By Joyce E. Kim and Azusa M. Lippit

During the Class of 2026’s four years at Harvard, their social life was often under administrative constraints.

Students often found themselves dissatisfied with the College’s party policies and minimal school spirit after several years of Covid-shuttered social life. At both Harvard-Yale games held in Cambridge — in 2022 and 2024 — final clubs and administrators sparred over whether popular student-led tailgates should be allowed.

Senior survey respondents rated extracurricular organizations the highest among contributors to their social experience. But last fall, a nationwide hazing crackdown left even student groups scrambling to decide which social traditions could safely stay.

Still, students found ways to create fun organized by their peers. Though just 44 percent of students called Harvard’s exclusive final clubs an important part of their social life, 69 percent of respondents said they had attended at least one final club party.

And more than three quarters of respondents found fun bonding with their class this year. Nearly 80 percent of students called the Senior Class Committee — a group of marshals elected by their peers that plans class-wide bonding events and Senior Week activities — very or somewhat favorable.

Sex and Dating

An equal percentage of respondents, 25 percent, reported that they had no sexual partners or one sexual partner during their time at Harvard — a shift from last year, when a plurality of respondents reported having no sexual partners. Just more than 11 percent indicated having two sexual partners, a little under 10 percent indicated three, and 7 percent indicated having more than 10 — about half the percentage of respondents last year, when 13 percent indicated they had more than 10 sexual partners.

Of students who had 10 or more sexual partners during college, 91 percent used dating apps. A slightly lower percentage — 83 percent — of students who had 5 or more sexual partners said they used dating apps.

Thirty-five percent of surveyed seniors had sex before college, while 40 percent lost their virginity in college. A quarter of respondents reported that they have not had sex, 3 percentage points higher than the Class of 2025.

In line with previous years, nearly three-fourths of respondents reported dating at least one person in college, with a plurality of 36 percent reporting one, 23 percent reporting two, 8 percent reporting three, and over 5 percent reporting dating more than four people.

Approximately 56 percent of surveyed seniors used dating apps while at Harvard. Of the students who said they used dating apps, roughly 57 percent identified as women, and 42 percent as men.

Drugs and Alcohol

Alcohol and marijuana were the Class of 2026’s most commonly used substances — but the percentage of marijuana users dropped to less than 47 percent from last year’s 52 percent. Nearly 90 percent of respondents said they had consumed alcohol at least once this year. For those over the age of 21, alcohol and marijuana are both legal to purchase and consume in Massachusetts.

Use of the most common substances often began before college. Fifty-eight percent of drinkers said they started drinking before college, and 42 percent of marijuana users said they first consumed it before their freshman year.

Though marijuana use dropped to less than half of respondents this year, 48 percent of those who had consumed it at least once said they used it once a month or more frequently. Sixty-four percent of users said they had purchased marijuana in Massachusetts.

Seventy percent of respondents said they had never used tobacco — similar to last year’s senior class — and 81 percent said they had never used e-cigarettes or vapes. Eight percent reported using cocaine at least once, 12 percent reported taking psychedelic mushrooms at least once, and 5 percent said they had used illicit study drugs at least once.

The Four Things

Per longstanding Harvard tradition, undergraduates must complete a list of tasks before Commencement: having sex in the Widener stacks, urinating on the John Harvard Statue, and running naked around the Yard the night before finals begin for Primal Scream. In addition, some students also elect to jump off Weeks Bridge into the Charles River. (This year, one candidate pair for HUA Co-President was suspended after jumping off the bridge as a part of their campaign.)

Approximately 30 percent of surveyed seniors did one of the four tasks, and — in line with all previous years — Primal Scream was the most common, followed by urinating on the John Harvard statue. Twenty percent of respondents reported participating in Primal Scream and almost 16 percent urinated on the statue, while around 5 percent reported having sex in the stacks.

Of those who urinated on the statue, two-thirds identified as men and one-third as women. Though only 6 percent of the total surveyed seniors said they were in a male final club, just over 19 percent of students who had sex in the stacks were members of a male final club, and 16 percent of students who said they urinated on the statue also said they were members of a male final club.

House Life

One hundred percent of respondents living in Lowell House reported being very or somewhat satisfied with their living arrangements at Harvard, taking the number one spot for satisfaction among graduates for the third consecutive year. Leverett House came in second, with 91 percent reporting satisfaction, while Dunster was third with 87 percent.

Kirkland and Quincy Houses were at the bottom, with 67 percent and 80 percent satisfied respondents respectively. This year, some Kirkland residents reported noise disturbances from the next door Eliot House renovations. Kirkland House was also at the bottom of the College’s inaugural 24-hour alumni fundraising campaign on Housing Day, bringing in $2,411 while the top two houses — Adams and Lowell — raised $170,051 and $51,130.

Spending time with blockmates and House-mates proved to be a key part of undergraduate social life. Over 65 percent of respondents said private dorm parties and House-sponsored events were important, very important, or somewhat important to their social experience.

But some blocking groups drifted apart. While the Class of 2026 reported an average blocking group size of 6 students, respondents said they still get along with an average of 4 blockmates.

Social Life and Final Clubs

Graduating seniors said extracurricular organizations were the most important aspect of social life for the third year in a row, with 94 percent of respondents calling them important, very important, or somewhat important. Off campus bars and restaurants were next, with 80 percent of respondents rating them at least somewhat important.

The Senior Class Committee scored a favorability rating of 77 percent — the highest among the social or extracurricular organizations on the survey. This marks a contrast with last year, when the class of 2025 Senior Class Committee was criticized for minimal attendance at ‘lackluster’ events.

The Harvard Crimson came in second, with 63 percent favorability. The Harvard Republican Club received the lowest favorability rating, with just 4 percent of respondents calling the group very or somewhat favorable.

Twenty-four percent of respondents reported being a member of a final club, sorority, or fraternity while at Harvard, while 69 percent of respondents said they had attended a party or event hosted by a final club.

In keeping with last year, male final clubs were among the least favorable organizations on campus: 52 percent of respondents said they were somewhat or very unfavorable. Fewer students — 36 and 38 percent — found the female and co-ed final clubs respectively unfavorable.

Final club members, in general, were wealthier than the senior class as a whole, according to The Crimson’s senior survey. More than 40 percent of respondents in final clubs reported hailing from families with a combined income of $500,000 or more, compared to just less than 20 percent of all respondents to the survey.

Mental Health

Forty-seven percent of surveyed seniors indicated that they experienced mental illness at some point in their time at Harvard, and 13 percent said they were unsure. Among those who reported experiencing mental illness, just less than 75 percent reported having sought support from Harvard’s Counseling and Mental Health Services, while less than half reported using free telehealth platform TimelyCare. Only 1 percent reported seeking help from on-campus peer counseling groups.

A comparable majority of respondents with mental illnesses — almost 67 percent — said they turned to off-campus professionals for mental health support. Among seniors who used CAMHS, just more than 40 percent reported feeling satisfied with the service — but 43 percent said they were somewhat or very dissatisfied.

Social Media

This year, the three most popular social media platforms among the surveyed seniors were Instagram, LinkedIn, and the anonymous campus forum Sidechat — a noticeable difference from last year, which saw TikTok as the second most popular social media app. This year, 91 percent of respondents said they use Instagram, 78 percent use LinkedIn, and 61 percent use Sidechat, while just 41 percent said they use TikTok — comparable with the 38 percent who said they use Reddit.

Just more than 3 percent of respondents do not use social media — a slight increase from the 2 percent in the Class of 2025.