Linguistics & Comparative Literature at Harvard University

If you are interested in studying linguistics and comparative literature, you may want to check out the program at Harvard University. The following information will help you decide if it is a good fit for you.

Harvard is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and approximately 30,391 students attend the school each year. Of the 1,618 students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in 2021, 22 of them were linguistics and comparative literature majors.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Linguistics & Comparative Literature section at the bottom of this page.

Harvard Linguistics & Comparative Literature Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Comparative Literature
• Master’s Degree in Comparative Literature
• Doctorate Degree in Comparative Literature

Harvard Linguistics & Comparative Literature Rankings

Each year, College Factual ranks comparative literature programs across the country. The following shows how Harvard performed in these rankings.

Note: While rankings may be a good starting point when you're researching a school, they don't necessarily highlight all of a school's strengths. Don't forget to check out the other details that are available for a school to see if it has what you're looking for in a program.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The comparative literature major at Harvard is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Linguistics & Comparative Literature. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Most Popular Linguistics & Literature Doctor’s Degree Schools	10

In 2021, 14 students received their master’s degree in comparative literature from Harvard. This makes it the #23 most popular school for comparative literature master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 11 students who received their doctoral degrees in comparative literature, making the school the #10 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Comparative Literature Student Demographics at Harvard

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the comparative literature majors at Harvard University.

Harvard Linguistics & Comparative Literature Bachelor’s Program

Of the 22 students who graduated with a bachelor’s in comparative literature from Harvard in 2021, 23% were men and 77% were women.

About 55% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in comparative literature at Harvard are white. This is above average for this degree on the nationwide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor's in comparative literature.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	3
Black or African American	1
Hispanic or Latino	1
White	12
International Students	5
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

Harvard Linguistics & Comparative Literature Master’s Program

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 14 comparative literature majors earned their master's degree from Harvard. Of these graduates, 36% were men and 64% were women. Nationwide, master's degree programs only see 29% men graduate in comparative literature each year. Harvard does a better job at serving the male population as it supports 7% more men than average.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Harvard University with a master's in comparative literature.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	1
White	7
International Students	5
Other Races/Ethnicities	1

Harvard also has a doctoral program available in comparative literature. In 2021, 11 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Related Majors

• Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages
• Greek Language & Literature
• Celtic Language & Literature
• Germanic Languages
• Classical Languages & Literature

Careers That Comparative Literature Grads May Go Into

A degree in comparative literature can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for MA, the home state for Harvard University.

Occupation	Jobs in MA	Average Salary in MA
High School Teachers	26,420	$80,020
English Language and Literature Professors	2,780	$80,450
Interpreters and Translators	2,140	$55,600
Foreign Language and Literature Professors	1,580	$84,890
Social Scientists	430	$80,210

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By Elisa.rolle under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.