Harvard University

Location and Contact Information

The campus is in a medium-sized city.

Overview

Harvard University is one of the most recognized universities in the world. The school has graduated seven US presidents starting with John Adams and including Franklin D. Roosevelt most recently including John F. Kennedy and George W. Bush. Harvard has been the academic home to over 40 Nobel prize winners.

The oldest higher education institution in the US, Harvard was established in 1636 and as the New College. The name of the university was changed to Harvard College on March 13, 1639. It was named after John Harvard, a young clergyman who graduated from England's Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Presently, Harvard University covers more than 300 acres in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The university's students comprise a diverse mix of backgrounds. Students come from all sections of the US and from more than 100 countries. About two-thirds are from public schools and about the same ratio fund at least part of their tuition through financial aid. Harvard has taught students as young as pre-teens and has granted degrees to students that are as old as 87 years.

Harvard University's individual schools include:

• Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Faculty of Medicine
• Graduate School of Design
• Harvard Business School
• Harvard Divinity School
• Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Harvard Law School
• Harvard School of Public Health
• John F. Kennedy School of Government
• Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

Some of the notable alumni of Harvard University are: A. Michael Spence, 2001 Nobel Prize winner economist; Al Gore, former US Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner; Linda Greenhouse, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times journalist; Tommy Lee Jones, Academy Award winning actor; and Steve Ballmer, President and CEO of Microsoft.

Harvard has a long tradition of athletics. A Harvard athlete was the very first winner of a gold medal in the very first modern Olympics – the medal was for the hop, skip, and jump (now known as the triple jump). The school is part of the Ivy League and its sports teams that have recently competed for national titles in ice hockey, lacrosse, squash, and fencing. With more than 41 varsity sports for men and women, Harvard has the biggest intercollegiate sports program in the US. The name for Harvard's sports team is Crimson, which is also the school color.

Visitors to Harvard University have many activities to select from. A popular tour is to walk the historic campus, including the Old Yard, to take in many well regarded samples of American architecture. Other sites of interest associated with Harvard include: Harvard Museum of Natural History, Peabody Museum, Art Museums, the Harvard Library, and the Harvard Yard gates.

Highlights (vs. Other Schools)

• Many students concentrating in religion and philosophy, mathematics, architecture and planning, liberal arts, medicine, law, family and social work, and science.
• High faculty salary.
• Selective admissions.
• High SAT scores (combined Verbal and Math).
• High percentage of students are from out-of-state.
• Large number of programs of study offered.
• Large number of students.
• Number of dorm rooms for students.
• High yield: the portion of accepted students who enroll.
• Good faculty-to-student ratio.
• High male/female ratio.

School characteristics:

• The school is private, not-for-profit.
• Academic calender: Semester.
• Carnegie classification: Doctoral/Research Universities, Extensive.

Features of note:

• The school offers a faculty tenure system.
• There are one or more libraries on-campus.
• Campus housing is available.
• Students have meal (board) plans.
• Students may study abroad.
• Part-time classes are available.
• ROTC.

Similar Schools

Based on proprietary BrainTrack computer comparisons against all other US colleges, these schools appear to be most similar to Harvard:

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Degrees Awarded (in 2009-2010)

Faculty

Tenure (2009-2010):

Students

Student enrollment was 26,496 in 2009-2010 (25,062 full-time equivalent).

About 50% of the freshmen class in 2009-2010 was male and women were 50% of the class.

Undergrads are 43% of enrolled students and graduate students are 57%.

Students under 25 years old represent 37% of the student body. About 3% of the school is at least 40 years of age.

Admissions Summary (2009-2010)

SAT Test Scores:

Room and Board

Harvard provides on-campus housing for 13,424 of its 25,062 (full-time) students (as of 2009-2010). The school requires freshmen to live on campus.

Students may purchase a meal plan which includes 21 meals weekly.

Athletics

School sports include football, basketball, baseball, and track. The school is in the Ivy Group for major sports.

Graduate School Focus

Harvard offers graduate (post-Bachelor) studies. The highest degree offered is the Doctorate (Research/Scholarship & Professional Practice).

Graduate offerings include continuing professional education and medical degrees.The school's Graduate School Carnegie Classification is Comprehensive Doctoral With Medical/Veterinary.

Programs of Study

(Number of degrees in 2009-2010 in parentheses)

(1 awarded)

ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING (212 awarded)

• Architecture (BArch, BA/BS, MArch, MA/MS, PhD)
• City/Urban, Community and Regional Planning
• Landscape Architecture (BS, BSLA, BLA, MSLA, MLA, PhD)

ART STUDIES (45 awarded)

• Art/Art Studies
• Visual and Performing Arts

BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT (936 awarded)

• Business Administration and Management
• Business/Commerce
• Business/Managerial Economics
• Organizational Behavior Studies

COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (57 awarded)

• Computer Science
• Computer and Information Sciences
• Computer/Info Tech Services Administration & Management

CONSERVATION AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (29 awarded)

• Environmental Studies
• Natural Resources Management and Policy

EDUCATION AND TEACHING (598 awarded)

• Education
• Technology Teacher Education/Industrial Arts Teacher Education

ENGINEERING (70 awarded)

• Engineering Science

FAMILY AND SOCIAL WORK (527 awarded)

• Public Administration
• Public Policy Analysis

FINE ARTS (22 awarded)

• Art History, Criticism and Conservation

LAW (731 awarded)

• Advanced Legal Research/Studies, Gen (LLM, MCL, MLI, MSL, JSD/SJD)
• Law (LLB, JD)

LIBERAL ARTS (1,883 awarded)

• African-American/Black Studies
• American History (United States)
• Anthropology
• Area Studies
• Celtic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
• Classics/Classical Languages, Lit & Linguistics
• Comparative Literature
• East Asian Studies
• Economics
• English Language and Literature
• English Language and Literature/Letters
• German Language and Literature
• History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
• History
• Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities
• Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
• Linguistics
• Near and Middle Eastern Studies
• Political Science and Government
• Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
• Sanskrit/Classical Indian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
• Slavic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
• Social Sciences
• Sociology
• Women's Studies

MATHEMATICS (153 awarded)

• Applied Mathematics
• Mathematics
• Statistics

MEDIA (4 awarded)

• Communication and Media Studies

MEDICINE (715 awarded)

• Advanced General Dentistry (Cert, MS, PhD)
• Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences
• Dentistry (DDS, DMD)
• Medicine (MD)
• Oral Biology and Oral Pathology (MS, PhD)
• Pre-Medicine/Pre-Medical Studies
• Public Health, General (MPH, DPH)
• Public Health

MUSIC (18 awarded)

• Music

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY (230 awarded)

• Divinity/Ministry (BD, MDiv)
• Philosophy
• Religion/Religious Studies
• Theology and Religious Vocations
• Theology/Theological Studies

SCIENCE (681 awarded)

• Astronomy
• Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Atomic/Molecular Physics
• Biochemistry
• Biochemistry/Biophysics and Molecular Biology
• Biological and Biomedical Sciences
• Biology/Biological Sciences
• Biophysics
• Biostatistics
• Cell/Cellular Biology and Histology
• Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology
• Chemistry
• Evolutionary Biology
• Genetics
• Geology/Earth Science
• Immunology
• Medical Microbiology and Bacteriology
• Neurobiology and Neurophysiology
• Pathology/Experimental Pathology
• Physics
• Virology

THERAPY AND COUNSELING (124 awarded)

• Psychology
• Social Psychology