Located in New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University is considered to be one of the nation’s top colleges. Since its founding in 1701, Yale’s campus has grown into large 260-acre campus with over with 11,000 students and more than 3,000 faculty members. A member of the Ivy League, Yale has fostered an ongoing rivalry with fellow Ivy campus Harvard.

Beyond being incredibly prestigious (Yale University alumni have been overwhelmingly represented in presidential campaigns), Yale’s library sets it apart from other Ivy League schools. With 11 million volumes, Yale’s library system is the second largest among U.S. universities. As a result of their impressive academic reputation and ample facilities, Yale attracts many of the nation’s top students and has developed a rigorous screening process for prospective applicants.

Among the student body, nearly half (44 percent) of students major in fields within Arts and Humanities, another 37 percent are in the Social Sciences, and only 19 percent major in Biological and Physical Sciences. Not surprisingly, political science, history, and economics are the most popular majors at Yale University. Yale University’s student body split evenly among men and women.

As part of the NCAA’s Division I, Yale University Bulldogs have 35 sports to choose from, divided almost evenly between men and women. Beyond sports, many students participate in the Yale Political Union, one of the university’s oldest and most popular groups. Along with the oldest student political group in the country, Yale also features the nation’s oldest student newspaper, the Yale Daily News.

Harvard University is famous as the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. The university was founded by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636. Although founded in a Puritan colony, Harvard has no religious affiliation. The school’s famous alumni include quite a few U.S. presidents, including John Adams, Franklin Roosevelt, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Because of its age, the Harvard campus offers wonderful examples of Colonial architecture. Brick buildings, iron-tipped gates, and well-manicured greenbelts characterize the campus. Campus tours are popular with visiting tourists as well as incoming freshmen. The oldest buildings on campus pre-date the Revolutionary War.

The Impressive Achievements of Harvard University Faculty

Harvard University is made up of 12 different colleges, including the Business School, Design School, Divinity School, and the School of Public Health. Faculty members in each school are renowned within their fields; past and present faculty members have racked up an impressive 46 Pulitzer Prizes. Recent winners include Geraldine Brooks, winner of the 2006 prize for literature.

Harvard’s research facilities have made impressive breakthroughs in the world of science and medicine. In 1993, Harvard University researchers identified the gene for Huntington’s Disease. In 2000, a Harvard team created a new cancer drug being tested in patients for whom chemotherapy is either not an option or has not been successful. With dozens of affiliated research institutes, Harvard is well positioned for another remarkable century of discovery.