Philosophy at Harvard University

What traits are you looking for in a philosophy school? To help you decide if Harvard University is right for you, we've gathered the following information about the school's philosophy program.

Harvard is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and approximately 30,391 students attend the school each year. In 2021, 22 philosophy majors received their bachelor's degree from Harvard.

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

Harvard Philosophy Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy
• Master’s Degree in Philosophy
• Doctorate Degree in Philosophy

Online Classes Are Available at Harvard

Don't have the time or the flexibility in your schedule to take traditional classes? Online courses may be the perfect solution for you. They allow independent learners to study when and where they want to while offering the rigor of in-person classes.

Harvard does offer online education options in philosophy for the following degree levels for those interested in distance learning:

Harvard Philosophy Rankings

The following rankings from College Factual show how the philosophy progam at Harvard compares to programs at other colleges and universities.

Note: Although rankings can help you see some information about a school, it's not a good idea to depend on them alone. Be sure to check out other things about the school before making your decision to attend.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The philosophy major at Harvard is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Philosophy. 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 Philosophy Graduate Certificate Schools	1

In 2021, 10 students received their master’s degree in philosophy from Harvard. This makes it the #17 most popular school for philosophy master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 6 students who received their doctoral degrees in philosophy, making the school the #14 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Philosophy Student Demographics at Harvard

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

Harvard Philosophy Bachelor’s Program

Of the 22 philosophy students who graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2020-2021 from Harvard, about 64% were men and 36% were women.

Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 26% more racial-ethnic minorities in its philosophy bachelor's program than the national average.*

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	6
Black or African American	2
Hispanic or Latino	3
White	7
International Students	2
Other Races/Ethnicities	2

Harvard Philosophy Master’s Program

Of the 10 philosophy students who graduated with a master's degree in 2020-2021 from Harvard, about 60% were men and 40% were women.

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	1
Hispanic or Latino	1
White	4
International Students	3
Other Races/Ethnicities	1

Harvard also has a doctoral program available in philosophy. In 2021, 6 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Related Majors

• General Philosophy & Religious Studies
• Religious Studies

Careers That Philosophy Grads May Go Into

A degree in philosophy 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
Natural Sciences Managers	4,040	$183,490
Mathematical Science Professors	1,700	$92,200
Philosophy and Religion Professors	700	$84,290

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.