Johns Hopkins’ continued commitment to diversity

Dear Johns Hopkins Community, 

Last summer, when the Supreme Court issued its decision to restrict the use of race and ethnicity in college admissions, we shared our concerns that the change would be a significant setback in the progress we have made in building a university community that represents the extraordinary diversity of talented students across America. 

Those concerns have been borne out in this first year following the decision. 

For fall 2024, our incoming undergraduate class has significantly fewer students from underrepresented groups. The overall percentage of incoming students who identify as Black, Hispanic, Native American or Pacific Islander (the federal categories for students underrepresented in higher education) declined from 37.0% in 2023 to 17.6% this fall. This reflects a decrease in students identifying as Black from 13.8% to 5.7%, Hispanic from 20.8% to 10.7%, Native American from 1.4% to 0.7%, and Hawaiian or Pacific Islander from 1% to 0.6%. At the same time, incoming Pell grant students reached an all-time high of 23.8% and students who are first-generation college students rose to 20.3%. The percentage of students who are first-generation or low-income is 30.2%. For more on the data, please see the full Hub story.

The impact of the ruling on racial and ethnic diversity in this admissions cycle is profoundly disappointing. The decline comes after many years of intensive effort, resulting in a dramatic increase in both the diversity of our students and their level of academic achievement. The percentage of first-year students reporting identities from underrepresented groups rose from 15.5% in 2010 to 37% in 2023. Over that same period, incoming Pell grant students rose from 11.9% to 21.6% of the class, and the percentage of students who are first-generation college students rose from 8.9% to 19.4%. The percentage of students who are first-generation or low-income went from 16.8% in 2010 to 29.9% in 2023. 

Looking forward, our commitment to building and supporting a diverse class is unwavering. We are turning that same intensive focus on the development of strategies that allow us to attract a student body reflecting the rich and varied constellation of this country while fully complying with the Supreme Court’s restriction on the consideration of race in admissions.  

New strategies underway include expansion of our recruitment efforts, with increased concentration on high-achieving students from rural and urban communities and new regional recruitment partnerships throughout the country; exploration of race-neutral tools to evaluate applicants’ environmental context, such as the College Board’s Landscape tool; use of standardized tests to identify applicants who perform especially well relative to their academic environment; and increased efforts to ensure that applicants of all backgrounds are aware of the generous levels of financial aid available at Hopkins.

There are many more talented young people who apply to Hopkins each year than we could possibly admit. We are thrilled and honored to have each and every one of our extraordinary students here as part of our community. And we will continue to do everything in our power to open wide the doors of opportunity to our nation’s most promising students. 

Sincerely, 

Ron Daniels 
President 

Ray Jayawardhana
Provost 

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