Johns Hopkins Class of 2029 reflects academic excellence, long-term efforts to make college more affordable

Johns Hopkins University continues to attract the best and brightest undergraduate students from all regions and economic backgrounds across America, according to data on this year's incoming class of first-year undergraduates.

The Class of 2029 has the highest percentage of low-income students in Hopkins' history, at 24.1%, as measured by the number of students eligible for federal Pell Grants. The previous high was 23.8%, reached last fall. More than 31.8% of the incoming students are either first-generation or low-income, another all-time high for Hopkins.

The changes reflect the university's long-term efforts to attract the country's best students regardless of means, bolstered by the transformative $1.8 billion gift for undergraduate financial aid from philanthropist, business leader, and Johns Hopkins alumnus Michael R. Bloomberg in 2018. The university's new tuition promise program builds on these efforts by offering free tuition for students from families earning up to $200,000 and free tuition plus living expenses for families earning up to $100,000.

Members of the Class of 2029 hail from 49 states and 31 countries. About 53% of the class is female and 47% male.

The students bring wide-ranging interests and accomplishments to Hopkins. One founded their high school's first geopolitics and international relations club, which created a space for moderated discussions across viewpoints on controversial global issues. Another developed a glove to improve the motor functions of stroke victims. There's a two-time Junior Olympics water polo champion and a world champion in Irish dance. Members of the class published and presented their research, supported family members, launched businesses, tutored peers, and brought home medals from global competitions.

Public school graduates from Baltimore City and Washington, D.C., are well represented with 20 recipients of the university's prestigious Cummings Scholarship. Available to graduates of Baltimore and Washington public schools or public charter schools, the scholarship covers the full cost-of-attendance for students from families earning below $100,000, with family contributions capped at 10% of income for families earning between $100,000 and $200,000.

The incoming class's academic qualifications remained among the best in the nation. Since 2019, Hopkins has consistently admitted one of the top three most academically qualified classes in the country, according to data on test scores and high school GPA collected by U.S. News & World Report.

Until 2023, the rise in academic qualifications coincided with growth in racial and ethnic diversity, with Hopkins counting its highest percentages of students from underrepresented backgrounds in fall 2023.

That changed after the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 decision to restrict the use of race in admissions. The federal government mandates that universities annually report statistics on race and ethnicity. According to that data, Hopkins admitted significantly fewer students from underrepresented groups in fall 2024 and that was the case again this fall. This year, 10.1% of the incoming first-year class identified as Hispanic and 4% identified as Black or African American.