Resources at Harvard | Postgraduate Planning

Although Harvard's academic programs are not "preprofessional" in the sense that they provide vocational training, Harvard students are very well prepared for admission to professional schools (business, law, medicine) and graduate programs. Our students enjoy an extraordinarily high rate of admission to graduate and professional schools of their choice. And Harvard College is almost always the best-represented undergraduate institution at Harvard's graduate schools.

While some students select fields of concentration commonly associated with certain careers, many discover they can study in areas of intellectual rather than professional interest and still be superb candidates for jobs and graduate schools. At Harvard, students can concentrate in history and go to medical school, or can study engineering and earn a graduate degree in law. Resident tutors in each of the Houses assist students applying to graduate schools and fellowship programs.

In addition to House-based advice, undergraduates are strongly urged to take advantage of the many resources, programs, and services provided by the Office of Career Services (OCS). OCS assists all undergraduates, beginning in their freshman year, with planning for summer jobs and internships, international experiences, grantsmanship, graduate and professional education, and the fellowship process, as well as with career exploration and decision-making.

Graduating seniors have in recent years pursued careers, both in the United States and abroad, in the arts, business, entertainment, government and politics, health and medicine, law, the media, public service and the nonprofit sector, science and technology, and teaching.