The Harvard College Curriculum & Graduation Requirements

All students complete the College Curriculum Requirements (General Education, Divisional Distribution, Language, Expository Writing, and Quantitative Reasoning with Data), declare, and then complete a concentration to receive a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree.

Harvard students take 128 credits, or 32 4-credit courses to complete their degree
Students complete their degrees in 8 semesters
All students typically take 16 credits each term (four courses, four credits per course). Students wishing to take more than 20 credits (or more than 16 credits for first-term first-years) in a term must obtain the approval of their Resident Dean.
In the fall term, first-year students ordinarily take exactly 16 credits (four courses, four credits per course). Exceptions are rare and must be approved by the Resident Dean of First-Year Students.
Students may not enroll in more than 24 credits (six courses, four credits per course) in one term without Administrative Board approval.
First-year students may not cross-register for courses at other Harvard schools in the first term so that they may fully engage with the curriculum in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

The College Curriculum

General Education

Harvard’s Program in General Education provides a broad foundation that enables students to make meaningful connections across disciplines. Students are required to take one course in each of four perspectives: Aesthetics & Culture; Ethics & Civics; Histories, Societies, Individuals; as well as Science & Technology in Society.

Divisional Distribution

The distribution requirement exposes students to the diversity of scholarly disciplines at Harvard. Students graduating in May 2020 or later must complete one departmental (non-Gen Ed) course in each of the three main divisions of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and the Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS): Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, and Science and Engineering and Applied Science.

Quantitative Reasoning with Data (QRD)

The QRD requirement introduces students to mathematical, statistical, and computational methods that will enable students to think critically about data as it is employed in fields of inquiry across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Expository Writing

The writing requirement is a one-semester course offered by the Harvard College Writing Program that focuses on analytic composition and revision. Expos courses are taken as first-year students and are taught in small seminars focusing on writing proficiency in scholarly writing.

Language Requirement

Degree candidates must meet a language requirement in a language other than English that is taught at Harvard or for which an appropriate examination can be given. Details regarding the language requirement can be found on the Office of Undergraduate Education’s website. If after the second term of study a student has not met the language requirement, an advising hold will be placed on their record in my.harvard during each registration period until the language requirement has been met. Students will be expected to have a conversation with their academic advisor to plan how they will fulfill the requirement before graduation.

Concentrations

To explore potential concentrations and fields of study you are encouraged to use the following resources:

Many concentrations offer different tracks within the concentration to allow students to specialize within a field of study. Many also offer an honors track for students who wish to write a thesis.

Students may consider completing a joint concentration- a joining of two overlapping concentrations in which students complete requirements from both concentrations and ordinarily complete an interdisciplinary thesis.

Students may also consider completing a double concentration- allowing students to study two completely unrelated concentrations in depth, with no more than 8 credits of overlap.

Students must declare a concentration in their third term at Harvard. That said, students are able to declare a different concentration later in their time at Harvard if their academic interests and goals change.

Electives

These are three formal programs students can pursue in their Electives are the following (detailed in the Harvard College Handbook for Students):

Secondary Fields (Minors): In addition to a concentration, students may complete one of the 49 secondary fields of study. While many fields have an associated secondary field, some secondary fields are multi-disciplinary and are thus not directly affiliated with a concentration.
Language Citations: Study of a foreign language to an advanced level at Harvard may be acknowledged by a language citation. The awarding of a citation is noted on the student’s transcript and a printed version is issued along with the diploma at Commencement.
Concurrent Master’s Degrees: Students can apply to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for a master’s degree pursued concurrently with the bachelor’s degree.

Course Grading

Of the 128 credits required to graduate, 84 must be taken for a letter-grade. Students enrolling in courses without letter grades are reminded of the following requirements:

Each term students must take, for credit, at least one letter-graded course offered by the FAS. Courses taken at the Graduate School of Education under the UTEP Program constitute an exception to this rule.
Of the 128 credits, students must pass (with a letter graded C- or higher) at least 84 credits (96 credits for a degree with honors) to receive the degree awarded by the FAS. The only non-letter grade that may be counted toward the requirement of 84 satisfactory letter-graded credits is Satisfactory (SAT).
No more than one of the four required General Education courses (Aesthetics & Culture; Ethics & Civics; Histories, Societies, Individuals; and Science & Technology in Society) may be taken pass/fail.
Writing, foreign language, and certain concentration requirements can only be satisfied by letter-graded courses.

Ordinarily, no first-year student or sophomore may take fewer than three letter-graded courses (4 credits per course) in any term.

For more details about course grading policies, please see the Harvard College Handbook for Students.