Harvard University — Economics

🎓 Academic Program

Harvard Economics AB concentration — the largest concentration at Harvard College. Home to the Opportunity Insights lab (Raj Chetty), the Harvard Growth Lab (Ricardo Hausmann), and the Harvard Kennedy School's Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD). Faculty include Nobel laureates Claudia Goldin (labor/gender economics) and Oliver Hart (contract theory), plus star researchers like Gregory Mankiw, Alberto Alesina Chair holders, and Stefanie Stantcheva (public economics). Undergrad tracks: standard Economics AB, Economics with Mathematics track, and joint concentration with Math or Statistics. Sophomore tutorial (Ec 970) and senior thesis pipeline directly feed into IB/consulting/PhD placements.

🎯 Admissions

📊 Exam Requirements

📅 Deadlines

💰 Financial Aid & Scholarships

📑 Scholarship requirements

• Submit CSS Profile (international form) by deadline
• Family financial documents (tax returns, bank statements, property documents)
• Income verification from employer
• Demonstrate financial need through Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
• No separate scholarship application — automatic with admission

🔄 Scholarship maintenance

Annual CSS Profile resubmission. Maintain satisfactory academic progress (no fixed GPA minimum). Continue to demonstrate financial need.

⚠️ Conditions & restrictions

• Must remain enrolled full-time
• Aid recalculated each year based on family finances
• Withdrawal could trigger pro-rated aid return

📝 Application requirements

• 2 teacher recommendations (one quantitative/math strongly recommended for Economics)
• 1 school counselor recommendation
• Common App essay
• Harvard supplemental essays (5 short answer)
• Mid-Year Report
• Optional alumni interview

✍️ Supplemental essay prompts (2025-2026)

1. See Harvard supplement (5 short essays ~150 words each; prompts change annually)

⭐ "Why Us?" — Essay hooks & school personality

Harvard Economics is the largest concentration at Harvard College — the single deepest bench of tenured economists in the world. Raj Chetty's Opportunity Insights team hires undergraduate research assistants each summer. Ec 970 sophomore tutorial groups you into small research-focused cohorts. Senior thesis winners regularly place directly into top PhD programs and central bank research desks. Cross-registration with MIT Economics doubles the seminar surface area.

🏆 Unique advantages

Need-blind for ALL students worldwide. Largest endowment in higher education ($50B+). Harvard Kennedy School and HBS are steps away — undergrads can cross-register into HBS Business Analytics and HKS API-101/API-201 courses. Alumni network dominates Wall Street, Fed, Treasury, and IMF.

💼 Career outlook

~40% of Economics concentrators go into finance/consulting on graduation. Top recruiter for Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan IB, McKinsey, Bain, BCG. Median starting salary $110-130k in NYC IB. Strong PhD pipeline into MIT, Stanford, Chicago, Princeton Econ.

⏰ Work while studying

F-1 visa: up to 20 hrs/week on-campus during semester, full-time during breaks. Research assistantships in Opportunity Insights, NBER-affiliated labs, and HBS pay $15-20/hr. Federal work-study included in aid packages ~$3,500/yr.

🎯 Essay Hooks — "Why Us?" эссэд ашиглах specific anchor-ууд

Ерөнхий "great library" биш — тодорхой campus culture, program, alumni хэсгүүд. Тухайн сургуулийн уникаль зүйлсийг эссэдээ дурдснаар "чи маш их судалж, зөвхөн бидэн рүү зорьж байна" гэсэн сигнал өгнө.

• Opportunity Insights (Raj Chetty) hires undergraduate research assistants to work on mobility, race, and inequality datasets
• Ec 970 sophomore tutorial pairs you with a PhD student for a semester-long research project
• Nobel laureate Claudia Goldin taught the largest undergraduate labor economics course in the world
• Cross-registration with MIT Economics doubles your seminar and RA options
• Senior thesis winners go directly into MIT/Stanford Econ PhD programs and Fed research desks

📝 Application effort estimation

🎯 Backup plans

• If denied REA: apply RD with stronger application
• Defer admission for gap year, work, save money
• Apply RD to Princeton, Yale, MIT, Stanford Economics
• Apply for external Mongolia scholarships (Zorig Foundation, private sponsors)

🔗 Official sources

• college.harvard.edu/admissions
• college.harvard.edu/financial-aid
• economics.harvard.edu
• opportunityinsights.org
• Harvard Common Data Set 2024-25