Social Sciences at Harvard University

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

Harvard is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has a total student population of 30,391. In the 2020-2021 academic year, 481 students received a bachelor's degree in social sciences from Harvard.

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

Harvard Social Sciences Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences
• Master’s Degree in Social Sciences
• Doctorate Degree in Social Sciences

Online Classes Are Available at Harvard

Online courses are a good option for students who need a more flexible schedule that allows them to pursue an education when and where they want. Whether you're going to school part-time or full-time, you may find distance education the right choice for you.

Are you one of the many who prefer to take online classes? Harvard offers distance education options for social sciences at the following degree levels:

Harvard Social Sciences Rankings

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

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 social sciences major at Harvard is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Social Sciences. 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
Best Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools	11
Most Focused Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools	44

In 2021, 218 students received their master’s degree in social sciences from Harvard. This makes it the #11 most popular school for social sciences master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 77 students who received their doctoral degrees in social sciences, making the school the #2 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Social Sciences Student Demographics at Harvard

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

Harvard Social Sciences Bachelor’s Program

Of the 481 social sciences students who graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2020-2021 from Harvard, about 52% were men and 48% were women. The typical social sciences bachelor's degree program is made up of only 44% men. So male students are more repesented at Harvard since its program graduates 8% more men than average.

Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 8% more racial-ethnic minorities in its social sciences 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 social sciences.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	80
Black or African American	60
Hispanic or Latino	60
White	187
International Students	45
Other Races/Ethnicities	49

Harvard Social Sciences Master’s Program

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 218 students graduated with a master's degree in social sciences from Harvard. About 54% were men and 46% were women. Nationwide, master's degree programs only see 44% men graduate in social sciences each year. Harvard does a better job at serving the male population as it supports 10% 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 social sciences.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	29
Black or African American	7
Hispanic or Latino	25
White	68
International Students	61
Other Races/Ethnicities	28

Harvard also has a doctoral program available in social sciences. In 2021, 77 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Concentrations Within Social Sciences

The following social sciences concentations are available at Harvard University. The completion numbers here include all graduates who receive any type of degree in this field from Harvard University. Some of these focus areas may not be available for your degree level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
Economics	267
General Social Sciences	188
Political Science & Government	157
International Relations & National Security	149
Sociology	63
Anthropology	47

Related Majors

• Family, Consumer & Human Sciences
• Communication & Journalism
• Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies
• Psychology
• History

Careers That Social Sciences Grads May Go Into

A degree in social sciences 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
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists	20,070	$74,510
Managers	8,660	$131,450
Statisticians	3,090	$108,670
Social Science Research Assistants	2,040	$55,310

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.