In fall 2021, we arrived on campus as anxious but eager freshmen, concerned about the Covid-19 pandemic but excited for in-person instruction after many of us finished high school virtually. More than anything else, we were looking for some normalcy.

Instead, the Class of 2025 lived, studied, partied, and debated through four deeply exceptional and historic years for Harvard.

As sophomores, we saw Harvard elect Claudine Gay as the University's 30th president, who became the first person of color to lead the University in its nearly 400-year history.

As juniors, we witnessed major crises as Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel led to a rise in antisemitism and anti-Palestinian bias on campus — and contributed to Gay's resignation just a few months later.

And as seniors, we watched these tensions ease as students, faculty, and staff united to resist the Trump administration's pressure campaign against Harvard.

Unlike some of his counterparts at other Ivy League schools, Harvard President Alan M. Garber '76 has largely received praise from the Class of 2025 over his response to the Trump administration's attacks on the University. The Harvard Crimson's annual senior survey reveals that 58 percent of respondents expressed a favorable opinion of Garber and 90 percent expressed support for his decision to sue the federal government over its decision to withhold billions in federal funding.

But even as surveyed seniors approved of Garber, they also expressed serious concern about some of his administration's actions and policies. For instance, respondents largely disagreed with the University's handling of campus protests, with a plurality of surveyed seniors describing the administration's approach as "too restrictive."

Read on for the rest of our findings from the Class of 2025's Senior Survey, which dives into seniors' views on campus politics, national politics, Harvard's academics and student life, and their postgraduate plans.

But even after a college experience colored by campus divisions and national controversy, 95 percent of surveyed seniors agreed on one thing: if they had to choose, they would do Harvard all over again.

Methodology

The Crimson distributed the survey by email to 2,194 graduating seniors and members of the social Class of 2025 through emails sourced in summer 2021 and May 2025 from Harvard directory information. Participants accessed the survey form via anonymous links from April 28 until May 19, 2025, when the survey closed. During that period, The Crimson collected 957 surveys, representing a response rate of 43.6 percent of those who received the survey.

The data includes academic and social seniors. Eight percent indicated they matriculated earlier than 2021, meaning they took leaves of absence from Harvard and later re-classed as members of the Class of 2025. Meanwhile, 6 percent indicated that they will graduate in December of 2025 or later, meaning they affiliate as "Social Seniors" but will not graduate with the majority of their class this May. Overall, 10 percent took time off from Harvard.

To check for potential response bias, The Crimson compared respondent demographics with publicly available information on student demographics provided by the University — information regarding gender, race, and ethnicity. Overall, the respondents to the survey were broadly in line with the demographics of the student body. The data was not otherwise adjusted for response biases.