Wikipedia

Harvard College

(Redirected from Harvard House system)

Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard College is Harvard University's traditional undergraduate program, offering AB (Bachelor of Arts) and SB (Bachelor of Science) degrees. It is highly selective, with fewer than four percent of applicants being offered admission as of 2022.[2][3]

Harvard College
TypePrivate undergraduate college
Established1636; 388 years ago (1636)
Parent institution
Harvard University
DeanRakesh Khurana
Students6,755[1]
Location
Cambridge
,
Massachusetts
,
United States

42°22′26″N 71°07′01″W / 42.374°N 71.117°W / 42.374; -71.117
CampusUrban
Websitecollege.harvard.edu

Harvard College students participate in over 450 extracurricular organizations[4] and nearly all live on campus. First-year students reside in or near Harvard Yard and upperclass students reside in other on-campus housing.

History

edit
Main article: History of Harvard University
 
Harvard College's first building, as imagined by historian Samuel Eliot Morison[5]
 
Harvard during the colonial era

Harvard College was founded in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Two years later, the college became home to North America's first known printing press, carried by the ship John of London.[6][7] In 1639 the college (heretofore unnamed)[8] was named Harvard College in honor of deceased Charlestown minister John Harvard (1607–1638) who had bequeathed to the school his entire library and half of his monetary estate.

Harvard's first Headmaster was Nathaniel Eaton (1610–1674); in 1639, he also became its first instructor to be dismissed, for overstrict discipline.[9] The school's first students were graduated in 1642.

The Harvard Indian College was established, with the capacity for four or five Native Americans, and in 1665 Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck (c. 1643–1666) "from the Wampanoag … did graduate from Harvard, the first Indian to do so in the colonial period."[10]

The University of Oxford and University of Cambridge, two of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the English-speaking world, have long been structured with individual colleges as part of the larger university and with each college including an association of scholars that shared room and board. Harvard's founders may have envisioned it as the first in a series of sibling colleges replicating the Oxford and Cambridge model, which would eventually constitute a university, though no further colleges materialized in colonial era. The Indian College was active from 1640 to no later than 1693, but it was a minor addition not operated in federation with Harvard according to the English model. Harvard began granting higher degrees in the late eighteenth century, and it was increasingly styled Harvard University, even as Harvard College was increasingly thought of as the university's undergraduate division in particular.

Harvard College is currently responsible for undergraduate admissions, advising, housing, student life, athletics, and other undergraduate matters except instruction, which is the purview of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The body known as the President and Fellows of Harvard College retains its traditional name despite having governance of the entire university. Radcliffe College, established in 1879, originally paid Harvard faculty to repeat their lectures for women.[11] Since the 1970s, Harvard has been responsible for undergraduate matters for women, though women's Harvard diplomas were countersigned by the President of Radcliffe until a final merger in 1999.[12]

Admissions

edit
 
Massachusetts Hall, built in 1720, is the oldest surviving building on the Harvard campus.

Admission is based on academic prowess, extracurricular activities, and personal qualities. For the undergraduate class of 2025, Harvard had 57,435 applications and accepted 1,968 (3.4% acceptance rate). For the undergraduate class of 2023, the middle 50% range of SAT scores of enrolled freshmen was 710–770 for reading and writing and 750–800 for math, while the middle 50% range of the ACT composite score was 33–35. The average high school grade point average (GPA) was 4.18.[1] The acceptance rate for transfer students has been approximately 1%.[13] Harvard consistently ranks first in the enrollment of recipients of the National Merit $2,500 Scholarship; it enrolled 207 such scholars in the Class of 2022.[14]

Harvard College ended its early admissions program in 2007, but for the class of 2016 and beyond, an early action program was reintroduced.[15] The freshman class that entered in the fall of 2017 was the first to be majority (50.8%) nonwhite.[16]

A federal lawsuit alleges that Harvard's admissions policies discriminate against Asian Americans, who tend to be overrepresented among students with high academic achievement.[17][18]

A 2019 district court decision in the case (which has since been appealed) found no evidence of explicit racial bias but did not rule out a small amount of implicit bias.[19] Harvard has implemented more implicit bias training for its admissions staff in accordance with the court's recommendations.[20][21] In addition, Harvard's admissions preference for children of alumni, employees, and donors has been criticized as favoring white and wealthy candidates.[22][23][24]

The median family income of Harvard students is $168,800, with 53% of students coming from the top 10% highest-earning families and 20% from the bottom 60%.[25]

As of 2024, Harvard College tuition was about $57,000 and total costs about $83,000.[26] However, Harvard offers one of the most generous financial aid programs in the United States, with need-blind admission and 100% of financial need met for all students. Families with incomes below $85,000 pay nothing for their children to attend, while families earning up to $150,000 pay no more than 10% of their annual incomes. Financial aid is solely based on need; no merit or athletic scholarships are offered.[27]

Academics

edit

The four-year, full-time undergraduate program has a liberal arts and sciences focus.[28][29] To graduate in the usual four years, undergraduates normally take four courses per semester.[30]

Midway through the second year, most undergraduates join one of fifty academic majors; many also declare a minor (secondary field). Joint majors (combining the requirements of two majors) and special majors (of the student's own design) are also possible.[29] Most majors lead to the Artium Baccalaureus (AB). Some award the Scientiae Baccalaureus (SB). There are also dual degree programs permitting students to earn both a Harvard AB and a Master of Music (MM) from either the New England Conservatory of Music or the Berklee College of Music over five years.[31]

In most majors, an honors degree requires advanced coursework and/or a senior thesis.[32]

Harvard College students must take a course in each of four General Education categories (Aesthetics and Culture; Ethics and Civics; Histories, Societies, Individuals; Science and Technology in Society)[33] as well as a course in each of three academic divisions (Arts and Humanities; Social Sciences; Science and Engineering and Applied Science). They must also fulfill foreign language, expository writing, and quantitative reasoning with data requirements.[33] Exposure to a range of intellectual areas in parallel with pursuit of a chosen major in depth fulfills the injunction of former Harvard president Abbott Lawrence Lowell that liberal education should produce "men who know a little of everything and something well".[34]

Some introductory courses have large enrollments, but most courses are small: the median class size is 12 students.[35] Funding and faculty mentorship for research is available in all disciplines for undergraduates at all levels.[36]

Student life

edit

House system

edit
 
Harvard College's freshman dormitories in Harvard Yard
 
Lowell House

Nearly all undergraduates live on campus, for the first year in dormitories in or near Harvard Yard and later in the upperclass houses—administrative subdivisions of the college as well as living quarters, providing a sense of community in what might otherwise be a socially incohesive and administratively daunting university environment. Each house is presided over by two faculty deans, while its Allston Burr Resident Dean—usually a junior faculty member—supervises undergraduates' day-to-day academic and disciplinary well-being.

The faculty deans and resident dean are assisted by other members of the Senior Common Room—select graduate students (tutors), faculty, and university officials brought into voluntary association with each house. The faculty deans and resident dean reside in the house, as do resident tutors. Terms like tutor, Senior Common Room, and Junior Common Room reflect a debt to the constituent college systems at Oxford and Cambridge from which Harvard's system took inspiration.[37]

The houses were created by President Lowell in the 1930s to combat what he saw as pernicious social stratification engendered by the private, off-campus living arrangements of many undergraduates at that time. Lowell's solution was to provide every man—Harvard was male-only at the time—with on-campus accommodations throughout his time at the college; Lowell also saw great benefits in other features of the house system, such as the relaxed discussions—academic or otherwise—which he hoped would take place among undergraduates and members of the Senior Common Room over meals in each house's dining hall.[38]

How students come to live in particular houses has changed greatly over time. Under the original "draft" system, masters (now called "faculty deans") negotiated privately over the assignment of students.[citation needed] From the 1960s to the mid-1990s, each student ranked the houses according to personal preference, with a lottery resolving the oversubscription of more popular houses. Today, groups of one to eight freshmen form a block which is then assigned, essentially at random, to an upperclass house.

The nine "River Houses" are south of Harvard Yard, near the Charles River: Adams, Dunster, Eliot, Kirkland, Leverett, Lowell, Mather, Quincy, and Winthrop. Their construction was financed largely by a 1928 gift from Yale alumnus Edward Harkness, who, frustrated in his attempts to initiate a similar project at his alma mater, eventually offered $11 million to Harvard.[a][42]

Construction of the first houses began in 1929,[39] but the land on which they were built had been assembled decades before. After graduating from Harvard in 1895, Edward W. Forbes found himself inspired by the Oxford and Cambridge systems during two years of study in England; on returning to the United States he set out to acquire the land between Harvard Yard and the Charles River that was not already owned by Harvard or an associated entity. By 1918, that ambition had been largely fulfilled and the assembled land transferred to Harvard.[43][44]

The three Quad Houses enjoy a residential setting half a mile northwest of Harvard Yard. These were built by Radcliffe College and housed Radcliffe College students until the Harvard and Radcliffe residential systems merged in 1977.[45] They are: Cabot, Currier, and Pforzheimer House. A thirteenth house, Dudley Community, formerly called Dudley House, is nonresidential but fulfills the administrative and social functions provided to on-campus residents by the other twelve houses for undergraduate students living in the Dudley Co-op, many of the undergraduate students living off-campus (which are small in number), and the Visiting Undergraduate Students who study at Harvard for a term or year. Harvard's residential houses are paired with Yale's residential colleges in sister relationships.

Student government

edit
Main article: Harvard Undergraduate Council

The Harvard Undergraduate Council (UC) was the student government of Harvard College until it was abolished by a student referendum in 2022.[46] It was replaced by the Harvard Undergraduate Association (HUA).[47]

Athletics

edit
Main article: Harvard Crimson
 
The Cornell–Harvard hockey rivalry match in 2006
 
Harvard Stadium, home of Harvard Crimson and the Boston Cannons

The Harvard Crimson fields 42 intercollegiate sports teams in the NCAA Division I Ivy League, more than any other NCAA Division I college in the country.[48] Every two years, the Harvard and Yale track and field teams come together to compete against a combined Oxford and Cambridge team in the oldest continuous international amateur competition in the world.[49] As with other Ivy League universities, Harvard does not offer athletic scholarships.[50]

Harvard's athletic rivalry with Yale is intense in every sport in which they meet, coming to a climax each fall in the annual football meeting, which dates back to 1875 and is usually called simply "The Game". While Harvard's football team is no longer one of the best as it was in football's early days, both Harvard and Yale have influenced the way the game is played. In 1903, Harvard Stadium introduced a new era into football with the first permanent reinforced concrete stadium of its kind in the country.[51][52]

Even older than Harvard–Yale football rivalry, the Harvard–Yale Regatta is held each June on the Thames River in eastern Connecticut. The Harvard crew is typically considered to be one of the top teams in the country in rowing. Other sports in which Harvard teams are particularly strong are men's ice hockey, squash, and men's and women's fencing. Harvard's men's ice hockey team won the school's first NCAA Championship in any team sport in 1989, and Harvard also won the Intercollegiate Sailing Association National Championships in 2003. Harvard was the first Ivy League school to win an NCAA Championship in a women's sport when its women's lacrosse team won in 1990.[53]

The school color is crimson, which is also the name of Harvard's sports teams and the student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson. The color was unofficially adopted (in preference to magenta) by an 1875 vote of the student body, although the association with some form of red can be traced back to 1858, when Charles William Eliot, a young graduate student who would later become Harvard's 21st and longest-serving president (1869–1909), bought red bandanas for his crew so they could more easily be distinguished by spectators at a regatta.[54]

Fight songs

edit
 
Harvard men's eight crew at Henley in 2004; founded in 1852, the Harvard–Yale Regatta is the oldest intercollegiate athletic rivalry in the United States.

Harvard has several fight songs, the most played of which, especially at football, are "Ten Thousand Men of Harvard" and "Harvardiana". While "Fair Harvard" is actually the alma mater, "Ten Thousand Men" is better known outside the university. The Harvard University Band performs these fight songs and other cheers at football and hockey games. These were parodied by Harvard alumnus Tom Lehrer in his song "Fight Fiercely, Harvard", which he composed while an undergraduate.

Athletics history

edit

By the late 19th century, critics of intercollegiate athletics, including Harvard president Charles William Eliot, believed that sports had become over-commercialized and took students away from their studies. They called for limitations on all sports. This opposition prompted Harvard's athletic committee to target "minor" sports—basketball and hockey—for reform in order to deflect attention from the major sports: football, baseball, track, and crew. The committee made it difficult for the basketball team to operate by denying financial assistance and limiting the number of overnight away games in which the team could participate.

Student organizations

edit
Main article: List of Harvard College undergraduate organizations

Harvard has more than 450 undergraduate student organizations.[4][55] The Phillips Brooks House Association acts as an umbrella service organization.

Notable alumni

edit
See also: List of Harvard University people

Footnotes

edit
  1. ^ [39][40] Harkness' gift was anonymous, at least at first. "I have forgotten the gentleman's name," Harvard's President Lowell told the faculty in making the initial announcement. "I told him I would."[41]
  2. ^ a b Harvard College "social" class year: did not graduate.

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Common Data Set 2019–2020" (PDF). Office of Institutional Research. Harvard University. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  2. ^ "Record-Low 4.59 Percent of Applicants Accepted to Harvard Class of 2022". The Harvard Crimson. March 29, 2018. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  3. ^ "Record-Low 4.5 Percent of Harvard College Applicants Accepted to Class of 2023". The Harvard Crimson. March 29, 2019. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Student Activities". Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  5. ^ Clipping from The Harvard Bulletin, on discovery of southeast corner of original Harvard College building during subway excavations, 1910. Records of early Harvard buildings, 1710-1969, UAI 15.10.5, Box: 1, Folder: 8. Harvard University Archives
  6. ^ "The instrument behind New England's first literary flowering". Harvard University. March 8, 2012. Archived from the original on July 11, 2016. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  7. ^ "Rowley and Ezekiel Rogers, The First North American Printing Press" (PDF). Maritime Historical Studies Centre, University of Hull. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 23, 2013. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  8. ^ "The Harvard Guide. The Harvard Community. Cambridge". Archived from the original on February 5, 2007. Cambridge was founded in 1630 as Newtowne. In 1637, the tiny village was designated as the location of the then-unnamed college, which would be named Harvard the following year.
  9. ^ Samuel Eliot Morison, Three Centuries of Harvard, 1636–1936 (1986)
  10. ^ Monaghan, E. J., 2005, p. 55, 59
  11. ^ Schwager, Sally (2004). "Taking up the Challenge: The Origins of Radcliffe". In Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (ed.). Yards and Gates: Gender in Harvard and Radcliffe History. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 87–115. ISBN 1403960984.
  12. ^ Radcliffe Enters Historic Merger With Harvard. The Harvard Crimson (Report). Archived from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  13. ^ Menz, Petey. "The Real 1%: Harvard Admits 15 Transfer Students". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on April 9, 2021. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  14. ^ "NMSC 2018–2019 Annual Report" (PDF). National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
  15. ^ Finder, Alan; Arenson, Karen W. (September 12, 2006). "Harvard Ends Early Admission". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 21, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  16. ^ Fernandes, Deirdre (August 3, 2017). "The majority of Harvard's incoming class is nonwhite". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
  17. ^ "Harvard's Ongoing Anti-Asian-American Micro-Aggression". National Review. June 19, 2018. Archived from the original on March 23, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  18. ^ "A lawsuit reveals how peculiar Harvard's definition of merit is". The Economist. Archived from the original on July 17, 2018. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  19. ^ "Harvard Won a Key Affirmative Action Battle. But the War's Not Over". The New York Times. October 2, 2019. Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  20. ^ "Local Reaction To The Ruling In The Harvard Admission's Case". Archived from the original on December 29, 2019. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  21. ^ "In Wake of Admissions Lawsuit Decision, Khurana Agrees Harvard Must Become Aware of Biases". The Crimson. October 23, 2019. Archived from the original on August 1, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  22. ^ Golden, Daniel (January 15, 2003). "Admissions Preferences Given to Alumni Children Draws Fire". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on August 12, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  23. ^ Golden, Daniel (2006). The Price of Admission: How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges—and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates. ISBN 1-4000-9796-7.
  24. ^ Todd, Sarah (September 24, 2019). "A new statistic reveals the startling privilege of white kids admitted to Harvard". Quartz. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  25. ^ Aisch, Gregor; Buchanan, Larry; Cox, Amanda; Quealy, Kevin (January 18, 2017). "Economic diversity and student outcomes at Harvard". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  26. ^ "Tuition and Fees". registrar.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
  27. ^ "How Aid Works". Archived from the original on December 12, 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  28. ^ "Carnegie Classifications – Harvard University". The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  29. ^ a b "Liberal Arts & Sciences". Harvard College. Archived from the original on October 5, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  30. ^ "The Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science Degrees". Harvard College. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  31. ^ "Dual Degree Music Programs". Harvard College. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  32. ^ "Academic Information: The Concentration Requirement". Handbook for Students. Harvard College. Archived from the original on December 5, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  33. ^ a b "Requirements". Archived from the original on December 13, 2019. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
  34. ^ Lewis, Harry R. (2007). Excellence Without a Soul: Does Liberal Education Have a Future?. PublicAffairs. p. 48. ISBN 9781586485375.
  35. ^ "How large are classes?". Harvard College. Archived from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  36. ^ "Research". Harvard College. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  37. ^ Harvard College Office of Residential Life (2008). "History of the House System". Retrieved April 20, 2008.[permanent dead link‍]
  38. ^ Morison, Samuel Eliot (1936). Three Centuries of Harvard: 1636–1936. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press. pp. 476–478.
  39. ^ a b Bethell, John (1998). Harvard Observed: An Illustrated History of the University in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. 102–103. ISBN 9780674377332.
  40. ^ "Gifts – 1928–1929" (Press release). Harvard University News Office. June 20, 1929. HU 37.5, Harvard University Archives, Cambridge, Massachusetts "This figure [of gifts and legacies received during the year] includes $5,444,000 received from E. S. Harkness to defray the expenses of constructing the first Harvard houses."
  41. ^ John B. Fox Jr. (2007). The Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, 1686–1933. President and Fellows of Harvard College. p. 142.
  42. ^ "Harkness and History". Harvard Magazine. November 2013. Archived from the original on May 27, 2015. Retrieved November 11, 2015.
  43. ^ Lowe, Charles U. "The Forbes Story of the Harvard Riverside Associates: How Harvard Acquired the Land on which Lowell House was Built", February 20, 2002.lowell.harvard.edu Archived 2010-04-09 at the Wayback Machine
  44. ^ Sacks, Benjamin J. "Harvard's 'Constructed Utopia' and the Culture of Deception: the Expansion toward the Charles River, 1902–1932", The New England Quarterly 84.2 (June 2011): 286–317.[1] Archived 2019-04-18 at the Wayback Machine
  45. ^ Sofen, Adam A. "Radcliffe Enters Historic Merger With Harvard, April 21, 1999.[2] Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine
  46. ^ "Harvard Students Vote Overwhelmingly to Dissolve Undergraduate Council in Favor of New Student Government | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  47. ^ "Estabine and Johnson Elected as First Co-Presidents of the Harvard Undergraduate Association | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  48. ^ "Harvard : Women's Rugby Becomes 42nd Varsity Sport at Harvard University". Gocrimson.com. August 9, 2012. Archived from the original on September 29, 2013. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
  49. ^ "Yale and Harvard Defeat Oxford/Cambridge Team". Yale University Athletics. Archived from the original on October 13, 2011. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
  50. ^ "The Harvard Guide: Financial Aid at Harvard". Harvard University. September 2, 2006. Archived from the original on September 2, 2006. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  51. ^ "History of American Football". Newsdial.com. Archived from the original on September 25, 2010. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  52. ^ Nelson, David M., Anatomy of a Game: Football, the Rules, and the Men Who Made the Game, 1994, pp. 127–128
  53. ^ "Teammates for Life". Harvard Magazine. June 5, 2015. Archived from the original on December 15, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  54. ^ https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2002/4/11/harvard-explained-why-is-crimson-harvards/
  55. ^ "List of Student Organizations". The President and Fellows of Harvard College. Harvard College. Archived from the original on January 12, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  56. ^ Barzilay, Karen N. "The Education of John Adams". Massachusetts Historical Society. Archived from the original on July 26, 2021. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  57. ^ "John Quincy Adams". The White House. Archived from the original on October 5, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  58. ^ Hogan, Margaret A. (October 4, 2016). "John Quincy Adams: Life Before the Presidency". Miller Center. Archived from the original on August 12, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  59. ^ "Theodore Roosevelt - Biographical". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on September 5, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  60. ^ Leuchtenburg, William E. (October 4, 2016). "Franklin D. Roosevelt: Life Before the Presidency". Miller Center. Archived from the original on August 13, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  61. ^ J. Selverstone, Marc (October 4, 2016). "John F. Kennedy: Life Before the Presidency". Miller Center. Archived from the original on August 12, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2020.

Further reading

edit
edit
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harvard University.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harvard_College&oldid=1256979166#House_system"