Saturday, June 20, 2009

Harvard University

Known as one of the most prestigious colleges in the United States, Harvard University is an exemplary institution of higher learning. Founded in 1636, Harvard University is the oldest university in America. The college is located in the north-east section of the country, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This Ivy-League college has nine distinct institutions: the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, along with its sub-faculty, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which together serve Harvard College, the university's undergraduate portion, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Harvard Division of Continuing Education which also includes Harvard Summer School. The university also hosts other various schools such as the Faculty of Medicine which includes the Medical School and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Harvard Divinity School, the famous Harvard Law School, the Harvard Business School, the Graduate School of Design, the Graduate School of Education, the School of Public Health, the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the former Radicliffe College which is now reorganized as the Radicliffe Institue for Advanced Study.

Another unique feature about Harvard University is the museums that it contains. There are ten museums within the campus. For instance, there is the Fogg Museum of Art, which houses western art galleries spanning from the Middle Ages to the present. The Busch-Reisinger Museum hosts central and northern European art. The Arthur M. Sackler Museum, which includes ancient Asian, Islamic, and Indian Art.

With the many things the college has to offer, the school campus is scattered around central Cambridge and Boston. The Harvard Business, for example, is located in the Boston neighborhood Allston. Other buildings such as Harvard Stadium can be found in Allston as well. The beautiful Harvard Yard is the center of the main libraries, the famous Memorial Church, and many of the freshmen dormitories. The rest of the undergraduates at Harvard - sophomores, juniors, and seniors - live in twelve residential houses, located along the Charles River and an area northwest of Harvard Yard known as Quadrangle.

As far as admissions go, getting into Harvard University is extremely difficult. For its class of 2011, the University only admitted less than 9% of its applicants. But for those are admitted, they are entering a institution of great prestige. U.S. News and World Report's "America's Best Colleges 2009" ranked Harvard number two, tied with other Universities like Yale, Princeton, and MIT.

1 comment:

Don Gosney said...

Gabe,

Why would anyone want to go to Harvard when they could go to Columbia instead (sorry, Joni, just kidding)?

I know you're going to try to pay a visit to some of the other schools of interest while you're back east so it's good to have a little bit of background under your belt before you get there.

Of course, talking to those that have attended can give you an even better insight than what you can get off of the Internet.

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