Introducing Mount Holyoke’s Class of 2030

The number of applications to Mount Holyoke College was high this year, with 5,200 students applying for spots in the first-year class. The College admitted 2,119 of those applicants, and 554 first-year students enrolled, including four students admitted from the waitlist. The College is welcoming 20 new transfer students and 11 new Frances Perkins scholars.

“This is one of the most academically distinguished classes we have enrolled in recent memory, and it’s also one of the most diverse,” said Mandy Hart, dean of admission. “Nearly a quarter of the class of 2030 are the first in their families to attend college — the highest proportion we have seen in years — and that number reflects a deliberate, sustained effort in how we recruit, evaluate and support students throughout the admission process. These students were selected not only for their academic preparation, though their transcripts are remarkable, but for the judgment, curiosity and resilience that came through in every part of their application. They arrive from all over the country and the world, representing an extraordinary range of backgrounds and experience, and each of them was admitted because our committee believed they would contribute something distinct to this community. The class of 2030 reflects the intellectual curiosity and independence that has defined Mount Holyoke since 1837, and I look forward to seeing what they accomplish here.”

Among the entire class, 36% are domestic students of color, accounting for 43% of U.S. students in the class. Also notable this year: 24% of the class of 2030 are first-generation college students — the highest share of any incoming class in recent years, up from 20% for the class of 2029 and 16% for the class of 2028. Twenty-four percent of the class qualify for Federal Pell Grants, aid awarded to undergraduate students with exceptional financial need. Mount Holyoke meets the full demonstrated financial need of every admitted student who applies for aid, and this year's numbers reflect a class shaped by students from a genuinely wide range of economic backgrounds.

The class of 2030 comes from across the nation and around the world. Seventeen percent of the class are international citizens or residents, representing 39 countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Libya, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. The countries outside the U.S. with the highest numbers of entering students are China, Pakistan, Vietnam and India, though the full roster of home countries spans six continents.

Taken together, the class of 2030 continues a pattern that has defined Mount Holyoke’s incoming classes for nearly two centuries: a talented group chosen for their character and potential, drawn from an increasingly wide range of backgrounds and arriving on campus ready to shape and be shaped by the community they’re joining.