![Harvard University]( "Harvard University")
Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders in many disciplines who make a difference globally. The University, which is based in Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts, has an enrollment of over 20,000 degree candidates, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Harvard has more than 360,000 alumni around the world.
Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States, established in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was named after the College’s first benefactor, the young minister John Harvard of Charlestown, who upon his death in 1638 left his library and half his estate to the institution. A statue of John Harvard stands today in front of University Hall in Harvard Yard, and is perhaps the University’s best known landmark. Harvard University has 12 degree-granting Schools in addition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The University has grown from nine students with a single master to an enrollment of more than 20,000 degree candidates including undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. There are more than 360,000 living alumni in the U.S. and over 190 other countries.
Harvard University has around 22,000 students across the College, graduate, and professional schools located in Cambridge and Boston. When people refer to Harvard students, often they mean the subset of roughly 6,700 students who attend Harvard College. Students arrive every year in late August.
Harvard College’s diverse student population makes it hard to describe the typical student and even harder to describe the quintessential Harvard student experience. Students come from all 50 states and from over 80 countries; from cities, suburbs, small towns and farms; from public, private and parochial schools; from every ethnic and religious background; and from across the economic spectrum. Based on longstanding tradition and an extensive financial aid program, Harvard is committed to making educational opportunity accessible to all, with over 60% of the undergraduate population receiving financial aid.
With over 400 official student organizations including extracurricular, co-curricular and athletic opportunities in addition to academics, Harvard students are active around and beyond campus. Whether in Harvard Stadium playing on the field or cheering on The Harvard Crimson, volunteering through organizations like PBHA, fostering entrepreneurial activities in the Harvard innovation lab, writing or editing at The Harvard Crimson or The Harvard Lampoon, or researching in one of the many labs, Harvard students are continuously learning — and constantly busy!
Demographics for the class of 2016:
17% are from New England
22% are from the Mid Atlantic
19% are from the South
10% are from the Midwest
21% are from the Western and Mountain states
11% are international or from U.S. territories
Harvard College is committed to making a college education affordable for all admitted students.
Freshman applicants
All freshman applicants—both international and U.S. candidates—must complete the Common Application, the Universal College Application, or the Coalition Application along with the required supplements. You will need to submit:
Common/Universal College Application
Harvard College Questions for the Common Application or the Universal College Application Harvard supplement
$75 fee or a fee waiver
ACT with writing or old SAT or new SAT with writing
Normally, 2 SAT Subject Tests
School Report and high school transcript
Teacher Report (2)
Mid-Year School Report
Final School Report
Required Forms, Test Scores, and Evaluations
Applicants start by submitting a complete application with the following materials:
Application and supplements
$75 application fee or a fee waiver request
ACT with writing or old SAT or new SAT with writing
Normally, two SAT Subject Tests
Secondary School Report (including transcripts) and Mid-Year School Report
Two teacher evaluations
*You may submit either the Common Application (with the Harvard questions and Harvard Writing Supplement) or the Universal College Application (with the Harvard Supplement).