Harvard is known as one of the most prestigious schools in the country.
Just hearing the name Harvard University will turn heads.
If you are thinking about attending Harvard, or you are just curious, you might be wondering why Harvard is so good.
Let’s talk about Harvard and ten reasons Harvard University is that good.
Why Is Harvard So Good? (10 Reasons)
1. Beautiful Campus
Anyone who has ever seen Harvard’s campus knows that it is beautiful.
It gives the feel of a very old college campus with the most beautiful scenery.
Harvard’s campus has lots of stunning and large trees all over campus along with unique architecture everywhere you turn.
The campus itself is one of the main reasons why people enjoy attending Harvard.
According to bestcollegereviews.org, Harvard’s campus is in the top 30 of the most beautiful campuses in the United States.
The beauty of the campus is the first impression that many people get of the college and Harvard takes pride in the fact that the campus itself provides some beauty for those that are visiting and attending the school.
2. Excellent Resources
The university is known for having some of the best resources available to its students.
Their library is the largest private library in the world with more than 17 million volumes.
Just this resource alone will give students access to almost any information they could ever need.
Harvard also has resources for helping fund students studying abroad or doing research abroad.
The university is a big proponent of students having some form of international experience at one point or another.
They also offer the latest technology and equipment for students.
For those who want to be able to study utilizing everything that is the most current, then Harvard will be a good choice.
This can be critically important for students who are wanting to study in the medical and science fields.
3. Outstanding Education
Harvard is known as one of the top universities on the planet.
Their education standards are second to none, and students who attend Harvard are guaranteed to be taught by some of the best professors in the world.
The college offers more than 3,700 courses with students having the ability to learn in world-class laboratories and research centers.
Harvard’s academic environment provides students with the best learning environment.
The class sizes contribute to students’ success with a median class size of 12.
This allows students to get more individualized attention from professors.
Their student-to-faculty ratio is 7:1 which also gives students a more attentive learning environment.
Getting an education at Harvard is not easy, but students will leave Harvard having learned exactly what they need to excel in their future careers.
Students that have graduated from Harvard have gone on to have some of the most successful careers.
There have been many famous graduates of Harvard including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Tommy Lee Jones, Natalie Portman, John F. Kennedy, Al Gore, Barack Obama, and Bill Gates.
4. Variety Of Programs
Harvard offers a wide variety of programs to study when attending the school.
Whether you are interested in law, medicine, sociology, psychology, journalism, or something else, you are likely to find a program that interests you.
In total, Harvard has 13 different schools that offer undergraduate and graduate degrees.
From these 13 different schools, there are 50 concentrations, also known as college majors, and 49 secondary fields that are referred to as minors.
As a student at Harvard, you are required to eventually select a major field of concentration, but a minor is optional.
Harvard’s schools include:
- Harvard Business School
- Harvard Division of Continuing Education
- Harvard Divinity School
- Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
- Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
- Harvard Graduate School of Design
- Harvard Graduate School of Education
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
- Harvard Kennedy School
- Harvard Law School
- Harvard Medical School
- Harvard School of Dental Medicine
- Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
5. Easier To Find A Career
Having your resume read that you attended Harvard will immediately improve your chances of being hired for a position.
Getting an education at Harvard is not easy.
Employers know this, so it is taken into account when you apply somewhere that you have put in a good amount of work at a top-tier university.
This is part of what makes Harvard so good.
Students know that when they graduate from Harvard, they will have an easier time finding a career because of receiving an education there.
Along with looking good on a resume to have a degree from Harvard, the college also gives students opportunities to find employment while they are still attending school.
This allows for potential experience in your field of interest which also improves your chances of finding a job after college.
6. Network Of Contacts
It is well known that those people that receive a degree from Harvard go on to become very successful in their careers and land jobs for some of the largest companies in the world.
This is because, while studying as a student at Harvard University, you are introduced to a network of Harvard graduates who are working in successful careers with large companies.
By doing this networking, students have opportunities lined up prior to even graduating.
Harvard encourages you to reach out to professors and join clubs and organizations so you can meet new people and learn more about the field of study in which you hope to find a career.
Once you become an alum of Harvard University, you will also have access to a lot of networking opportunities
They will give you access to an alumni directory, allow you to post job opportunities for students, and you can even become a mentor.
Harvard continues to support you well past graduation and wants to see you move on and continue to succeed.
7. Extracurricular Activities
Harvard is known for its abundance of extracurricular activities for students.
There are more than 450 clubs and organizations for students to join, and many times, you can find extracurricular activities that fall under your field of study.
There are organizations for government, comedy, business, and journalism, among many others.
They also have organizations just to have fun and meet other students.
Harvard will even give you money to start your own club or organization, so the opportunities are endless.
Outside of organizations, there are also more than 42 varsity sports teams at Harvard if students are wanting to get involved in a team sport through the university.
8. Financial Aid
Harvard offers a generous financial aid program because they do not want finances to be the reason an accepted student cannot attend the university.
Their financial aid program is need-based, and for many students, the cost to attend Harvard will be the same or less than attending a local or state college.
According to Harvard, 20% of families pay nothing for tuition, and 55% of students receive Harvard scholarship aid.
Financial aid through the college is 100% need-based and has nothing to do with merit.
Harvard will also meet 100% of the student’s demonstrated needs.
For many families, the need is usually between 0 and 10% of the family’s income.
If a student is accepted to Harvard but cannot afford to pay full tuition, they can immediately contact the university to work with their financial aid department and discuss the available options.
Harvard never bases acceptance into the university on the need for financial aid.
This is never taken into account when considering a student for acceptance into the university.
They want everyone to apply regardless of their financial situation and have a strong stance on helping any student who gets accepted and needs significant financial assistance.
9. Great Location
Harvard’s campus is located right outside of Boston, which gives college students unlimited things to do.
Harvard is technically located in Cambridge, Massachusetts which is right across the Charles River from Boston.
Boston is a huge city with plenty of things to do, including sports games, restaurants, shopping, and sightseeing.
Those who attend Harvard tend to love living in the Boston area and have no shortage of things to do when they decide to venture off campus.
Some of the top things to do in Boston include:
- Attending a Red Sox game at Fenway Park
- Walking the Freedom Trail
- Going to the North End to shop and eat
- Touring the Samuel Adams Brewery
- Visiting the Boston Public Library
- Taking a duck boat tour
- Visiting Paul Revere’s house
10. Good Housing
The housing that Harvard offers is excellent and many students end up staying on campus all four years while studying at the college.
The first year that you attend Harvard you will stay at the Harvard Yard, which is a historic housing hall on campus.
The school puts great thought into pairing students who will be living together in order to provide the best on-campus living experience from the start.
First-year students will also partake in activities created just for them such as Opening Days and the Harvard-Yale tailgate.
Towards the end of your first year at Harvard, you will get to participate in Housing Day.
This is the day that you will get assigned your upper-level housing which is where you will reside for the remainder of your time at Harvard.
Each house has approximately 350–500 students who will be living in the house along with a Faculty Dean who lives there with their family.
Is Getting Into Harvard University Difficult?
Harvard University has been determined to be one of the most difficult colleges to get into currently.
For the class of 2026, they only had a 3.19% admission rate which is extremely low.
Harvard looks at several factors when determining whether to accept a student into the university.
This includes academic potential, character, letters of recommendation, college interviews, and extracurricular activities.
Each year, tens of thousands of people apply with hopes to get into Harvard and only a very small percentage will actually be accepted.
Being accepted into Harvard is a huge accomplishment and something that only a very small number of people can stake claim to.
What GPA Is Required To Get Into Harvard?
Because Harvard is such a tough school to get accepted into, you need a nearly perfect GPA to be admitted.
Most people have at least a 4.0 unweighted GPA.
Some applicants will have higher than a 4.0 and still not be accepted into the university.
Is Harvard The #1 School In The World?
According to US News, Harvard is ranked as the #1 school globally.
This is based on rankings in several categories that each hold different weights in the overall ranking decision.
It is not easy to make this list and Harvard scored very well in each category which led to their #1 ranking.
US News uses the below categories and weights to determine which schools make their list of the Best Global Universities.
- Global research reputation at 12.5%
- Regional research reputation at 12.5%
- Publications at 10%
- Books at 2.5%
- Conferences at 2.5%
- Normalized citizen impact at 10%
- Total citations at 7.5%
- Number of publications that are among the 10% most cited at 10%
- International collaboration relative to country at 5%
- International collaboration at 5%
- Number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited in their respective field at 5%
- Percentage of total publications that are among the top 1% most highly cited papers at 5%
How Expensive Is It To Attend Harvard University?
Harvard offers excellent financial aid and scholarships to a large number of students that attend the university each year.
This is because attending Harvard is not cheap.
It can be quite expensive to pay for Harvard out of pocket for four years or longer.
A year of tuition at Harvard is $52,659, fees are $4,602, room is $12,056, board is $7,446, and estimated personal costs are approximately $3,500.
This adds up to a total of more than $80,000 per year.
Without any sort of financial aid, the tuition combined with other costs can add up over the span of someone’s entire time spent at Harvard.
Therefore, Harvard is considered expensive to attend and does cost more than most state and local colleges.
Does Harvard Offer Financial Aid For Foreign Students?
Harvard does offer financial aid for foreign students.
They will not be able to qualify for federal funding if they are not United States citizens, but they are eligible for the same financial aid that American students are.
The university offers its own scholarship programs and funding for foreign students so if a foreign student is accepted and needs financial aid they can contact the school immediately to learn about the options that are available for them.
Foreign students will get the same amount of consideration for financial aid that American students get, and Harvard uses the same means to determine the need for financial aid.
Conclusion
Although Harvard University is one of the hardest schools to get into, they have a great reputation.
Students who attend Harvard almost always go on to have successful careers.
Harvard not only offers an excellent education, but they also have extracurricular activities and a variety of programs for students.
With their stunning campus and graduate success rate, Harvard will continue to remain one of the most sought-after colleges to attend in the world.
