Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard.
John Harvard (29 November 1607 14 September 1638) was an English dissenting minister in Colonial America whose
deathbed
bequest to the
"schoale or Colledge"
founded two years earlier by the Massachusetts Bay Colony was so gratefully received that it was consequently ordered
"that the
Colledge
agreed upon formerly to
bee
built at
Cambridge shalbee
called Harvard
Colledge."Harvard University considers him the most honored of its foundersthose whose efforts and contributions in its early days "ensure[d] its permanence"and a statue in his honor is a prominent feature of Harvard Yard.
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States
and among the most prestigious
in the world.Part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard College is Harvard University's traditional undergraduate program, offering AB and SB degrees. It is highly selective, with fewer than five percent of applicants being offered admission in recent years.
Harvard College students participate in more than 450 extracurricular organizations
and nearly all live on campus—first-year students in or near Harvard Yard, and upperclass students in community-oriented "houses".
The college has produced many distinguished alumni, including prominent politicians, scholars, and business leaders.