By Vivi E. Lu and Leah J. Teichholtz

Harvard’s Covid-19 strict restrictions on in-person activities stalled campus social life for the Class of 2024’s first year at college. Nevertheless, the class made up for lost time — or skirted restrictions — as the pandemic passed.

Nearly half of respondents have been involved in final clubs, Greek life, or other off-campus social organizations, and 62 percent said they have attended a party hosted by a final club.

Like undergraduates at other colleges, Harvard students did more than just study — they hooked up, flirted on dating apps, and used drugs and alcohol. The vast majority of students consumed alcohol and a majority used marajuana in the past year. Surveyed students also voiced their opinions on social media platforms, including the recently deployed and highly viral platform Sidechat.

Others made it their mission to do as many of the Four Things as possible, with a quarter of the class reporting that they stripped and streaked through the Yard for Primal Scream and a similar percentage indicating they urinated on the John Harvard statue.

Sex and Dating

A third of respondents indicated that they dated one person during their time at Harvard, with 19 percent reporting they dated two people. Another 19 percent said they remained single while at Harvard. A plurality of seniors, or 19 percent, had one sexual partner during their time at the College, but 16 percent — the next highest percentage — said they never had a sexual partner on campus.

Around 34 percent of respondents lost their virginity before Harvard, while 17 percent had sex for the first time during freshman year — two higher percentage points than respondents of the Class of 2023 survey despite a freshman year marked by restrictions on socializing and a remote spring due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Around a fifth of surveyed seniors have never had sex at the time of completing the survey — a smaller percentage than the Class of 2023, for which a quarter of respondents had not yet had sex. Around 14 percent of respondents had more than 10 sexual partners during their time at the College, a similar proportion to last year’s graduates.

More than half of responding seniors have used a dating application during their time at Harvard — but of the 56 percent of students who used one, only a quarter were successful in finding a long-term relationship. Women were slightly more likely to have used a dating app, with around 58 percent reporting they had used one compared to 55 percent of men.

Drugs and Alcohol 

Surveyed seniors’ habits indicated frequent recreational drinking and drug usage on campus.

Alcohol and marijuana, both legal for consumption by those over 21 years old in Massachusetts, saw the highest usage among surveyed seniors. Around 89 percent of respondents consumed alcohol in the past year, 45 percent drank at least once a week, and 13 percent drank more than twice weekly. Roughly half of surveyed alcohol users began drinking before college, and 31 percent started imbibing in college before turning 21.

Alongside a recent increase in marijuana dispensaries in Cambridge, 65 percent of respondents reported using marijuana at least once in the past year, and 22 percent used marijuana at least once a week. Of surveyed marijuana users, 41 percent used marijuana before college and 4o percent used the drug during college but before turning 21 years old. Two-thirds of surveyed marijuana users bought some form of marijuana legally in Massachusetts.

Surveyed seniors enjoyed tobacco more than previous classes. Almost half used tobacco at least once in the last 12 months, a sharp increase from 27 percent of tobacco users in the Class of 2023 and 31 percent in the Class of 2022. Around 41 percent of respondents have used an e-cigarette or vape.

Illicit drugs saw less frequent usage. Around 16 percent of respondents used mushrooms, 12 percent used cocaine, 7 percent used LSD, and 6 percent used ecstasy in the past year. Ten percent of students reported using non-prescribed “study drugs” like Adderall in the past year, a slight increase from the Class of 2023’s reported 8 percent and the Class of 2022’s 6 percent.

The Four Things

Per tradition, Harvard undergraduates must do three things before Commencement: have sex in the stacks of Widener Library, urinate on the John Harvard statue, and streak naked through Harvard Yard on the eve of finals period in a rite dubbed “Primal Scream.” The fourth, unofficial task is to jump into the Charles River off the John W. Weeks Footbridge.

Just under half of respondents have not completed any of the four dares. Though Primal Scream was the tradition completed by the greatest percentage of respondents, the portion of seniors who completed the nude run dropped from 36 percent last year to 25 percent this year. During their freshman year, members of the Class of 2024 were asked to return home for Thanksgiving Break and until the end of the semester, meaning the class was not on campus for their freshman year Primal Screams, which may have contributed to their lower completion rates.

In line with last year’s graduates, 24 percent of respondents reported that they had urinated on the John Harvard statue, while 11 percent had copulated in the Widener stacks. Around 17 percent of seniors plunged into the Charles, marking a slight uptick from 11 percent of last year’s surveyed seniors.

Respondents identifying as male were more likely to have done each of the four things compared to female respondents. Those who had attended parties or events hosted by final clubs were also more likely to have done the four things; for instance, a third of party or final club event attendees reported having urinated on the John Harvard statue versus less than 13 percent of non-attendees.

Technology and Social Media

Among surveyed seniors, the three most used social media platforms were Instagram, which claimed 68 percent of respondents, the networking platform LinkedIn at 56 percent, and Sidechat — the campus-focused forum for gossip and discussions — at 45 percent.

Students were divided on their views of Sidechat, with around 43 percent regarding it favorably and 38 percent holding unfavorable views on the platform.

Facebook, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, and X — formerly known as Twitter — each was used by about a third of respondents. Around 5 percent of respondents did not use any social media platforms.

Approximately 55 percent of surveyed seniors deleted some form of social media while at Harvard, a slight increase from last year’s 40 percent. Of those respondents, 29 percent reported deleting TikTok and another 29 percent reported deleting Snapchat. Although Instagram was the most deleted app among surveyed members of the Class of 2023, it ranked third among most deleted platforms for the Class of 2024.

Around 65 percent of respondents spent at least one hour on social media on an average day. Roughly 31 percent of respondents spent two hours or more, and 6 percent used social media for more than four hours on a typical day.

While most surveyed seniors have never owned cryptocurrency, 18 percent of respondents currently own cryptocurrency and 14 percent of surveyed seniors have owned cryptocurrency in the past.