Why Study at Harvard University? Everything A Student Should Know

Harvard University is a private American higher educational institution located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was established in 16 and since then it has been a symbol of quality education around the world. It is one of world’s best universities where every student of the world wishes to study but only the most gifted or fortunate can get admission. It has an acceptance rate of only 6%. It is also one of world’s most famous universities along with Oxford. Currently there are over 20,000 students studying at Harvard.

At present, there are over 3.6 lac students around the world who graduated from Harvard and all very successful. You will be stunned to see Harvard’s most successful alumni. A degree that you get from Harvard is respected worldwide. Just this one heading on your Resume is enough to get interview call from the biggest of corporations of world.

Harvard Achievements:

Harvard University has always been one of top 3 universities of world. Harvard University is currently ranked 3rd best institute in USA and as well as 3rd best of the world in the latest QS Ranking for2018. Harvard is one of most famous and admired universities in world. Nature Index has ranked Harvard as 2^nd best institute of world in Sciences Research. It contributes the two third of its research in Life Sciences. The Harvard Medical School (HMS), established in 1782, is one of the discipline’s high-fliers. Since the 1930s, fifteen researchers from HMS have shared in nine Nobel Prizes. Click the link to see more of Harvard University Research Achievements. It is also part of Ivy League institutions.

Harvard Successful Alumni:

The most successful, rich and powerful people in the world have studied at Harvard. Every Harvard graduate is sure to make a good successful name. It is probably because of their quality of education and their name as an academic brand.

First every female Prime Minister, late Benazir Bhutto, was a Harvard alumni.

Harvard is a like university of Presidents. America’s 2^nd president John Adams, 6^th president John Quincy Adams, 19^th president Rutherford B. Hayes, 26^th president Theodore Roosevelt, 32^nd president Franklin D. Roosevelt, 35^th president John F. Kennedy, 43^rd president George W. Bush, 44^th president Barack Obama and his wife First Lady of USA Michelle Obama all are Harvard graduates.

The great Author, that I am myself a fan of, lady Helen Keller also studied at Harvard. Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon is a Harvard alumni.

CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg, one of the top wealthiest man alive attended Harvard. Founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, who is the richest man alive also studied at Harvard.

Faculty at Harvard:

Harvard has one of the best faculty of the world. An educational institutes is basically run by its teachers. If teachers are good, institutes is good and we have already discussed what Harvard is. So, you can guess how its faculty must be. Harvard has hired the best of the scholars of their field. Each faculty member is well-known for the achievements in his/her field. Following I have mentioned some of the most eminent faculty members. You may not know them all but if you know your academic, you must have heard of them or you can Google them. Harvard's faculty includes scholars such as:

1.     Biologist E. O. Wilson

2.    Cognitive Scientist Steven Pinker

3.    Physicists Lisa Randall and Roy Glauber

4.    Chemists Elias Corey, Dudley R. Herschbach and George M. Whitesides

5.    Computer Scientists Michael O. Rabin and Leslie Valiant

6.    Shakespeare Scholar Stephen Greenblatt

7.    Writer Louis Menand

8.    Critic Helen Vendler

9.    Historians Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Niall Ferguson

10.  Economists Amartya Sen, N. Gregory Mankiw, Robert Barro, Stephen A. Marglin, Don M. Wilson III and Martin Feldstein

11.  Political Philosophers Harvey Mansfield

12.  Baroness Shirley Williams And Michael Sandel

13.  Fields Medalist Mathematician Shing-Tung Yau

14.  Political Scientists Robert Putnam, Joseph Nye, and Stanley Hoffmann

15.  Scholar/Composers Robert Levin And Bernard Rands

16.  Astrophysicist Alyssa A. Goodman

17.  Legal Scholars Alan Dershowitz and Lawrence Lessig

Schools in Harvard:

Just like departments in a large university, Harvard is also divided into 14 Schools. Every school has its own management and faculty. Each school even have their Financial Aid programs. If you get admission in Harvard, you will actually be studying in one of the following schools inside Harvard.

1.     Harvard Business School

2.    Harvard College

3.    Division of Continuing Education

4.    Harvard School of Dental Medicine

5.    Faculty of Arts & Sciences

6.    Graduate School of Design

7.    Harvard Graduate School of Education

8.    Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

9.    Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

10.  Harvard Kennedy School

11.  Harvard Medical School

12.  Harvard Law School

13.  Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

14.  Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Cost of Studying at Harvard:

Financial Aid at Harvard:

Harvard’s main objective is to spread quality education rather than looting understudies despite being one of the finest institutes of the world. They get hundreds of thousands of admission applications from all over the world and they take only few who are the most eligible and intelligent. Intelligent students are not necessarily financially strong and studying abroad is very expensive. Harvard does its best to help them in this regard.

Harvard is one of the institutes to provide most grants and scholarships to its eligible students. Every year 560 students receive full grant of an average of $56,268. Although federal aid and loans are often unavailable to international students, Harvard University provides 70% of all its students with financial aid and 60% of undergraduates receive the Harvard Scholarship.

Admission Dates in Harvard:

You may apply to Harvard under either our Early Action or our Regular Decision program, both of which allow you to compare admission and financial aid offers from other institutions and to wait until May 1 to make a final college choice.

There are two admission programs at Harvard. One is called Early Action and other is called Regular Decision program. Click to read about Early Action and Regular Decision Program.

1.     Early Action candidates apply by November 1 and receive notification by mid-December.

2.    Regular Decision candidates apply by January 1 and receive notification by late March.

Here is link to official website of Harvard University.

Usama Ahmed Awan The Editor of StudyAbroad.pk, Usama is a BZU studied Software Engineer, now  a Teacher, Article Writer, Educational Counselor and Journalist. He has been  writing to assist students selecting the right career path.