"Harvard College is a personal Ivy League study college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with concerning 6,800 undergraduate students as well as about 14,000 postgraduate trainees. Developed in 1636 and named for its very first benefactor, clergyman John Harvard, Harvard is the United States' oldest establishment of higher learning and among one of the most prestigious in the world.

The Massachusetts Great and General Court licensed Harvard's starting. In its very early years, Harvard College mostly educated Congregational and Unitarian clergy, although it has actually never ever been officially associated with any type of denomination. Its educational program and student body were progressively secularized during the 18th century, and also by the 19th century, Harvard had become the central social establishment among Boston elites. [9] [10] Adhering To the American Civil War, President Charles W. Eliot's long period (1869-- 1909) changed the college and associated expert institutions right into a modern-day research study university; Harvard was an establishing member of the Organization of American Universities in 1900. A. Lawrence Lowell, that succeeded Eliot, more reformed the undergraduate curriculum and also carried out aggressive development of Harvard's land holdings as well as physical school. James Bryant Conant led the university with the Great Depression and World War II; he started to liberalize admissions after the battle.

The college is composed of eleven primary academic systems-- 10 faculties and also the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study-- with campuses throughout Greater Boston: its 209-acre (85 ha) original undergraduate school is centered on Harvard Yard in Cambridge, 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Boston; business institution and also many sports facilities, consisting of Harvard Stadium, are throughout the Charles River in the Allston neighborhood of Boston; as well as the clinical, dental, and also public health schools are in Boston's Longwood Medical Location. Harvard's endowment is valued at $40.9 billion, making it the largest of any kind of scholastic organization. While the nominal price of presence is high, the university's endowment allows it to provide charitable, no-loan financial aid plans as well as make use of need-blind admission. The Harvard Library is the world's largest academic collection system, comprising 79 private libraries holding concerning 20.4 million items.

Harvard's graduates consist of 8 U.S. presidents, more than 30 foreign heads of state, 188 living billionaires, 369 Rhodes Scholars, and 252 Marshall Scholars. As of March 2020, 160 Nobel laureates, 18 Area Medalists, and also 14 Turing Honor champions have actually been connected as pupils, professors, or scientists. On top of that, Harvard students and graduates have actually won 10 Academy Awards, 48 Pulitzer Prizes, and also 108 Olympic medals (46 gold, 41 silver, as well as 21 bronze), and also established lots of noteworthy companies worldwide."