MIT Admission Shift: Should Merit-Based Admission Consider Racial Factor Also?

MIT Freshman Diversity Drops After Supreme Court Ruling on Race-Based Admissions

The discussion over whether admissions should be based solely on a student's talent, academic excellence, sports achievements, and merit, or if race should also be considered, can be endless. Many Universities in the world consider race an important factor for admission, whether considered fair or not, is still a debatable point. MIT University which is ranked one in QS World Rankings 2025 is facing a significant shift in admissions of students due to the recent decision of the Supreme Court.

In 2024, only 16% of the new freshmen at MIT were Black, Hispanic, Native American, or Pacific Islander students, while in 2023 this number was 31%. The drop happened because the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 2023 that colleges can no longer consider race when admitting students. Using race as a factor for admissions is called affirmative action but after the Supreme Court’s decision, the effect is quite visible in the number of students admitted. The percentage of Asian American students in the incoming class increased from 41% to 47%, while the proportion of white students remained similar to previous years. MIT officials explained that these changes happened because of the decision as many top colleges had considered race as a factor for years to increase the number of students from underrepresented minority groups.

Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the colleges involved in the Supreme Court case, argued that they aimed to promote diversity to provide better educational opportunities and include various perspectives on their campuses but since these race-based admissions practices went against the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection, the rule is now called off.

MIT President Sally Kornbluth remarked on the Class of 2028, praising it as "outstanding in many ways." However, she acknowledged that, following last year's Supreme Court decision, this year's freshman class does not reflect the same level of racial and ethnic diversity that MIT had worked hard to achieve over the past decades.
This year's freshman class includes 5% Black, 1% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 11% Hispanic, and 0% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students. Additionally, 47% are Asian American and 37% are white. In the past four years, the incoming freshmen classes were 13% Black, 2% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 15% Hispanic, and 1% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, with 41% Asian American and 38% white students.

Kornbluth acknowledged that MIT's efforts to maintain diversity had not been fully effective. She said that in the future, the school would focus on better promoting its generous financial aid and investing in expanding access to science and math education for young students nationwide to help address enrollment gaps.

Editor’s Note:

Should meritorious and hardworking students, who have excelled in sports and extracurricular activities, need a racial factor to gain admission to top universities, or is their talent alone sufficient to prove their worth? This is an important issue worth discussing. Recently the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision to end race-based admissions practices, MIT's latest freshman class demonstrates a significant shift in student demographics. The decision, which impacted many selective colleges, has led to noticeable changes in the diversity of new students. Now top universities of the world need to rethink other ways to address enrollment gaps and empower these students to get equal access to education by helping them financially.
 

Skoobuzz respects the Supreme Court’s decision and hopes that all the students will benefit from this in the future as the university will focus on excellence now.