Several top colleges and universities are seeing shifts in freshman class diversity after the Supreme Court's ruling against affirmative action in admissions, while others have experienced mixed results.

Brown's class of 2028 saw a sharp decline in Black and Hispanic students, with the percentage of Black freshmen dropping by 40% and Hispanic freshmen by 29% compared to last year. Meanwhile, domestic Asian students increased by 14%, and the number of students who did not disclose their race or ethnicity nearly doubled from 4% to 7%, according to the Brown Daily Herald.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has also reported a significant decrease in the percentage of Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Pacific Islander students in its incoming class of 2028, the institution's first undergraduate class admitted since the 2023 ruling.

For the class of 2028, about 16% of students belong to these minority groups, the university announced, down from a baseline of approximately 25% in recent years.

The drop is particularly notable when compared to the 2027 class, where the percentage of Black students fell from 15% to 5%, and Hispanic and Latino students decreased from 16% to 11%, according to The New York Times.

However, at Yale, the class of 2028 looks similar to last year's, with no change in the percentage of African American or Native American students, according to ABC News. The Hispanic/Latino population dipped by 1%, while international students increased by 1%. The big shift came with Asian American students dropping by 6% and white students rising by 4%.

Affirmative action, which allowed schools to consider race in admissions, was introduced in the 1960s to help address racial disparities. But in 2023, the court ruled against race-conscious admissions, siding with a group arguing the policies were unfair to white and Asian students.

Now schools are adjusting. The University of North Carolina, a key player in the case, saw small increases in Asian and white students, with drops in Black, Hispanic and Native American populations. Princeton saw slight decreases in its Asian and international students, while Amherst College experienced a sharper drop, with its Black student population shrinking from 19% to 9% and Latinx students falling from 14% to 10%. Meanwhile, white and Asian student numbers edged up.

Despite some dips in minority acceptance rates at more prestigious colleges, recent data from the Common App showed that the number of minority college applications have not decreased.

College applications from underrepresented minority groups, international students, and those from low and middle-income backgrounds saw a significant increase during the 2023-24 school year, according to an end-of-season report released last month.

Applicants identifying as a minority race or ethnicity increased by 11% compared to last year. The most significant growth was observed among American Indian or Alaska Native, Latinx, and Black or African American applicants.

There were also no significant changes found in the types of schools minority students chose to apply to, whether highly selective or less selective, except for a "leveling-off" of Asian applicants' applications to the most selective schools.

"In general ... we do not observe any appreciable changes from ongoing historical trends," the report concluded.

Community colleges and less-selective four-year institutions — where most minority students enroll — are unlikely to see similar impacts from the court's decision since most did not use affirmative action before the ruling.

Includes previous reporting by Pedro Camacho of Latin Times.

Tags College, Diversity