As an Asian American, I was intrigued.
After lower courts upheld Harvard's limited use of race as a factor in admissions in 2019 and 2020—finding no evidence of ‘discriminatory animus' or ‘conscious prejudice'—the Supreme Court reversed these rulings on June 29, 2023. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts declared that affirmative action in college admissions is unconstitutional.
Following the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action, I thought it would be fascinating to share the latest class profiles from MIT and Yale. Would anything change? I had my doubts. Both are among America's top universities, with acceptance rates below 7%.
So few people attend these types of schools that most of us will likely be unaffected by the ruling. Nevertheless, during my time working in finance in NYC and San Francisco, I became acquainted with many alumni from such prestigious institutions. I also encounter alumni from similar schools in the tech industry and among the parents at my children’s school.
MIT And Yale's Class Demographics Assumptions
Given that Students for Fair Admissions believed White and Asian American applicants were being discriminated against in college admissions, you might assume the following about the incoming class demographics at MIT and Yale after the Supreme Court's banning of affirmative action:
- 1) A decline in Black and Hispanic enrollment
- 2) An increase in White and Asian enrollment
- 3) A consistent demographic enrollment trend by race at both universities
If you thought these assumptions were correct, you'd be mistaken! Let's examine the data.
Yale Demographics Profile Of Incoming Class Of 2028
Here's what the Yale News reported:
According to the first-year class profile released by the admissions office, 14 percent of the class of 2028 identifies as African American, 24 percent as Asian American, 19 percent as Hispanic or Latino, 3 percent as Native American and 46 percent as white.
Compared to the class of 2027, admitted in the last race-conscious admissions cycle, the class of 2028 saw a 4 percent increase in the share of white students and a 6 percent decrease in the share of Asian American students. The percentage of both Black or African American students and Native American students remained the same.
In other words, the banning of affirmative action benefited Whites, hurt Asian Americans, helped Hispanic/Latinos, had a neutral effect on African Americans, hurt International students, and was neutral for Native Americans at Yale. What a mixed picture!
Thoughts On Yale's First Class Post Affirmative Action Ban
The biggest surprise is the 6 percent decrease in Asian American students for the Class of 2028, followed by the 4 percent increase in White students. During the lawsuit against Harvard, it was revealed that Asian American students required higher test scores to have the same chance of getting in than applicants of other races.
Subjective Measure To Throttle Objective Results
To lower the overall scores of Asian American applicants, Harvard used subjective measures, such as a personality score. I found it disappointing that Harvard would consistently rate Asian American applicants as having the lowest personalities, while Blacks consistently had the highest personalities. How can you really tell, especially if only a minority of applicants are interviewed?
Undaunted, I came up with a post on how high school students can improve their personalities. With better personalities, life gets easier. Your personality could grow strong enough to launch a website read by millions of people each year—even as an Asian American!
However, even with a great personality, you might still be held back if the gatekeeper isn't objective. That's why one goal you should consider is becoming more resourceful, so gatekeepers have less of an impact on your future.
How Different Races Should Think About Applying To Yale
After the affirmative action ruling, the percentage of Asian American students at Yale should have at least remained stable. Instead, it dropped from 30 percent to 24 percent, a notable 20 percent decrease. This suggests that Yale may have intentionally reduced the number of Asian American admits. As a result, Asian American high school seniors might reconsider applying to Yale or using their Early Decision spot for this university.
Conversely, more White, Black, and Hispanic students should consider applying to Yale. The percentage of White students increased from 42 percent to 46 percent, a significant rise. Yale might be placing greater emphasis on legacy admissions, giving more preference to children of alumni.
Some believe legacy admissions is a type of affirmative action for the rich and privileged.
The median income of Ivy League graduates is significantly higher than that of non-Ivy League graduates by mid-career. As a result, children of Yale alumni tend to enjoy more comfortable lifestyles and also benefit from a huge admissions advantage, with a 3-5X higher acceptance rate, simply due to their background.
Yale Is Going To Do What It Wants
Another conclusion is that the ban on affirmative action does not seem to have impacted Yale's admissions practices. As a private institution, Yale has more flexibility in its policies compared to public universities. Given that Yale was not subject to a similar lawsuit, it may feel more empowered to implement its own admissions strategies.
Organizations like Students for Fair Admissions are likely scrutinizing Yale's latest class demographic data and considering their next steps. If the trend continues, I wouldn't be surprised if Yale finds itself defending its admissions policies in court.
MIT Demographics Profile Of Incoming Class Of 2028
Compared to the Class of 2027, MIT’s Class of 2028 experienced a decrease in the percentage of Black students, dropping from 15 percent to 5 percent. The share of Hispanic students also fell, from 16 percent to 11 percent. The percentage of White students decreased slightly by 1 percent, to 37 percent. Conversely, Asian American enrollment increased significantly, rising from 40 percent to 47 percent.
For proponents of affirmative action in college admissions, MIT's Class of 2028 profile represents exactly what they feared: a significant reduction in underrepresented minorities and a notable increase in Asian American students.
This shift mirrors trends observed at University of California schools like UCLA and Berkeley following California’s ban on affirmative action in 1996. Today, 40 percent plus of its student populations are Asian American.
Unlike Yale, MIT did not provide a detailed line chart to compare historical trends. Instead, MIT provided a chart based on self-reported ethnicity for one year below.
Thoughts On MIT's First Class Post Affirmative Action Ban
I was struck to see that 47% of MIT's incoming class consists of Asian Americans. Considering that Asian Americans make up only about 7 percent of the U.S. population, this 6.7-times overrepresentation is remarkable.
I've always viewed schools like MIT and Caltech as “super nerd” institutions, where academics take priority over everything else. Sports and the arts are secondary considerations.
If you're Asian American, you might think that, given the large representation of Asian students at MIT, getting in would be easier. It is clear that MIT does not discriminate against Asian Americans. Some might even argue that MIT is more focused on merit than on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
That said, with an acceptance rate of only 4%, your odds of getting in are still just 1 in 25—so don't get your hopes up! But given that people often gravitate toward others of the same race, I suspect this class profile might encourage even more Asian Americans to apply in the future.
If you're Black or Hispanic, you might feel less inclined to apply to MIT, and as a result, the number of Black and Hispanic students could continue to shrink as the applicant pool decreases. Instead, it might be more strategic to apply to Yale or another university that has seen an increase in Black and Hispanic enrollment.
Related: Income By Race: Why Asian Income Is The Highest
Economic Diversity Of College Students Is Increasing
Economic diversity seems to be on the rise at some of the top universities, which is encouraging. Many would agree that helping low-income students from all races is more equitable than focusing solely on one race, regardless of wealth.
UVA: One of the least economically diverse public colleges in America, reported an increase in the percentage of students receiving Pell Grants from 16% to 24%. Federal Pell Grants are typically awarded to undergraduate students who demonstrate exceptional financial need and do not have a bachelor's, graduate, or professional degree. These grants do not need to be repaid.
Duke: A top private university, historically dominated by students from wealthy families, saw the percentage of Pell Grant recipients rise from 17% to 22%
My Background and Thoughts on Getting Into Elite Colleges
As an Asian American, I had no chance of getting into these types of schools after graduating from a public high school in Northern Virginia. My academics were good, but not exceptional, and I didn’t have a formidable topspin backhand to get recruited by a Division I university. As government employees, my parents weren’t wealthy or well-connected to help me get into these schools either.
That’s why I attended William & Mary, a public university in Virginia for $2,800 / year in tuition versus $20,000 / year in tuition at a private university. It’s a solid school, and I had a fantastic experience. But it generally ranks in the top 35-50 in most polls. My main priority was going to the best university that was also the most affordable.
Despite going to a smaller public university outside the top 25, I’ve had a good life. As a result, I’m in favor of public education and won’t stress if my children don’t get into elite private universities. It would be nice if they did, so I could better understand what it's like from a writer's perspective, but it's not necessary.
The Importance Of Self-Sufficiency
The chances of my Asian/Hawaiian children getting into a top 25 university are slim. There are simply too many brilliant, hardworking, and wealthy high schoolers competing for a limited number of spots.
This is why I will teach my kids entrepreneurship and involve them in landscaping and rental property maintenance—so they can become more self-sufficient. Once you know how to make money on your own and do things, life gets a whole lot easier.
My expectation is that my children will attend community college and then transfer to a decent state university, just like their parents. If they do, they’ll each have at least $35,000 from their 529 plans to roll over into a Roth IRA, enabling them to start their lives without student debt.
Hooray for being average! It's much easier to beat expectations if you are.
Don't Wait For Superman To Save You
I understand the purpose of affirmative action—to give marginalized racial groups a chance to get ahead. If my people had a history of enslaving another group and then locking them out of wealth-building opportunities after emancipation, I’d feel a responsibility to make things right too. Helping their children get into college would be the least I could do.
Unfortunately, since top colleges refuse to expand the number of available spots to match demand, other groups inevitably face negative consequences due to affirmative action. As a result, the Supreme Court banned it, 20 years after its last defense in 2003.
The gatekeepers will always decide who gets opportunities. As a result, much of this is beyond our control, especially if they are trying to make non-financial reparations. Instead of waiting for Superman to save us, it’s better to accept the way society works and focus on relying on ourselves to get ahead.
Thankfully, technology has made education free or affordable for anyone who wants to learn. While it’s interesting to watch how elite institutions and the brightest minds compete for status and the potential to earn lots of money, we need to focus on making the most of our own lives.
Reader Questions
What are your thoughts on Yale and MIT's demographic profiles after the Supreme Court banned affirmative action in college admissions? Do you think the ruling will make a significant difference?
Curious about what elite university graduates do and how they think? Here's a conversation I had with a Yale graduate who chose to leave a lucrative career at BlackRock at age 37. Although he now has a net worth of around $5 million in his mid-40s, he’s still grappling with some personal challenges.
For 99.9% less than a college education, but far more practical, pick up a copy of WSJ bestseller, Buy This Not That. It'll help you think in probabilities and tackle some of life's biggest decisions.
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Data on MIT’s admission indicates Asian admission went up 6% point, while Pell Grant eligible students went up 4% point. It seems decrease in underrepresented minorities being admitted did not significantly decrease the number of socioeconomically disadvantaged students, while the increase in Asian admission boosted those numbers. This implies Black/Hispanics that were denied were financially well off while the additional Asians that were admitted were not so well off. Of course, those changes could have been within other groups, but that would mean they are starting to admit more poorer Whites and less well off ones. So without the raw data, we cannot know for sure. Also, with these summerized reports, some subgroups could disappear into a categorized demographic group in order to have their over-representation hidden.
Why does Yale’s more detailed analysis of their Class of 2028 show that 30% of incoming are Asian?
https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2024/08/30/data-the-class-of-2028-in-numbers/
Perhaps more nuanced self-reporting. Will look into it. What do you think?
Apparently one is from a survey, the other is admission application. Nobody knows which is more accurate. As various surveys of freshmen admitted on their religion, it does not indicate their religious background
I love this idea of “Financial Diversity” at institutions of higher learning.
Pure gold:
“As a personal finance enthusiast, I believe in helping those with fewer financial means, regardless of race. The resource gap between a child from a poor family and one from a wealthy family is enormous.”
Same, Sam, Same.
Keep up the good work.
Starting at a community college is a great way to assuage into college life. It also allows the student to get their core courses out of the way, inquire more about a major, and then transfer to a four-year University that offers great major degree programs.
What did you mean by “my people”? Probably white, right? Do your homework, Sam. In the history of our civilization, virtually ALL ethnic groups had slaves at one time or another. So, if a black person’s ancestor owned slaves, what then? Would that person be “one of those people” in 2024? My grandfather was a sharecropper. Does my family history exclude me from being one of “those people”? **even though I am white?**
I normally agree with most everything you post. Not today. Not even close.
This kind of rhetoric is what divides this country every day.
I haven’t met many people who are against trying to help poorer people get into college, regardless of race, given their disadvantages. So I thank you for your perspective.
Since 2009, I’ve been so focused on trying to help people achieve financial independence sooner that I’ve lost site on the “winner take all mentality” that you and others have.
Even though it is likely my kids will have to try harder to get into a top university, I understand why colleges are trying to social engineer their classes. As private universities, they have a greater ability to do what they want. And if people don’t like it, they can apply elsewhere.
Feel free to come up with solutions an action points based on your beliefs. Do you have children who recently got rejected by universities despite doing well academically? If so, please share the details if you’re willing. Thx
Did I say I was against people achieving financial independence? My angst was with the section of your column where you referred to the “people” whose ancestors had slaves. That would include almost everyone alive today. I object to your racist slanted rhetoric. I want everyone to succeed, financially and personally. Playing the victim tends to hinder most people’s mindset to the point that rather than trying to succeed, they resort to not trying anymore. That is not helpful to them or to Society as a whole.
I think we both agree(?) that hard work and determination is the best path to bettering your life situation.
I went to a public in-state college. Shocker! I made a good living and had a nice, safe loving home for my children. My parents weren’t millionaires…not even close. But I worked HARD…80 hours in ONE week and then worked 40 hours on the other week (side gig) to have enough and pay for my children’s education.
Pinning the “winner take all entitled” badge is crap. I thought you were better than that.
Where is your anger coming from though? There has to be a story somewhere because your reaction is so heated.
I believe helping poorer people get into college is a noble thing to do. I would also never deny slavery in America and why affirmative action was created in the first place.
If you think me recognizing history, and explaining why I think affirmative action was created, is racist, then, so be it. But that means that you are easily upset and could be living a much more difficult life then you need to be.
What happened? Are you resentful for working 120 hours a week while your husband did not? Did you get skipped over for promotion by a minority or not get along with your boss or colleagues who are minorities? Please share what has triggered you to be so angry.
I was divorced, which is none of your business. There was no child support or alimony and the ex did not meet his financial obligations. I worked hard and was happy to have the opportunity to do to meet my financial situation.
Go pick on someone else.
Kiss my ass
Sorry for your situation. But it sounds like you are working hard and figuring things out. Best of luck to you and your children.
Did he run off with a Black or Hispanic woman or something? You are the typical angry Karen we seen in the media and in society all around, part of the demographic that is taking the most amount of antidepressants ever.
What happened to the white women in America? So privileged, yet so much tragedy, anger, and hate.
You are unhinged Kathryn.
Can you share some further introspection on what is making you so abrasive here? I am puzzled by the amount of rage you’re lashing out.
Yale will require test scores next year, so we’ll see if this changes next year. Yale still has a legacy admissions preference.
MIT has required test scores. MIT doesn’t have a legacy admissions preference.
The next fight is ending legacy admissions and improving K-12 education.
Thanks for highlighting the increase in economic diversity. That touches on the real issue. K-12 education is letting students down. Once that is tackled, we’ll solve the actual cause that the affirmative action band-aid solved.
We all know legacy admissions is a type of affirmative action for the rich. As a result, those in power who are rich will have a tough time banning this type of admissions policy too.
There’s too much virtue signaling by elite private universities, talking about helping the poor when the makeup of their students heavily skews rich.
Thanks for the analysis! It sure seems like Yale and other universities that show a similar demographic profile and trend for the class of 2028 will get sued and lose.
But that’s the rest they are willing to take for a diversity. So all is good and rational!
Sam,
The NYT podcast The Daily was on the same subject today
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/27/podcasts/the-daily/college-legacy-admissions.html
Cool. What are your thoughts? I like how lower income students are getting into top colleges, like Duke and UVA.
Berkeley rocketed to the top of one rating system due to the increase in Pell Grant students.
See: https://www.financialsamurai.com/why-public-schools-will-rank-higher-than-private-schools/
Sam,
You asked “What are your thoughts?”
The civil rights movement was from 1954 to 1968. Affirmative Action became law in 1961 and was ruled invalid by the Supreme Court in 2023. I grew up in a small college town in Oregon with few minorities except migrant farm workers that I had little interaction with. I started college in 1973, and the words of MLK was the aspiration of those times. I was a 17-year-old white male with “white privilege” I suppose, so race just wasn’t an issue for me or something I thought much about.
After graduating from Oregon State in 1979 with a degree in Construction Management, I worked as a project manager of commercial building projects. Our projects were roughly 50% privately funded and 50% publicly with tax dollars, such as schools & government offices. Affirmative Action was implemented by government for any public project by using Minority & Women owned business bidding & contracting requirements. Typically, the general contractor (GC ) had to document that they made a good faith effort to solicited bids from Minority & Women owned business and then contracted with & pay 10% minimum (i.e. $50 million job performed with at least $5 million minority subs ). In reality, this is very difficult, because all the GC’s are competing to hire the limited number of qualified subcontractors & suppliers. Because there is so much money involved a certain amount of fraud occurred. For example, if you owned a drywall company, you could easily make your wife the legal owner and submit your bid to all the GC’s, who are desperate to document hiring women owned subs.
I also remember hiring a black owned excavation sub, but 3 months later when the actual work was being done, another company showed up and he claimed he was renting equipment from them. I noticed the equipment was operated by mostly white or Hispanic men. He submitted the required minority owned affirmative action forms to the GC and basically, the money went through him, and he got a cut. Everyone was happy, including the government auditors.
I am not saying these programs did not do some good, but can government ever actually fix racism? I did a quick search and found no stats on the results of these programs from the 1970’s that continue today. Do government programs ever do studies to justify their existence? If it was required, I bet there would be a lot less government and a smaller national debt. Isn’t the root of the problem the lack of competitive women & minority owned businesses? Isn’t the root of that problem the culture & education of the various races? I think fixing K-12 & more average higher education would be more effective in helping more people than spending time & money on elite schools.
Now I’m a 69-year-old retired real estate developer & contractor and enjoy listening to long form podcasts on the political, techno, financial, economic, and the world in general. I subscribe to your blog and a few others. Since I retired in 2013, I have had time to follow many different news sources and observed how fake the mainstream media (MSM) is. They do this by emphasizing stories that fit the “current narrative” and ignoring the ones that don’t.
In my opinion, racism is a way overblown distraction to keep the population from noticing & demanding action on the bigger problems (national debt, corrupt Congress, corrupt executive branch & agencies, massive income & wealth differences, fake news, big pharma, endless wars, etc.). In my opinion, Affirmative Action was needed and important at that time.
Sorry for getting off the topic of elite school education, but after a 40-year career on commercial construction, I never met any successful real estate developers or contractors who got there because of the school they went to. Sadly, I can only think of a few women or minority owned businesses in my personal list of about 2400 subs & suppliers (there are 50-70 subs & suppliers on every project & I managed about 100 multi-million projects in my career).
Having followed you for a few years now and I can see why you care about this topic. I could go on about racism, affirmative action (now DEI), but out of time. Keep up the good work Sam!
Thanks for sharing Geoff. I hate the corruption and government grift going on, and I have a post in the wing about it.
As Charlie Munger once said, “ Show me the incentive and I’ll show you the outcome.”
You will enjoy this post: The Diversity Hire Dilemma
In 2006 I got to go to a Berkshire annual shareholder meeting and Munger & Buffet are great.
The All-In Podcast is one of my favorite podcasts (I also listen to all of your podcasts). To hear an interesting discussion on the value of a college education and related ROI, the student debt problem, and what affect the Baby Boomers Bubble (that’s me) had on the higher education go to minute 32.5 of this podcast:
Peter Thiel | All-In Summit 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYRunzR9fbk
I always hate it when people group “white AND asians” together, as if Asians are a privileged class when the opposite is true. Affirmative action excluding asians from benefitting is basically saying “you can rise up in the world, BUT not too high”.
Yup, that includes us brown skinned Asians, in numbers we are fewer than other minorities, but we are regarded as privileged.
Actually Asians have higher incomes and wealth than whites. So are you saying it’s ok to discriminate against whites but not asians? All discrimination is wrong.
“You got money, so what’s your complaint?” Is what that says. Many Asian folks build wealth to protect themselves, because racial discrimination in US hits the poor harder, so they fight harder. As Sam says in another post about Asian wealth, no one’s looking out for you if you are a minority.
Even with a lot of wealth, minorities are faced with being excluded from being in position of power (see “bamboo ceiling”).
So yes, Affirmative Action which excludes Asians is a misapplication of what it purports to achieve.
Let me get this straight. You are arguing that asians should get more preferential treatment vs whites than they already do. As a group they have higher income and wealth than whites. Are disproportionally represented in all the elite universities. Benefit from DEI programs at corporations and government that already openly discriminate against whites, especially males, in the name of diversity. What is the discrimination you are crying about? Any discrimination based on skin color or ethnicity is wrong. Would love to hear some logical numbers-based argument to discriminate even more against white people.
“ Benefit from DEI programs at corporations and government”
Can you elaborate on this? I’m intrigued! I’m not familiar with any DEI initiatives for Asian Americans.
Absolutely. I work in senior management for a Fortune 500 company. The company, like most large companies, has DEI policies and hiring and promotion goals that are based on skin color. Our company has targets for increasing the percent of the workforce and senior management that is represented by POC (people of color, which includes asians). Basically anyone not white. Bonuses are awarded based on hitting targets. So obviously, significant hiring and promotional preference is given to POC. This is common practice among large companies.
Spot on. All discrimination is wrong. Only true racists will try to justify discrimination. Of course, never a peep on here about all the anti-semitism actively going on that the Dems are encouraging.
Feel free to share and how it relates to the topic in this post. Thx
This is why I believe in the MFE principles for college admissions – Merit, Fairness and Equality. MFE (Merit, Fairness, and Equality) Versus DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Should be NC (No Contest) | AIER
I won’t worry too about it. racist are going to racist.
These same fancy pants wrote “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
And then the very next week enshrined slavery in the constitution.
And every agrees as Fancy pants go, the founding fathers were the best fancy pants we have ever had
You got a better system up your sleeve eh chief? “Or Mr/Ms I don’t like to wear fancy pants”
What if a black person has ancestors who owned slaves? Or an Asian person? What then? Asking for a friend.
oh wow fascinating insight into the admission changes. Thanks for compiling so much info. It’s quite true that the gatekeepers of schools and corporations will decide who gets opportunities whether we agree with their decision process or not. We have to understand the current reality and where change is headed and make our best rational decisions using the insights available to us. And also adjust our expectations along the way and focus on what we can control ourselves to help mitigate disappointment and frustrations.
Let me dispel some of your misconceptions: I’m not Asian American but my family were immigrants of already 10 years in The US from Central Europe when I applied to undergraduate schools from a Boston public high school. I also had good grades but not exceptional and had a couple of extracurricular activities in which I was good, soccer and had a hobby in movie making. My parents were also not wealthy or well connected, in fact they spoke broken English because they nor I spoke any English before my family came to the US. I got into Harvard, Yale, Tufts, Brandeis (all top 25) and some other back-up schools. I went to Harvard where I got financial assistance in the form of scholarships and loans. The loans I repaid in full and on time. So you see the misconception that only the rich and wealthy and well connected go to “these schools” is just that, a misconception. Best, Victor Felszegi Harvard College ‘78
Hi Victor, thanks for sharing. Times have changed tremendously since 1978. It’s important to change with the times. Otherwise, we will be stuck living in the past.
One in six students at Ivy League schools, including Harvard, come from families in the top 1% of the income bracket. A Harvard study found that students from the top 1% are 34% more likely to be admitted to Harvard than other applicants, while students from the top 0.1% are 50% more likely to be admitted.
The median family income of a student from Harvard is $168,800, and 67% come from the top 20 percent. About 1.8% of students at Harvard came from a poor family but became a rich adult.
A new study, based on millions of anonymous tax records, shows that some colleges are even more economically segregated than previously understood, while others are associated with income mobility.
Below, estimates of how Harvard compares with its peer schools in economic diversity and student outcomes.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/harvard-university
For schools like Harvard, there are more students from the top 1%, than from the bottom 60% combined.
Elite, private universities are doing a lot of virtue signaling, but not taking action to help poor families get the same educational opportunity, despite being academically qualified.