"Harvard College is an exclusive Ivy League research study university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with concerning 6,800 undergraduate students and also about 14,000 postgraduate students. Established in 1636 and also named for its initial benefactor, clergyman John Harvard, Harvard is the United States' earliest establishment of higher understanding and one of one of the most distinguished on the planet.

The Massachusetts Great and also General Court licensed Harvard's founding. In its early years, Harvard College mainly trained Congregational and Unitarian clergy, although it has never ever been formally connected with any religion. Its educational program and trainee body were progressively secularized during the 18th century, and also by the 19th century, Harvard had emerged as the main social establishment amongst Boston elites. [9] [10] Adhering To the American Civil Battle, Head Of State Charles W. Eliot's long tenure (1869-- 1909) changed the college and also affiliated expert schools into a modern-day study university; Harvard was a starting member of the Organization of American Colleges in 1900. A. Lawrence Lowell, that did well Eliot, more reformed the undergraduate curriculum and also embarked on aggressive expansion of Harvard's land holdings as well as physical campus. James Bryant Conant led the university through the Great Clinical Depression and The Second World War; he began to liberalize admissions after the battle.

The college is composed of eleven major academic systems-- ten faculties and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Research-- with campuses throughout Greater Boston: its 209-acre (85 ha) initial undergraduate university is centered on Harvard Yard in Cambridge, 3 miles (5 kilometres) northwest of Boston; the business institution as well as several sports centers, consisting of Harvard Stadium, are throughout the Charles River in the Allston area of Boston; and the medical, dental, and also public health schools remain in Boston's Longwood Medical Area. Harvard's endowment is valued at $40.9 billion, making it the largest of any academic establishment. While the small cost of participation is high, the college's endowment permits it to supply generous, no-loan financial aid packages as well as make use of need-blind admission. The Harvard Library is the globe's largest academic library system, consisting of 79 private libraries holding regarding 20.4 million items.

Harvard's graduates include 8 U.S. presidents, more than 30 international heads of state, 188 living billionaires, 369 Rhodes Scholars, and 252 Marshall Scholars. Since March 2020, 160 Nobel laureates, 18 Fields Medalists, and also 14 Turing Award champions have been affiliated as pupils, professors, or researchers. On top of that, Harvard pupils and also graduates have actually won 10 Academy Awards, 48 Pulitzer Prizes, and also 108 Olympic medals (46 gold, 41 silver, and 21 bronze), and established numerous remarkable business worldwide."