Full house

Chart: Nigel Holmes. Data: Office of Institutional Research.

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With the completion of two new residential colleges in 2017, Yale College began expanding its enrollment, one first-year class at a time. Then the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. Enrollment dropped sharply in the fall of 2020, when many students deferred admission or took one or more semesters off amid COVID restrictions. As the chart at left shows, their return has swelled classes in the subsequent years. Combined with a higher-than-expected yield for the incoming Class of 2027, this means that Yale is expecting more than 7,000 undergraduates this fall—the most in Yale history. We’ll have more in our next issue about how the college is handling the throng.