Harvard University — Full Profile & Ranking 2026

Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, founded in 1636. It is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Undergraduates study at Harvard College, which offers a liberal arts and sciences education, and the wider university includes graduate and professional schools such as Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Medical School.

Harvard describes its admissions and financial aid processes as the same for all applicants regardless of nationality or citizenship, with no quotas for international applicants. The tuition and admissions figures on this page refer to Harvard College (undergraduate) unless stated otherwise.

Harvard ranked 5th in the QS World University Rankings 2027, published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) in June 2026. In the same edition MIT ranked 1st, Imperial College London and Stanford tied for 2nd, Oxford ranked 4th, and Cambridge ranked 6th. QS reports that Harvard leads the world on four of its individual indicators.

QS ranks universities using academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty, student-to-faculty ratio, and measures of international faculty and students. This is a QS-specific result and not one universal ranking. Other systems, such as Times Higher Education and ARWU, use different methods and can order universities differently.

Sources: QS TopUniversities and the QS World University Rankings 2027 press release (18 June 2026).

Harvard College offers a liberal arts and sciences education with a wide range of fields of study, which Harvard calls concentrations. Among the Class of 2029, intended fields of study were 35% social sciences, 27% natural sciences, 25% engineering, and 12% humanities (Harvard Admissions). Harvard’s graduate and professional schools are also globally known:

• Law — Harvard Law School
• Business — Harvard Business School
• Medicine & Public Health — Harvard Medical School and the T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Government & Public Policy — Harvard Kennedy School
• Engineering & Applied Sciences — the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

For the full list of concentrations, see Harvard’s official concentrations page.

Harvard evaluates applications holistically. First-year (undergraduate) admission to Harvard College and graduate admission to Harvard’s schools are separate processes.

First-Year Undergraduate Admissions

Details follow Harvard College’s official pages (checked October 2026). Dates change every year, so confirm them before applying.

Graduate and Professional Admissions

Each Harvard graduate and professional school, such as Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School, and the Kennedy School, runs its own admissions process with its own deadlines, tests, and English requirements. Check the specific school’s website before applying.

Official sources: Application requirements and International applicants.

Harvard shares its admissions data once a year, in the fall after students enroll. The most recent figures published on its statistics page (checked October 2026) are for the Class of 2029. Harvard received 47,893 applications and admitted 2,003 students, an acceptance rate of about 4.2% (calculated from Harvard’s published numbers).

This is a historical rate for one entering class and not a confirmed figure for the cycle you are applying in. Harvard has said it will publish annual admissions data in the October to November period.

Source: Harvard College admissions statistics. The percentage is calculated from the published figures.

• Confirm the current Restrictive Early Action (November 1) or Regular Decision (January 1) deadline on Harvard College’s admissions site
• Register for the SAT or ACT early enough to report scores before your deadline
• Ask two teachers from different subjects to complete teacher recommendations
• Ask your school counselor to prepare the Secondary School Report and the Midyear School Report, including predicted grades if you study IB or A-levels
• Complete the Common Application and Harvard’s five short-answer questions
• Use Harvard’s Net Price Calculator and prepare financial aid documents if you plan to apply for aid
• Request a fee waiver if the application fee is a hardship
• Verify every date and requirement on Harvard’s official website before submitting

The figures below are Harvard College’s published undergraduate costs for the 2026–2027 academic year, before financial aid.

Harvard’s published figures replace older numbers you may see online: tuition was US$59,320 in 2025–26 and US$56,550 in 2024–25. Graduate and professional school costs differ by program. The amount a family pays depends on financial aid.

Source: Harvard College — How Aid Works and the Harvard FAS Registrar tuition table. Fees are set annually and can change.

Harvard offers need-based aid only, with no merit scholarships. It states that international students are eligible for exactly the same aid as American students, that admissions are need-blind, and that it meets 100% of demonstrated financial need.

• Zero parent contribution: for families with annual income below US$100,000, the expected parent contribution is zero
• Tuition covered: for families with income up to US$200,000, financial aid will cover at least the full cost of tuition
• Higher incomes: aid is still available above US$200,000, depending on individual circumstances
• No required loans: Harvard says it will never require students to take out loans
• Student contribution: all students are expected to contribute from their own earnings, and most meet this through campus jobs
• Travel: students on aid receive a travel allowance to help cover trips to and from Cambridge

Use the Net Price Calculator for an estimate. Aid is assessed individually and is not guaranteed.

Pakistani applicants follow the same process as every other applicant. Harvard states there are no quotas or limits of any kind based on citizenship or the location of your school. Practical points:

• Application: complete the Common Application with Harvard’s supplement. Requirements are the same whether you attend school in or outside the U.S.
• Tests: the SAT or ACT is required. Test-center access is the one situation where Harvard allows other results, such as A-level or IB scores, to be used in exceptional cases.
• School records: your school sends a transcript, school report, and predicted grades if you study A-levels or the IB. You may submit translated documents, but do not translate them yourself, and include the original with any translation.
• English: an English proficiency exam is not required, but you may submit IELTS or TOEFL scores if you wish
• Financial aid: your chances of admission and aid are not affected by your citizenship. Apply for aid with the required forms and use the Net Price Calculator first.
• Passport and visa planning: admitted international students generally need a U.S. student visa. Visa decisions are made by U.S. authorities, not by Harvard, and no outcome is guaranteed.
• Advice and agents: you apply directly through the Common Application, so a paid agent is not required. EducationUSA offers free advising.

• Harvard’s campus is in Cambridge, Massachusetts, across the Charles River from Boston
• Students live in dormitories in or around Harvard Yard in their first year and move into one of Harvard’s residential Houses
• Harvard publishes a Student Services fee and a Health Services fee as part of its billed costs
• Harvard reports a 97% to 98% graduation rate

• Harvard College students can take part in research with faculty, and the university’s graduate schools add medicine, law, business, and public policy programs
• Cambridge and Boston offer a large number of research institutions, hospitals, and employers close to campus
• Harvard does not guarantee employment, salary, or immigration outcomes. Any graduate outcome statistics describe past cohorts and are not promises.

• Eight U.S. Presidents attended Harvard, including John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama
• Benazir Bhutto — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister; Harvard (Radcliffe College) graduate
• Mark Zuckerberg — Facebook co-founder, who attended Harvard and left to build the company
• Many world leaders, Nobel laureates, and business leaders have studied at Harvard

Harvard University
Harvard College Admissions Office, 86 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States
Official website: www.harvard.edu
Undergraduate admissions: college.harvard.edu/admissions