Harvard University Data & Information Overview

This overview covers the essential stats on Harvard University, including its rankings, majors, diversity, and more. Want to know more about a specific stat? Just click on its tile, and you'll go to a page that goes more in-depth on that subject. You can also use the links below to go directly to any section on this page.

• Rankings
• Admission and Acceptance
• Faculty
• Retention and Graduation Rates
• Diversity
• Cost
• Student Debt
• Average Earnings
• Location
• Majors
• Online Learning
• Related Schools

How Well Is Harvard University Ranked?

2020 Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

Harvard University was awarded 221 badges in the 2020 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is economics.

Overall Quality

According to College Factual's 2020 analysis, Harvard is ranked #5 out of 1,727 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 1% of all schools in the nation!

Out of the 70 colleges in Massachusetts, Harvard is ranked at #2.

See all of the rankings for Harvard University.

Is It Hard to Get Into Harvard?

Acceptance Rate

Even if you have the best grades and high test scores, that may not be enough to get into Harvard since the school has one of the most selective in the country. Its acceptance rate is a mere 5%, so there's no shame if you don't get in. Be sure to apply to other schools just in case.

Average Test Scores

About 67% of students accepted to Harvard submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 730 and 790. Math scores were between 730 and 800.

Harvard received ACT scores from 53% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 32 and 35.

Learn more about Harvard University admissions.

Harvard University Faculty

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio is often used to measure the number of teaching resources that a college or university offers its students. The national average for this metric is 15 to 1, but at Harvard it is much better at 7 to 1. That's good news for students who want to interact more on a personal level with their teachers.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Harvard University is 86%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Retention and Graduation Rates at Harvard University

Freshmen Retention Rate

Harvard University has a freshmen retention rate of 98%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Harvard the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 86%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Harvard University.

Excellent Overall Diversity at Harvard

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 9,965 undergraduates at Harvard with 7,147 being full-time and 2,818 being part-time.

Harvard Diversity Score

College Factual computes an overall diversity score for each college and university that takes gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and age into account. Schools with the best mixtures of students with respect to these factors are ranked the highest, and those that cater to just one or two student groups are ranked the lowest.

With an overall score of 99.59 out of 100, Harvard is one of the most diverse schools in the nation.

Get more detailed information on diversity and student demographics at Harvard University.

How Much Does Harvard University Cost?

The overall average net price of Harvard is $14,327. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Harvard, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Harvard, approximately 9% of students took out student loans averaging $7,372 a year. That adds up to $29,488 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Harvard is 1.2%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for Harvard University.

How Much Money Do Harvard Graduates Make?

Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Harvard with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $89,700 in their early years. That's great news for Harvard students since it is 120% more than the average college graduate's salary of $40,800 per year.

See which majors at Harvard University make the most money.

Location of Harvard University

Harvard University is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The city atmosphere of Cambridge makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.

Get more details about the location of Harvard University.

Contact details for Harvard are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	Massachusetts Hall, Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone:	617-495-1000
Website:	www.harvard.edu
Facebook:	http://facebook.com/harvard
Twitter:	http://twitter.com/harvard

Harvard University Majors

During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 99 majors graduated from Harvard University. Of these students, 2,861 received undergraduate degrees and 6,287 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors	Bachelor’s Degrees	Average Salary of Graduates
Economics	345	$78,800
Computer Science	238	$128,900
Political Science & Government	199	$51,800
General Social Sciences	163	$52,000
History	163	$48,000
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences	111	$48,200
Public Health	105	NA
General Psychology	102	NA
Statistics	100	$126,100
General English Literature	88	$37,300

Learn more about the majors offered at Harvard University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at Harvard

Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.

In 2017-2018, 5,681 students took at least one online class at Harvard University. This is an increase from the 4,600 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year	Took at Least One Online Class	Took All Classes Online
2017-2018	5,681	4,087
2016-2017	4,600	3,244
2015-2016	3,885	2,698
2014-2015	3,081	2,032
2013-2014	2,197	1,415

Learn more about online learning at Harvard University.

Related Schools

If you’re considering Harvard University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

• Amherst College
• Bowdoin College
• Dartmouth College
• University of Pennsylvania
• Vanderbilt University

Curious on how these schools stack up against Harvard? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

References

• National Center for Education Statistics
• College Scorecard
• Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
• Image Credit: By Elisa.rolle under License