Harvard University — All Rankings Are Wrong

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Basic Information

Type Private

Geographical Reach National

Location Cambridge, MA

Population 4,000,000

Website http://www.harvard.edu/

Weather

Comfortable Days 110 (71%)

Sunshine Hours 2,634 (56%)

Days Without Precipitation 239 (33%)

Demographics

Total Undergraduates 7,269

Men / Women 46% / 54%

From State 15%

From Region 13%

Athletes 16.9%

Racial/Ethnic

White 30%

Asian 23%

International 15%

Hispanic 12%

Black 9%

Mixed 8%

Native American 1%

Men in the Entering Class

Men

Entering Class by Race & Ethnicity

Native Asian Black Hispanic White International

Share of the full-time first-time degree-seeking cohort. Groups IPEDS reports separately — two or more races, and race unknown — are left out, so the lines don't sum to 100%.

Enrolled Undergraduates by Race & Ethnicity

Native Asian Black Hispanic White International

Share of all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates, not just the entering class. Same excluded groups as above.

IPEDS Admissions (2011–2024), Graduation Rates (2011–2024) and 12-month Enrollment (2020–2025) surveys. Years a college didn't file leave a gap in the line.

Schools & Majors

⇅	Degrees	Male/Female	Intl	Earnings	ROI	Employment
Harvard College	1,698	44% / 56%	12%	$101,948	94	91%
Astrophysics	10 +4	70% / 30%	0%	$98,231	92	—
Chemistry	30 —	40% / 60%	10%	$90,033	86	—
Chemistry and Physics	11 —	27% / 73%	9%	$98,547	92	—
Earth and Planetary Sciences	6 +1	33% / 67%	0%	$70,051	58	—
Mathematics	58 +36	74% / 26%	24%	$159,326	100	—
Physics	52 +20	62% / 38%	33%	$101,790	94	—
Statistics	63 +30	62% / 38%	13%	$215,398	100	94%
Chemical and Physical Biology	10 +1	70% / 30%	20%	$83,236	80	—
Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology	50 +1	36% / 64%	4%	$81,758	79	75%
Integrative Biology	27 —	63% / 37%	4%	$88,135	85	95%
Molecular and Cellular Biology	46 +5	26% / 74%	11%	$81,758	79	75%
Neurobiology	2 +8	50% / 50%	0%	$70,495	59	90%
Neuroscience	127 +6	35% / 65%	8%	$70,495	59	90%
Organismic and Evolutionary Biology	73 +6	27% / 73%	15%	$72,937	65	96%
Economics	278 +48	63% / 37%	19%	$150,856	100	97%
African and African American Studies	2 +10	0% / 100%	0%	$71,411	61	—
Anthropology	13 +6	23% / 77%	15%	$77,262	73	—
Classics	7 +6	71% / 29%	0%	$92,629	88	—
Comparative Literature	2 +1	0% / 100%	50%	$66,186	48	—
East Asian Studies	6 +7	17% / 83%	0%	$71,695	62	—
English	45 +2	27% / 73%	4%	$59,952	30	92%
Environmental Science and Public Policy	23 +3	65% / 35%	9%	$71,005	60	—
Folklore and Mythology	2 +2	0% / 100%	0%	$81,070	78	—
German	1 +3	100% / 0%	0%	—	—	—
Government	141 +40	54% / 46%	11%	$109,910	97	94%
History	56 +10	46% / 54%	11%	$88,287	85	94%
History and Literature	56 +3	30% / 70%	2%	$88,287	85	94%
History of Science	53 +7	19% / 81%	0%	$88,287	85	94%
Humanities	22 —	50% / 50%	5%	$83,304	80	91%
Linguistics	6 +4	17% / 83%	33%	$75,698	70	—
Near Eastern Languages	6 +6	50% / 50%	0%	$75,783	70	—
Philosophy	29 +22	38% / 62%	14%	$83,445	81	—
Psychology	101 +16	33% / 67%	9%	$95,666	90	89%
Religion	4 +7	50% / 50%	0%	$70,698	60	—
Research Methodology and Quantitative Methods	48 +8	25% / 75%	4%	—	—	—
Romance Languages	9 +7	22% / 78%	0%	$76,045	71	—
Slavic Languages	3 +5	67% / 33%	33%	—	—	—
Social Studies	157 +1	38% / 62%	11%	$71,375	61	80%
Sociology	— —	—	—	$84,149	81	94%
South Asian Studies	1 +2	100% / 0%	0%	$71,338	61	—
Special Concentration	4 —	25% / 75%	0%	$83,304	80	91%
Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality	6 +7	17% / 83%	0%	$64,588	44	—
History of Art and Architecture	11 +5	27% / 73%	0%	$47,407	6	—
Music	8 +7	62% / 38%	0%	$44,132	4	—
Theater, Dance, and Media	33 +14	27% / 73%	12%	$46,036	5	—

⇅	Degrees	Male/Female	Intl	Earnings	ROI	Employment
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences	460	61% / 39%	21%	$170,370	100	97%
Biomedical Engineering	13 +1	23% / 77%	8%	$92,660	88	—
Electrical Engineering	9 —	44% / 56%	22%	$143,934	100	—
Engineering Sciences	42 +3	52% / 48%	21%	$81,411	78	100%
Mechanical Engineering	34 —	68% / 32%	24%	$93,177	89	—
Artificial Intelligence	1 —	100% / 0%	100%	—	—	—
Computer Science	224 +40	66% / 34%	20%	$206,318	100	97%
Applied Mathematics	137 +5	58% / 42%	23%	$167,135	100	96%

Financial

Tuition & Fees $66,852

ROI Percentile 98th

Retention & Graduation

Full-Time Retention 98%

4-Year Graduation Rate 56%

6-Year Graduation Rate 98%

Transfer-Out Rate 0%

Six-Year Graduation Rate

Graduated

Students finishing within 150% of normal time. Each year labels the cohort that entered six years earlier — 2024 tracks the class that started in 2018.

Six-Year Graduation Rate by Gender

Men Women

IPEDS reports the cohort as men and women only.

Six-Year Graduation Rate by Race & Ethnicity

Asian Black Hispanic White International

Each group's completers over its own share of the entering cohort. Groups making up less than 2% of everyone this college graduated over the period are left off — their rates swing on a handful of students and read as noise.

IPEDS Graduation Rates survey, 2011–2024. Years a college didn't file leave a gap in the line.

Earnings by Major Category

Each major category's degree-weighted estimated median 5-year earnings at this college, expressed as a z-score against the national degree-weighted distribution for that category. 0 is the national average. The shaded band between +1.28 and −1.28 marks the central 80% of the national distribution (10th–90th percentile).

Academics

⇅	%	Degrees	Male/Female	Intl	Earnings	ROI	Employment
Humanities & Social Sciences	37.2%	803	38% / 62%	8%	$86,158	83	89%
Physical Sciences & Math	17.0%	367	59% / 41%	20%	$153,104	100	95%
Life & Natural Sciences	15.5%	335	36% / 64%	9%	$76,057	71	87%
Business & Economics	12.9%	278	63% / 37%	19%	$150,856	100	97%
Computer Science	10.4%	225	66% / 34%	20%	$206,318	100	97%
Engineering	4.5%	98	53% / 47%	20%	$92,727	88	100%
Arts	2.4%	52	33% / 67%	8%	$46,033	5	—

Research R1

⇅	Research $	Rank	Federal	Industry $	PhDs	Rank	PhD students	Postdocs
Life & Natural Sciences	$669M	#2	56%	$33.9M	177	#1	1,170	1,263
Humanities & Social Sciences	$218M	#2	22%	$1.1M	225	#4	546	178
Physical Sciences & Math	$189M	#15	53%	$14.0M	95	#23	658	293
Health Sciences	$145M	#52	52%	$5.4M	51	#39	300	3,800
Engineering	$106M	#50	45%	$5.0M	52	#70	357	219
Business & Economics	$76.8M	#2	4%	$0.8M	70	#6	117	5
Education	$51.1M	#7	22%	$1.3M	18	#236	—	—
Computer Science	$25.8M	#40	35%	$1.4M	23	#41	140	31
Agriculture & Food Science	$3.2M	#106	70%	$0.6M	1	#115	—	24
Total	$1,486M	#17	45%	$63.6M	712	#17	3,288	5,813

Expenditure and funding source: NSF HERD, FY2024. Degrees: IPEDS completions, 2023–24. Students and postdocs: NSF Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates, fall 2024, which covers science, engineering and selected health fields only. An em dash means the source does not report the figure, which is not the same as zero.

Admissions

Uses Common App Yes

Acceptance Rate 4%

Yield (Unbound) 84%

Restrictive Early Action Nov 1

Regular Decision Jan 1

Acceptance Rates

	In-State	Out-of-State	International
Regular Decision	4%	4%	4%

Early Action and Restrictive Early Action applicants are reported at the regular-decision rate.

Acceptance & Yield

Acceptance Yield

Applicants, Admitted & Enrolled

Applicants Admitted Enrolled

IPEDS Admissions survey, 2011–2024. Years a college didn't file leave a gap in the line.

Standardized Tests

Test Policy required

Submitted Test Scores 100%

SAT Range 1440 – 1550

SAT Math Range 730 – 790

SAT RW Range 720 – 770

SAT Composite

25th 75th

SAT Math

25th 75th

SAT Reading & Writing

25th 75th

Submitting a Test Score

Submitted

IPEDS Admissions survey, 2011–2024. Years a college didn't file leave a gap in the line. Test-score submission adds SAT and ACT submitters, capped at 100% — a student can send both.