“The antisemitic feeling among students is increasing, and it grows in proportion to the increase in the number of Jews,” Harvard President Abbott Lawrence Lowell wrote in 1922 in an internal memo to members of his administration. This despicable pronouncement, which blames Jewish students for being victimized by hate during a time in American history when such bigotry was reaching a boiling point, precipitated widespread efforts on Harvard’s part to decrease Jewish enrollment at the Ivy League school. Such efforts soon spread to other schools in the Ivy League, and by the mid-1930s, Jewish enrollment had declined significantly at the world’s most prestigious institutions of higher education. 

This shameful history should serve as a cautionary tale for Ivy League schools today to protect and enshrine Jewish enrollment and participation in campus life. Jerome Karabel’s groundbreaking 2006 book, The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, tracks how these schools attempted to make amends with the Jewish communities they had scorned for so many years, turning instead to anti-Asian discrimination with tactics that were eerily similar to those used to discriminate against Jews.

Jewish Enrollment at the Ivy League Over the Years

Jewish enrollment in the Ivy League is undoubtedly on the decline. According to reporting by Inside Higher Ed, “The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a Jewish news wire service, reported in 1967 that Jewish students had reached high numbers at the Ivies after decades of low enrollments. The news outlet cited a New York Times survey at the time, which found that the student bodies at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania were 40 percent Jewish. Jewish student populations at Harvard, Yale and Cornell were estimated to be between 20 and 25 percent, while those at Dartmouth, Princeton, and Brown hovered between 13 and 20 percent.”

Since 1967, Jewish enrollment has declined markedly at all Ivy League schools, except Brown University and Cornell University. Using data compiled by Hillel International, let’s examine Jewish enrollment in the Ivy League in recent admission cycles.

Ivy League Institution	Jewish Percentage of Undergraduate Student Body (2023)	Jewish Percentage of Undergraduate Student Body (2022)	Total Number of Jewish Undergraduate Students (2023)	Total Number of Jewish Undergraduate Students (2022)	Total Number of Undergraduate Students (2023)	Total Number of Undergraduate Students (2022)
Brown University	23.90%	23.86%	1,700	1,700	7,125	7,125
Columbia University	22.50%	22.33%	1,500	1,500	6,688	6,716
Cornell University	15.60%	21.21%	2,500	2,500	10,163	11,785
Dartmouth College	8.80%	8.82%	400	400	4,533	4,533
Harvard University	8.80%	9.87%	700	700	7,178	7,095
University of Pennsylvania	16.40%	17.57%	1,600	1,750	9,760	9,962
Princeton University	9.60%	11.46%	500	600	5,236	5,236
Yale University	12.10%	12.24%	800	800	6,639	6,535

Navigating Ivy League Applications Amidst A New Era of Antisemitism

History is repeating itself. Ivy Coach has been a vocal opponent of the wave of antisemitism that has descended upon the Ivy League this past year. While we have praised specific individuals who have fought courageously on behalf of Jewish students, such as Dartmouth President Beilock, we don’t blame Jewish applicants for feeling at odds with these institutions while navigating the application process. 

Jewish applicants to the Ivy League should rest assured that these schools will not discriminate against you based on your faith. In 2021, The Common Application dropped their question about religious affiliation, though some schools still ask the question on their supplements. Of course, even schools that don’t ask about religious affiliation on their supplements may still assume an applicant’s Jewish faith based on name and religious activities. While the era of explicit quotas against Jewish students is a relic of the past, the alarming decline in Jewish enrollment is a serious cause for concern. But don’t let these numbers intimidate you from proudly highlighting your faith on your applications!