Where the Students Are

At each Commencement, Harvard confers 6,500 or so degrees, on everyone from College students who have navigated their undergraduate years to...

At each Commencement, Harvard confers 6,500 or so degrees, on everyone from College students who have navigated their undergraduate years to those who have mastered architecture, medicine, law, or business. But the Univeristy consists, famously, of separate “tubs” devoted to distinct kinds of teaching and research. As if one could not tell from the relative amount of noise the graduates make or the flurries of totems they wield in Tercentenary Theatre (toothbrushes, school books, sharks, condom balloons, currency), Harvard’s schools vary widely in enrollment. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences, acting as College and Graduate School, accounts for about half of the University’s student body. Dental Medicine is the smallest school. Taken as a whole, the Extension School ranks right in the middle.

Illustrated chart by Stephen Anderson

Most popular

The stakes are high for this husband and wife: one of them will die if they don’t find a cure.

Harvard Weathers a Year of Turmoil

The federal government has launched unprecedented actions against the University. Here’s a guide.

The 1884 Cannibalism-at-Sea Case That Still Has Harvard Talking

The Queen v. Dudley and Stephens changed the course of legal history. Here’s why it’s been fodder for countless classroom debates.

Explore More From Current Issue

University Hall with steps and the John Harvard statue, surrounded by trees and a grassy lawn.

Long-discussed reorganization includes layoffs and the end of the Dudley Community.

A flooded office scene with computers, a woman working, and a pink sunset backdrop.

A College student’s attempt to recapture the romanticism of the workplace.

Three young women posed side by side against red background.

The 2026-2027 Ledecky and Summer Undergraduate Fellows