Harvard University

“The world's most influential university — where the resources of a global institution meet the intimacy of a residential liberal arts college.”

Harvard University, founded in 1636, is the oldest university in the United States and one of the most globally recognized institutions of higher learning. It is home to one of the world's largest university endowments — over $50 billion — which funds an unparalleled breadth of academic programs, financial aid, and research infrastructure. Harvard College, the undergraduate division, enrolls around 6,700 students in one of the most selective admission processes in the world, admitting just 2,003 of 47,893 applicants to the Class of 2029 (a 4.2% acceptance rate). Roughly 16% of each entering class comes from outside the United States, drawn from more than 100 countries. Harvard College offers concentrations (majors) across more than 50 fields organized through the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), with particular strength in government, economics, life sciences, applied mathematics, computer science, and the humanities. The curriculum balances a General Education distribution system (four Gen Ed courses across Aesthetics & Culture, Ethics & Civics, Histories/Societies/Individuals, and Science & Technology in Society) with deep specialization, and all undergraduates complete a senior thesis or capstone project. The residential House system — 13 upperclassman Houses built around dining halls, libraries, and common rooms — creates lifelong communities within the larger university. Harvard's position at the center of the Cambridge-Boston intellectual ecosystem gives students unparalleled access to MIT (a 10-minute walk), world-class teaching hospitals, and hundreds of biotech and tech companies. International students benefit from Harvard's need-blind admissions (one of only ~11 US universities that is need-blind for non-US citizens) and from a dedicated Harvard International Office that supports F-1/J-1 visa holders through a 24-month STEM OPT pipeline in addition to the standard 12-month OPT. The alumni network spans virtually every field of human endeavor, from government (eight U.S. presidents) to business to the arts, creating a uniquely powerful global community that opens doors throughout a graduate's career.