Welcome to Harvard College

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Harvard Yard

Tour stop audio transcript

Welcome to Harvard College! You're standing in Harvard Yard right now, the heart of campus –– not where people park their cars. Let me explain the many ways you can explore our beautiful space. -You can click on the forward facing arrow to start walking around. -You can jump to the next stop by clicking on the "Next" button. -Now, if you already know where you want to go, you can select any location by using the list OR by clicking directly on the map. -Lastly, remember that you can explore any particular location in more detail by clicking the supplemental icons.

Before we kick off our tour, we would like to provide a land acknowledgement. Harvard is located on the ancestral and traditional homelands of the Massachusett tribe. Harvard has evolved alongside the persistence of the Massachusett, Nipmuck, and Wampanoag Nations. By including this land acknowledgement, the Admissions Office commits to continuing to learn about the past and present of Native and Indigenous communities, including those in Massachusetts and New England.

We begin our tour in Harvard Yard near present-day Matthews Hall, one of our first-year dormitories. This site was the location of Harvard's first brick building, the Indian College, constructed in 1655. The Indian College was built to carry out Harvard's founding Charter of 1650, which commits the University to "the education of English and Indian youth of this country." A plaque on Matthews Hall honors the Native students who attended Harvard in the 1600s. Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, a Wampanoag man, was the College's first Native American graduate in 1665. In 2010, his portrait was placed in Annenberg Hall, our dining hall for first-year students. We invite you to visit the Harvard University Native American Program website to learn more.

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First Year Dorms

Tour stop audio transcript

The first-year dorms are located in Harvard Yard, the heart of campus and central to student life. Every dorm is unique, with a variety of living situations, ranging from hallway singles to six-person suites. First-year housing is based on a questionnaire, which the Resident Deans of First-Year Students use to match up roommates. "Entryways," or groupings within first-year dorms, become your home away from home during your first year. You will have three advisers your first year: an academic adviser, a residential adviser (or proctor), and an upper-level student who will serve as your peer adviser. In the spring, Harvard Yard comes alive on Housing Day, the day in which first-year students find out which House they'll live in for the rest of their time as undergrads.

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Phillips Brooks House

Tour stop audio transcript

A student run volunteer and public service organization, the Phillips Brooks House or PBH sits at the edge of Harvard Yard. Individual students and student organizations can find opportunities through programs and partnerships with the PBHA, such as the Boston Refugee Youth Enrichment programs and the Environmental Action Committee. Working with Phillips Brooks House Association is a great example of how most students on Harvard's campus are very invested in public service and giving back to the community. Get involved with the Women's Center, the Black Students Association, BGLTQ Student Life, and other organizations outside of PBHA –– extracurriculars are an awesome way to get to know other students who have similar interests to you!

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Tercentenary Theatre

Tour stop audio transcript

Welcome to Tercentenary Theater, a nostalgic place for Harvard graduates, as this is where your time as a student starts and ends. The day before classes begin your first year, the class comes together for Convocation where you celebrate officially starting your journey at Harvard. Four years later, the class returns to celebrate the commencement of their educational experience. Tercentenary Theatre is also home to many other outdoor events that take place during first year orientation and onward like laser-tag and first year field day, and Yardfest, a huge concert featuring popular artists every Spring for undergraduates.

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Widener Library

Tour stop audio transcript

This is Widener Library, built in the memory of Harry Elkins Widener. A great lover of books, Harry graduated from the college in the early 1900s. After his passing on the Titanic, his mother returned to the states and donated to the college to build a library in his memory. Underneath Widener Library and parts of the Yard lie the 55 miles of shelving that make up the "Stacks" - there are nearly 17 million volumes across 70 Harvard libraries, making Harvard the owner of the largest university library system, and the 4th largest library system in the world.

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Lamont Library

Tour stop audio transcript

Lamont is one of the most popular libraries on campus for undergraduates, open 24 hours a day during most days of the year. Its features include a cafe on the first floor, a media lab, and the language center. Both Widener and Lamont are connected to the Pusey library, which houses the Harvard University Archives, the Theatre Collection Seminar Room, and the Harvard Map Collection.

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Annenberg Hall

Tour stop audio transcript

This is Annenberg Hall, also known as the first-year dining hall. It is home to many fond memories for undergraduates, as it functions as a great way to meet other first years. As students get situated at the college, it is common to sit down with someone new and start up a conversation over breakfast, lunch, or dinner. An interesting fact: Annenberg and Memorial Hall also encompass the largest secular collection of stained glass in North America.

Memorial Hall/Sanders Theatre

Tour stop audio transcript

Inside Memorial Hall is a memorial transept funded by the families of Harvard affiliates who lost their lives fighting for the Union in the American Civil War. Their names are engraved in white marble tablets along the walls of the transept, lit by the light that shines through the stained glass windows above them.

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Science Center & Plaza

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This is the Science Center Plaza, located at the major campus crossroad between Harvard Yard and the Science Center, the Plaza is a great place to meet up with friends throughout the day and into the evening. Inside the Science Center, you will find many of Harvard’s science and math departments, including the observatory that sits at the top of the Science Center, with state of the art telescopes and other space study instruments.

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Pierce Hall

Tour stop audio transcript

Pierce Hall is part of Harvard's ever-growing School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Opened in 1901, to support an early expansion of engineering studies, the building is one of the oldest on Oxford Street. Pierce Hall houses offices, classrooms, and labs. Its physical proximity to nanoscale research facilities and the departments of Physics, Chemistry, Earth and Planetary Sciences among others fosters interdisciplinary research. Engineering and Applied Science concentrators are encouraged to participate directly with faculty labs and gain hands-on research experience.

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Northwest Labs

Tour stop audio transcript

Northwest labs is home to many of the scientific laboratories on campus, especially those in various Neuroscience or Biological pursuits. It represents opportunities for students to get involved in labs on campus and access to high-tech, cutting edge research equipment. Many students will get involved in research at some point in their college career, and Harvard provides ample opportunity for this - at any given point, there are far more labs looking for undergraduates than undergraduates looking for labs! There are also research opportunities across many disciplines - not just the sciences. With $7 Million in research funding, there's no limit to what you can study.

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Dunster House

Tour stop audio transcript

This is a great stop to get to know one of the 12 upper-level student houses at Harvard. At the end of their first year, students are sorted into the houses with up to eight friends which decides where they will live for the next three years. Each house is a microcosm of campus, with 300-500 students, a dining hall, gym, library and common spaces to work. In addition, Harvard's ongoing House renewal project will renovate each of the houses with modern and unique amenities like Dunster's high tech study space, gym with yoga studio and basketball court, and art and music studios.

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Lowell House

Tour stop audio transcript

Each House is led by a senior faculty member, who, along with their family, helps create a home away from home for their students. House Committees organize regular house gatherings with music, food and drinks, and more! Each House has unique events and gatherings, like Lowell's Thursday Teas and special dinners to guest speakers - an effort to bring students and faculty together. As an upper-level student, your advising network transitions from proctors and Peer Advising Fellows to house tutors and concentration advisors. House tutors live in the house with students, and take on advising specialties including career and postgraduate advice as well as a variety of student interests and identities.

Radcliffe Quad

Tour stop audio transcript

Just a quick walk from Harvard Square is the Radcliffe Quadrangle, usually referred to as "The Quad." It is home to three Harvard Houses: Cabot, Currier, and Pforzheimer. These three Houses boast large dorm rooms, lots of neighborhood dogs, and arguably some of the best food on campus. The SOCH - short for Student Organization Center at Hilles - is also located in the Quad, with 50,000 square feet of common spaces, offices, and storage to support Harvard's numerous student organizations.

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Malkin Athletic Center

Tour stop audio transcript

The MAC, or the Malkin Athletic Center, is the main undergraduate gym on campus. It is very conveniently located close to the upper-level Houses along the Charles River, and has 4 floors encompassing space for nearly everything you can think of, including a pool, basketball courts, volleyball courts, weight rooms, cardio equipment, and more. There are also a variety of fitness classes open to Harvard affiliates held at the MAC, ranging from cycling to barre classes, and fitness classes are free for undergraduate students!

Smith Campus Center

Tour stop audio transcript

The Smith Campus Center was newly reopened in the Fall of 2018. It has an incredible open floor plan with lots of communal work space as well as food and beverage options open to students and the public. Spaces open to undergraduates include the Collaborative Commons, arts wing, and the 10th floor workspace with amazing views of campus and the Boston skyline! Smith Center also houses the Harvard University Health Services which offers both medical and mental health services. Smith Campus Center is a hub for campus life and hosts many College events –– everything from rollerskating to speaker events and more!

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Harvard Square

Tour stop audio transcript

When you walk out of the gates of Harvard Yard, you step foot into Harvard Square! There are multiple subway entrances in and around Harvard Square that can bring you into Boston in under 15 minutes. Additionally, the square is filled with a wide variety of food and beverage options, great for when students want to think beyond the dining halls for meals and snacks. The Square is also home to many shops, from clothing to bookstores. Students can find everything they need.

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Barker Center

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If you plan on studying the humanities, you'll likely spend a lot of your time at the Barker Center. The Barker Center houses 11 of Harvard's humanities departments, including concentrations like English, History & Literature, and the department of Medieval Studies. The Mahindra Humanities Center, also found in Barker, regularly invites leading humanities scholars to give lectures on a variety of topics. But students can also find a lot of day-to-day use in Barker too, whether it's at the writing center or Barker Cafe.

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Harvard Art Museum

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The Harvard Art Museums encompass three museums - the Fogg, Busch-Reisinger, and Sackler museums - and more than 250,000 pieces of art from various disciplines, including both Renaissance and modern art. Students also often lead interdisciplinary tours of the art collections, both for classes and for the public. Harvard undergraduates and a plus one get free admission, and with everything from original Picassos to ancient Chinese jades in collection, there is always something new to see!

Sever Hall

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Welcome to Sever Hall. Located in Harvard Yard, it was designed by eminent architect and Harvard College graduate Henry Hobson Richardson. It was designated a National Historic Landmark and is famous for its so-called "Whispering Arch", where students and visitors can whisper a phrase into one side of the arch and have someone hear it while standing at the other side. Today it holds general-purpose classrooms and larger lecture halls.

Carpenter Center

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The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts is a building primarily used for the Art, Film, and Visual Studies concentration, with spaces for art and sculpture making, creative installations and movie screenings! The Harvard Film Archive hosts screenings of all kinds of films, including rare copies on film along with artist talk-backs. The building and screenings are also commonly used to showcase student work. Fun Fact: this is the only building in the United States designed by swiss born architect Le Corbusier, one of the pioneers of modern architecture.

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Farkas Hall

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Farkas Hall is home for many students interested in the performing arts. Inside, you will find classroom spaces for performance based learning as well as a large theatre that seats 250 people with a state-of-the-art lighting/sound system and an orchestra pit. Harvard's Theatre, Dance, and Media concentration is based in Farkas and students who choose this concentration are able to study with leading professionals in the field. But you don't have to concentrate in Theatre, Dance, and Media to take advantage of Farkas Hall –– student groups like Hasty Pudding Theatricals (the nation's oldest theatrical company), and a cappella groups the Krokodilos and the Radcliffe Pitches regularly use Farkas to hold rehearsals as well as their annual performances.

Harvard Athletic Complex

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The Harvard Athletic Complex is a hub for Harvard athletics, directly across the Charles River. Harvard Stadium plays host to all the home Harvard Football games, including Harvard-Yale, one of the most popular events of each school year. The Athletic Complex also includes a variety of other fields and buildings, including the indoor track, hockey rink, and tennis courts. Historic Weld Boathouse, the home of women's rowing and Harvard's intramural rowing teams, is also found along the Charles River.

SEAS Campus

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Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is the primary occupant of the over 500,000 square foot Science and Engineering complex, located across the Charles River in Allstonat 150 Western Ave. Completed in 2020, this addition to Harvard's campus features state-of-the-art classrooms, active learning labs, a makerspace, faculty labs, a robotics garage, and an eight-story atrium connecting both above and below ground areas of the building. Green design makes it one of the most environmentally sustainable facilities of its kind. The building is adjacent to the Harvard Business School campus and the Athletic Complex, and resources for student entrepreneurs and innovators, such as the Harvard Innovation Lab, the Life Lab, and the ArtLab.

ARTLab

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Recently opened in 2019, the ART Lab is on the Allston campus, and is a space for artmaking and research. The ART Lab is meant as a rehearsal space, for professional workshops, demonstrations and exhibitions. It houses artist residencies and productions by students and faculty of Harvard. The program consists of both the ART Lab and the Annex, which contains studios, classrooms and artmaking spaces. It's also an energy-efficient net-zero building.

Innovation Labs

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The Harvard Innovation Labs is a resource available for all Harvard students and alumni who want to engage in entrepreneurship at any stage, consisting of the i-Lab, the Launch Lab X GEO, and the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab. The Innovation Labs offer workshops, one-on-one advising, and competitions to support the growth and development of entrepreneurial ideas that students may have! The amazing network of advisors, mentors, and peer collaborators create a comprehensive resource that many undergraduates take advantage of.

Radcliffe Yard

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Radcliffe Yard was part of Radcliffe College before it merged with Harvard College. Here, you can find the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, where leading scholars pursue interdisciplinary research, the Schlesinger Library, the foremost collection of materials dedicated to the study of women in America, and Elizabeth Cary Agassiz House, the home of the College's admissions visitor center. Elizabeth Cary Agassiz House also has a theater where Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players, the annual South-Asian cultural celebration, Ghungroo, and many other productions are held. Near Radcliffe Yard is the Harvard College's Admission and Financial Aid Office, where students and their families can take advantage of and find support for our generous, need-based financial aid.

Weeks Footbridge

Tour stop audio transcript

For many students and alumni, the Charles River is a symbol for their undergraduate home. It is a site that students often visit and one that welcomes alumni whenever they return.

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