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STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS, INC. v. PRESIDENT 
AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE 
Opinion of the Court 

selective application processes in the country.  Over 60,000 
people applied to the school last year; fewer than 2,000 were 
admitted.  Gaining  admission  to  Harvard  is  thus  no  easy 
feat.  It can depend on having excellent grades, glowing rec-
ommendation  letters,  or  overcoming  significant  adversity.
See 980 F. 3d 157, 166–169 (CA1 2020).  It can also depend 
on your race.

The  admissions  process  at  Harvard  works  as  follows. 
Every  application  is  initially  screened  by  a  “first  reader,” 
who assigns scores in six categories: academic, extracurric-
ular, athletic, school support, personal, and overall.  Ibid. 
A rating of “1” is the best; a rating of “6” the worst.  Ibid.  In 
the  academic  category,  for  example,  a  “1”  signifies  “near-
perfect standardized test scores and grades”; in the extra-
curricular  category,  it  indicates  “truly  unusual  achieve-
ment”; and in the personal category, it denotes “outstand-
leadership, 
ing”  attributes 
kindness, and courage.  Id., at 167–168.  A score of “1” on 
the overall rating—a composite of the five other ratings—
“signifies an exceptional candidate with >90% chance of ad-
mission.”  Id., at 169 (internal quotation marks omitted).  In 
assigning the overall rating, the first readers “can and do
take an applicant’s race into account.”  Ibid. 

like  maturity, 

integrity, 

Once the first read process is complete, Harvard convenes
Ibid.  Each  subcommittee 
admissions  subcommittees. 
meets  for  three  to  five  days  and  evaluates  all  applicants 
from a particular geographic area.  Ibid.  The subcommit-
tees are responsible for making recommendations to the full 
admissions  committee.  Id.,  at  169–170.    The  subcommit-
tees can and do take an applicant’s race into account when 
making their recommendations.  Id., at 170. 

The next step of the Harvard process is the full committee 
meeting.  The committee has 40 members, and its discus-
sion centers around the applicants who have been recom-
mended by the regional subcommittees.  Ibid.  At the begin-
ning  of  the  meeting,  the  committee  discusses  the  relative