The Herald did not collect specific data on mid-year graduates prior to Fall 2022. The class of 2023 will be the last to have been on campus when COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020, after which many students sought non-traditional educational pathways to their degrees.
Women are more likely than men to graduate from college, according to the Pew Research Center. The University reported that 50.8% of full-time undergraduate students are women, while 49.2% are men. The University reports gender statistics according to a gender binary consistent with federal requirements, according to the Office of Institutional Research website.
When reporting gender identity, 3.1% of poll respondents identified as nonbinary and 1.8% identified as genderqueer, figures similar to those of The Herald’s fall 2022 poll. Nationally, about 3% of Americans aged 18 to 29 are nonbinary, according to the Pew Research Center. Because the poll allowed respondents to select multiple gender identities, these numbers add up to more than 100%.
The University’s Common Data Set for 2022-2023 — which categorizes race and ethnicity differently than The Herald’s poll by excluding race and ethnicity details of international students — reported that just over 43.2% of degree-seeking undergraduate students were white, non-Hispanic, 21.5% were Asian, 13.1% were Hispanic or Latino and 9.3% were Black. 3.3% of students’ racial identities were unknown in the CDS. In the CDS, individuals who identify as two or more races and not Hispanic — 8.82% of students — are counted in a separate category.
This year’s results closely mirror last semester’s, with the exception of a slight decrease in respondents who identified as white and a slight increase in respondents who identified as Asian.
The percentage of students from historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups — defined by the University as “African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, American Indian/Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander” — has only increased slightly in recent years, according to the University’s Diversity Dashboard. In light of coming Supreme Court decisions that could end race-conscious admissions this summer, administrators and professors have explored the impacts of the potential end of the policy.
This semester, about 63% of respondents identified as straight, compared to 62% in fall 2022. About one-fifth of respondents identified as bisexual, 6.2% as questioning or unsure, 5% as gay, 5% as queer, 3% as lesbian, 2.5% as pansexual and 1.4% as asexual.
Brown’s student body has a reputation as being particularly queer, with queer communities on campus having a complex history. The Sheridan Center reported in 2018 that 24% of undergraduate students identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or queer and 3% as transgender or nonbinary, and Brown ranks as the fourth most LGBTQ-friendly college in the United States. The University’s LGBTQ Center officially opened its new building, Stonewall House, in November 2022. Because the poll allowed respondents to select multiple sexual orientations, these numbers add up to more than 100%.
In October 2021, the University announced that it will cover the cost of tuition for students from families earning less than $125,000 with home equity eliminated from the financial aid calculation. The University will also implement need-blind admissions for international students beginning with the class of 2029. The University’s Common Data Set reported that for the 2022-23 academic year, about 45% of full-time undergraduate students were awarded financial aid, a slight increase from the approximately 42% reported in 2021-2022.
Athletes and non-athletes received relatively similar financial aid, with the exception of respondents who received grants covering all costs — 12.9% of non-athletes and 6.7% of athletes. A class action lawsuit filed earlier this month alleges that schools in the Ivy League violate antitrust laws by denying athletic scholarships to student-athletes.
Just over half of non-legacy respondents received no financial aid, compared to 67.2% of respondents with a sibling who attends or has attended Brown, 78.9% with an alum for a grandparent and 88% with an alum for a parent.
About 18% of respondents have a relative who attended Brown. Over 100 students gathered earlier this month to call for an end to legacy admissions and a test-optional admissions process, which was recently extended to the 2023-2024 admissions cycle. Because the poll allowed respondents to select multiple legacy relationships, these numbers add up to more than 100%.
Over a quarter of white respondents had a legacy relationship with the University, compared to 10.5% of non-white respondents.
Matching the approximately 15% of respondents identified as first-generation college students, 15% of students who were admitted early-decision to the class of 2027 identified as first-generation, The Herald previously reported. This figure mirrors the total percentage of first-generation students in the class of 2026, but represents a slight decrease from the 17% of students admitted to the class of 2025 and the 18% admitted to the class of 2024.
There was an approximately uniform breakdown by zodiac sign among respondents. Taurus was the most commonly reported sign — with 9.5% of respondents — while Cancer was the least commonly reported sign, at 7.1% of respondents.
