Harvard University

Harvard is one of the oldest and most famous universities in the world, founded in 1636, and while it is best known for law, medicine and the humanities, its computer science has grown into a serious force. Computer science at Harvard sits within the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which has expanded quickly in recent years.

The programme is strong in theory, systems, machine learning and the growing overlap between computer science and other fields, and it benefits from being next door to MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with which it shares a rich local research culture. Computer science has become one of the most popular subjects among Harvard undergraduates, a shift that mirrors the subject’s rise across higher education.

Harvard remains among the most selective universities anywhere, and its computer science graduates move into research, technology and the many other fields that now draw on computing.

Admissions

Harvard admitted 2,003 of 47,893 applicants to the Class of 2029, an acceptance rate of 4.2 per cent. That figure covers Harvard College as a whole: students apply to the College rather than to a major and declare a concentration after arrival, so there is no separate gate for computer science. By Harvard’s own count a quarter of the class intends to study engineering and applied sciences, the division where CS sits.