Harvard University哈佛大学
建于1636年的哈佛大学，是美国和世界最着名的大学之一。300年来，哈佛大学不仅培养了无数的政治家、科学家和作家，如今也更是美国政府的思想库。
哈佛大学坐落在波士顿以北的剑桥市。不错，学院的所在地的确是以英国的剑桥大学为名，但大家都知道，哈佛大学近百年来在各领域的成就，丝毫不比剑桥大学逊色。1638年，约翰·哈佛将其一半的财产和他的图书馆捐予学院，学院后来就更名为“哈佛”来纪念他。若当时没改名，今日的学术界可得被两所着名的“剑桥”搞糊涂了！
莅临哈佛校园时，别忘了拜访约翰·哈佛的铜像。自19世纪塑立在大学中央的哈佛铜像，每天都有上百的游客前来参观，据说若伸手轻擦铜像中的皮鞋能带来好运。不过，铜像中描绘的，其实是当时的一名学生，而非哈佛本人。18世纪的一场大火，不幸烧毁了所有约翰·哈佛的个人画像，以致后人无法推断他的真实模样。
哈佛大学的文学气息浓厚，是众所周知的。但它在科研方面的成果，却绝不输给邻近的麻省理工学院(MIT)。哈佛拥有的着名科学家，包括发现核磁共振(Nuclear Magnetic Resonance)的珀塞尔(Purcell)，在弦理论(String Theory)享誉全球的史卓明勒(Strominger)，以及每年在纳米科技(Nanotechnology)有许多学术着作的查尔斯·李波(Charles Lieber)。李波教授科研组的一位中国博士生黄昱，研究出经济实用的分子电路，成为“学院发明奖”竞赛的获奖者，她的研究成果也在2001年被“科学”杂志评为2001年十大科研突破之一。
哈佛大学的图书馆收藏近13亿的书籍，是全世界继美国国务院图书馆(Library of Congress)藏书最多的地方。难怪麻省理工学院为了不让学生在阅读材料方面“吃亏”，舍得为它所有的学生缴会员费，让他们也能自由借阅哈佛大学的书籍！哈佛大学所收集的书册分散在大学属下90多间图书馆，其中以韦德纳图书馆(Widener Memorial Library)最庞大。据知，校友哈里·韦德纳生前爱好周游各国，收集奇书，不料在回美的途中丧命于铁达尼号。其母为纪念爱儿，便捐书和捐钱建立了这所图书馆。
Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge， Massachusetts， USA， and a member of the Ivy League. It was founded on September 8， 1636， by a vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony， making it the oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Originally referred to simply as the New College， it was named Harvard College on March 13， 1639， after its first principal donor， a young clergymanclergyman n.牧师， 教士 named John Harvard. A young graduate of Emmanuel College， Cambridge， John Harvard in his will bequeathed a few hundred books to form the basis of the college library collection， along with several hundred pounds. The earliest known official reference to Harvard as a “university” rather than a “college” occurred in the new Massachusetts constitution of 1780. Since 1974， nineteen Nobel Prize winners and fifteen Pulitzer Prize winners have served on the Harvard faculty. Currently， the university has the largest financial endowment of any academic institutionacademic institution 学术机构， 学院， 研究所 in the world.
Institution
A faculty of about 2，300 professors serves about 6，650 undergraduate and 13，000 graduate students. In the faculty reputational surveys (peer assessment scores) which form a key component of the college and university rankings published annually by US News & World Report， Harvard consistently receives top ratings. The 2004 Times Higher Education Supplement world university rankings (though， like most rankings， often criticized) placed Harvard University in first place overall. Harvard，s overall undergraduate acceptance rate for 2005 was 9.1%. According to The Atlantic Monthly in 2003， it was the fifth most selectiveselective adj.选择的， 选择性的 undergraduate program in the United States， after MIT， Princeton， Caltech， and Yale. The 2006 figures from U.S. News indicated that the business school admitted 14.3% of its applicants， the engineering division admitted 12.5%， the law school admitted 11.3%， the education school admitted 11.2%， and the medical school admitted 4.9%.
The school color is a shade richer than red but brighter than burgundy， referred to as crimson， which is also the name of the Harvard sports teams and the daily newspaper， The Harvard Crimson. The color was unofficially adopted (in preference to magenta) by an 1875 vote of the student body， although the association with some form of red can be traced back to 1858， when Charles William Eliot， a young graduate student who would later become Harvard，s president， bought red bandanas for his crew so they could more easily be distinguished by spectators at a regattaregatta n.赛舟会.
Campus
The main campus is centered around Harvard Yard in central Cambridge， and extends into the surrounding Harvard Square neighborhood， approximately two miles (3.2 km) from the MIT campus. The Harvard Business School and many of the university，s athletics facilities， including Harvard Stadium， are located in Allston， on the other side of the Charles River from Harvard Square， and the University has plans to move more of its facilites to recentlyacquired land in Allston. Harvard Medical School is located in the Longwood district of Boston.
Harvard Yard itself contains the central administrative offices and main libraries of the University， severalacademicbuildings and the majority of the freshman dormitories. Upperclass students live in twelve residential Houses； three Houses are located at the Quadrangle， in a residential neigborhood half a mile northwest of the Yard， and the other nine are in a largely commercial district south of the Yard， situated along or close to the banks of the Charles River.
Radcliffe Yard， the center of the campus of the former Radcliffe College (and now Radcliffe Institute)， is west of Harvard Yard， adjacent to the Graduate School of Education.
Throughout the past several years， Harvard has purchased large tracts of land across the river in Allston with the intent of expanding the campus southward. Early plans have indicated that new science buildings， undergraduate houses， arts facilities， and several of the smaller Graduate schools would eventually be constructed on the land currently surrounding the Business School and Athleticathletic adj.运动的 facilities.
Columbia University哥伦比亚大学
位于纽约市中心，于1754年成立，属美国“常青藤八大盟校”之一。在医学、法律和MBA方面出类拔萃，在自然科学学科，如化学、生物、计算机、地理等，排名也名列前茅。
哥伦比亚大学商科研究生院1997年全美排名第7，其MBA课程的最大特色就是灵活有弹性(flexibility)，学生可以在1月、5月、9月开课的任一学期就读。该院比较欢迎海外学生。在课程设置上它也锐意进取，特别是设立了国际化(Globalisation)、全品质(Total quality)、道德(Ethics)和人力资源管理四大主题，所以有“21世纪课程”的美誉。
哥伦比亚大学教育研究生院是世界上最大的教育学、应用心理学和心理健康学方面的综合研究生院，1997年全美教育研究生院排名第一。它拥有众多的研究中心，是美国上述学科最好的研究生院之一。
哥伦比亚大学是一所综合性大学，几乎所有的本科系都实力雄厚。东亚系是美国大学中最好的系之一，政治系也很受欢迎。地质系在纽约上州的“石头地郡”(Rockland Country)，拥有两百英亩的满是石头和测试仪器的基地。艺术系与莱丽亚音乐学院联合开课，实力自然不弱。
哥伦比亚大学的教授也是一流的。不少学生会发现，给他们授课的教授原来就是某本权威着作的作者。而更有甚者，哥伦比亚大学先后有55名诺贝尔奖获得者，这无疑是它的学术实力的最佳证明。
哥伦比亚大学的教育偏重开发智力和综合培养。它的核心教纲，包括了美国大学中最为严格的一组基础课。经过这种培养，学生们的综合素质会得到全面提升。
美国开国元勋之一亚利山大·汉密尔顿，是哥伦比亚的校友。他的塑像就耸立在哥大的校园里，无声地述论着美国的历史。
