Government

Program Overview

Harvard's Department of Government is, like political science, an umbrella for a wide range of political subjects and ways of studying them, at the crossroads of history, law, economics, sociology, philosophy and ethics. How competitive: for the Class of 2029, which entered in fall 2025, Harvard admitted 4.2% of its 47,893 applicants; it publishes no separate figure for international applicants. It sets no IB minimum and no subject requirement, and it requires the SAT or ACT: IB results, final or predicted, count in their place only in exceptional cases. Students apply to Harvard College and choose a concentration, Harvard's name for a major, from 50 fields.