On Monday, Sep. 11, the Carleton class of 2027 celebrated their first day of college. Last spring, Carleton released the dataset for the accepted class of 2027, including the students who ultimately did not enroll. Since then, the admissions office has released updated statistics on the enrolled students who make up the class of 2027.
Notably, the class of 2027 ties with the previous class in welcoming the most first-generation students to campus. In the class of 2027, 16% of students identify as the first in their family to attend college, which is the same as the class of 2026. The class of 2025 and 2024 reported 13% and 14%, respectively.
The enrolled class was also racially diverse, with 39% of enrolled students identifying as Black, Indigenous or people of color. This statistic is notably lower than the 46% who initially received offers of admission, but is close to the 40% of the class of 2026. The class of 2027 is, in order of percentiles, 22% Asian, 10% Black or African American, 12% Hispanic or Latino, 0.8% American Indian or Alaska Native and 0.4% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
56% of the class qualifies for financial assistance, totaling over $17 million. The average need-based grant is $55,873, and the average need-based award of financial assistance is $66,566, including grants, scholarships, work-study and loans. Carleton meets 100% of students’ demonstrated needs and has pledged to become need-blind when the endowment reaches around $2 billion, which is similar to peer institutions such as Wellesley and Amherst. As of 2017, Carleton’s endowment was around $700 million.
38% of the students are from the Midwest, 22% from the West, 16% from the Northeast and 12% from the South. In total, 12% of the class are international students — an increase from last year’s 10%. Of the 29 countries represented, the majority of international students — 32 — come from China. There was a massive jump from the second most popular countries, South Korea, India and Taiwan, with three students each. There are two students from both Canada and Ukraine. The rest of the international student population comes from Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Rwanda, Singapore, Spain, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Uruguay and Zambia.
The class is larger than the year before — an increase of ten students from 535 to 545 students in the grade. The slight increase represents the changes in class sizes after the COVID-19 pandemic. The class of 2024 was nearly a hundred students smaller at 459. The class of 2025 had an impressive 567 students. The class of 2023, who applied before the pandemic, also had 545 students, indicating that the swings in campus population may have stabilized.
More personal data about what makes the class of 2027 memorable has also been collected. 79% are interested in multiple avenues of academic study, but just over half (51%) plan to be STEM majors. Of the entire student body, 60% of students graduate with majors in STEM. The most popular extracurricular activity for the class of 2027 was community service (75%), with academic clubs closely following (72%). Just under half (49%) had a paying job; in high school, a third held a paid or unpaid internship. Smaller portions of the class were Eagle Scouts, held Gold or Silver Awards in Girl Scouts, were tour guides or danced.
