By Paton D. Roberts and Claire Yuan

When the Class of 2025 first arrived at Harvard in the fall of 2021, thrice-weekly Covid-19 testing, mask mandates, and limits on in-person gatherings governed their social life.

By senior year, however, the class was taking full advantage of their time outside of academics and extracurriculars — attending parties, using drugs and alcohol, and having sex. The majority of respondents went out to dorm parties, final clubs, off-campus venues, and College-wide events like Yardfest.

More than half of respondents said that dorm parties were at least somewhat important parts of their college experience. Three-quarters of surveyed seniors said restaurants and bars beyond campus were also important components of their undergraduate social life.

More than 65 percent of respondents reported attending at least one final club event, but just under 41 percent of respondents indicated that events hosted by final clubs and other social organizations were not at all important to their social lives at Harvard.

A plurality of surveyed seniors indicated that College-wide events like Yardfest were only somewhat important to their college experience, and more than 41 percent reported they were not very important or not at all important. Nearly two-thirds — 64 percent — of respondents reported that undergraduate House-sponsored events were at least somewhat important.

Sex and Dating

The plurality of respondents at 22 percent indicated having no sexual partners during college — a change from last year, when a plurality of respondents reported having one sexual partner. This year, 20 percent of respondents indicated having one sexual partner while at Harvard, 13 percent indicated two, just under 33 percent indicated between three or nine, and just under 13 percent indicated more than 10.

Forty percent of responding seniors reported having sex before beginning college, 20 percent their freshman year, 8 percent their sophomore year, 5 percent their junior year, and 5 percent their senior year. Just under 22 percent of respondents reported that they have not had sex, marking a similar trend to the Class of 2024.

Roughly 75 percent of respondents reported dating at least one person during their time at Harvard, with approximately 36 percent reporting one partner, 25 percent reporting two, and 7 percent reporting three. Just under 59 percent of respondents reported using dating applications during their time at Harvard.

Drugs and Alcohol

Alcohol and marijuana — which are legal in Massachusetts for consumption by those over the age of 21 — saw the highest usage among respondents, similar to results in previous years.

Just under 93 percent of surveyed seniors reported drinking alcohol at least once in college. A plurality of students reported drinking once per week, while just over seven percent of respondents reported not drinking at all during college.

More than half of surveyed seniors — just over 52 percent of respondents — used marijuana at some point in college, with a plurality of those who reported using marijuana at some point saying they used it less than once per semester.

Approximately 70 percent of respondents said they have never used tobacco, and just under three-quarters reported never using e-cigarettes, both sharp decreases from the Class of 2024. Eight percent of respondents used cocaine at least once, 17 percent reported taking psychedelic mushrooms at least once, and 7 percent reported using illicit study drugs at least once.

Despite the national popularity of so-called “study drugs” like Adderall, only 7 percent of respondents said they took study drugs without a prescription at any point while at Harvard — a three percentage point drop from last year’s survey.

This year’s senior class started their substance use young. Over 59 percent of respondents started drinking before college, while just over 48 percent of respondents reported using marijuana before starting college. Only approximately 10 percent of respondents said they waited until turning 21 to drink or use marijuana.

The Four Things

Alongside the traditional graduation requirements — four general education classes, divisional distribution requirements, and concentration courses — many undergraduates turn to a more informal to-do list.

The core three tasks — peeing on the John Harvard statue, having sex in the stacks of Widener Library, and streaking through Harvard Yard during “Primal Scream” — are often joined by a more informal fourth one: jumping into the Charles River from John W. Weeks Footbridge.

Just over one-third of the respondents in the class had done at least one of the four tasks, with the most common being Primal Scream, followed by urinating on the statue. The percentage of surveyed seniors who participated in Primal Scream remained consistent with last year’s class, but remained lower than the Class of 2023, which had 36 percent of respondents complete the task.

Social Media

The most used social media platforms among the Class of 2025 remained consistent with the years before, with Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Sidechat — an anonymous app — reigning as the most popular.

The class held mixed opinions on the apps: more than 41 percent said they believed Sidechat had a positive impact on their college experience, while the rest of respondents said it did not have a positive impact or they were unsure.

Just over 2 percent of respondents said they do not use social media.