A record number of students applied to Harvard University this year. In all, over 57,000 students submitted Early Action or Regular Decision applications to Harvard’s Class of 2025, which represents a 42% increase from last year. To put this figure in historical perspective, 40,248 students applied to Harvard’s Class of 2024. 43,330 students applied to Harvard’s Class of 2023 — a then record tally. 42,749 students applied to Harvard’s Class of 2022. Prior to that year, applications never surpassed 40,000. As our readers may remember, 10,086 students applied Early Action to Harvard’s Class of 2025 and 747 earned admission. So, by our arithmetic, nearly 47,000 applicants submitted Regular Decision applications to Harvard’s Class of 2025. This figure stood at 33,824 for the Class of 2024, 36,372 for the Class of 2023 (a then record tally), and 36,119 for the Class of 2022. Prior to that year, Regular Decision applications never surpassed 34,000.

Harvard Sets New Application Benchmark for the Class of 2025

And, like all the other Ivy League schools, Harvard will need to delay its Regular Decision notification date due to the surge in applications. As Vivi E. Lu and Dekyi T. Tsotsong report for The Harvard Crimson in a piece entitled “Harvard College Receives Record-High 57,000 Applications, Delays Admissions Release Date,” “The Admissions Office notified applicants on Thursday that it would delay its admissions decision release date to April 6 due to the influx in applicants. Harvard released regular admissions decisions for the Class of 2024 on March 26, 2020. Harvard College spokesperson Rachael Dane wrote in an email that admissions officers require more time to thoroughly review all of this year’s applicants. ‘Harvard conducts a wide-ranging review of every application in its whole person admissions process,’ Dane wrote. ‘More time is needed to ensure that all admissions decisions can be conducted in the same careful and comprehensive manner as in the past.'”

All Ivy League Schools Will Release Decisions on April 6th

So April 6th will be the new Ivy Day 2021, a date significantly later than typical years. But, hey, it’s not a typical year with the pandemic and all. Harvard, Princeton, UPenn, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, and Yale will all be releasing Regular Decision notifications to applicants to the Class of 2025 on April 6, 2021. And at what time? It will take place at 7 PM ET. It will indeed be a stressful minute for many applicants to America’s Ancient Eight. Hang tight!