All of America’s elite universities covet first-generation college students because they see their institutions as channels to America’s meritocracy.

As Rochelle Sharpe writes in a piece for The New York Times on first-generation college students, “It’s something that colleges love to brag about,’ said Brian Taylor, managing director of Ivy Coach, a New York counseling company, noting that many colleges list their first-gen statistics in their brochures.”

Sure, many elite universities offer preferential treatment to legacy applicants — the progeny of a school’s alumni base. Sure, they offer preferential treatment to recruited swimmers, squash, and golf players.

We recognize the irony that America’s elite colleges often favor the privileged.

But within this particular category, the first-generation college student category, America’s elite colleges are trying to level the playing field by opening a world to young people whose parents may have lacked access. These schools want to admit the intellectually curious and engaged children of taxi drivers, janitors, coal miners, and grocery store clerks. They want to help their children realize their versions of the American Dream.

The Percentage of First-Generation College Students at America’s Top Universities

Below you will find the percentage of students designated as first-generation at each of the top 20 schools ranked in the 2024 US News & World Report ranking of national universities.

You’ll note as you comb through the data that some schools cite how admitting first-generation college students is crucial to them. Yet, they fail to publish the specific percentage of first-generation college students, which raises our alarm bells.

Other schools publish the percentage of first-generation college students admitted to each respective incoming class yet fail to update their school profiles to include the portion of matriculants — the admitted students who chose to attend — who are first-generation college students. When that data was unavailable, we included the percentage of admits who were designated first-generation college students.

Sometimes, a school may release the data one year, yet not another. Why would a school cherrypick which years to publish the first-generation college student statistics? That seems obvious to us — they often don’t tout the figures in years in which the percentage wasn’t so high.

School	2024 U.S. News Ranking	Percentage of First Generation College Students – Class of 2028	Percentage of First Generation College Students – Class of 2027	Percentage of First Generation College Students – Class of 2026	Percentage of First Generation College Students – Class of 2025	Percentage of First Generation College Students – Class of 2024
Princeton University	#1	16.3%	17%	17%	22%	17%
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	#2	20%	18%	Not Released	Not Released	Not Released
Harvard University	#3	20.1%	16%	20.3%	20.7%	19.4%
Stanford University	#3	Not Released	20%	21%	18%	20.2%
Yale University	#5	21%	21%	18%	16%	19%
University of Pennsylvania	#6	19%	“Nearly  20%”	18%	15%	15%
California Institute of Technology	#7	15%	17%	Not Released	Not Released	Not Released
Duke University	#7	Not Released	Not Released	10%	9.47%	Not Released
Brown University	#9	14%	15%	15%	17%	18%
Johns Hopkins University	#9	“More than 20%”	“More than 19%”	21%	Not Released	Not Released
Northwestern University	#9	Not Released	14.6%	15.3%	15.1%	13.2%
Columbia University	#12	20%	19%	20%	17%	17%
Cornell University	#12	16.5%	15%	19.9%	19.4%	15.5%
University of Chicago	#12	Not Released	Not Released	Not Released	Not Released	Not Released
University of California, Berkeley	#15	Not Released	Not Released	20%	26.6%	Not Released
University of California, Los Angeles	#15	Not Released	Not Released	27%	Not Released	Not Released
Rice University	#17	Not Released	Not Released	Not Released	Not Released	Not Released
Dartmouth College	#18	17%	14%	16%	17%	Not Released
Vanderbilt University	#18	Not Released	Not Released	Not Released	Not Released	Not Released
University of Notre Dame	#20	21% (*combined with Pell Grant and students with family incomes under $65,000)	20.5% (*combined with Pell Grant and students with family incomes under $65,000)	14% (*combined with Pell Grant and students with family incomes under $65,000)	20.3% (*combined with Pell Grant and students with family incomes under $65,000)	Not Released

First-Generation College Student FAQ

If my parents graduated from four-year colleges in India, do I qualify as a first-generation college student?

No, first-generation college students are students whose parents did not graduate from a four-year anywhere in the world.

Are you a first-generation college student if your sibling went to college?

Yes, you are, as long as neither of your parents graduated from college. You and your sibling are members of the same generation. So you still qualify as the first-generation.

How do colleges know if you are first-generation?

It’s indicated on The Common Application under parents’ education. Whether your parents attended college in the United States or elsewhere in the world, The Common Application asks applicants to include this information — and you must be truthful. The college degrees of parents — even degrees in India — can be discovered on background checks. Besides, you must be honest on every component of your college application — not only because it’s the right thing to do but, if you are not, it’s grounds for your admission to be rescinded.

Why should my child be penalized because I went to college?

It’s not that your child is being penalized. It’s just that first-gens are being given an extra boost.

Did the outlawing of Affirmative Action lead to increased socioeconomic diversity?

The Class of 2028 marked the first class admitted after the Supreme Court’s outlawing of Affirmative Action. So, did banning the consideration of race in admissions decision-making lead to more socioeconomically diverse classes at our nation’s top universities as told through a surge in first-generation college students? It turns out it’s a mixed bag — the percentage of first-generation college students rose slightly at some elite universities for the Class of 2028 while it fell somewhat at others. It seemed no different than previous years.