How Radcliffe College Became the Harvard Radcliffe Institute #collegeapps #harvard #collegeadvice

What happened to Radcliffe College, and how did it become part of Harvard?

Radcliffe College started because women were not allowed to attend Harvard. In 1879, a group called the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women was created so women could receive instruction from Harvard professors. At the time, people often called it the Harvard Annex.

In 1894, that program officially became Radcliffe College. Radcliffe became one of the Seven Sisters, a group of historically women’s colleges that played a major role in women’s higher education in the United States.

For a long time, Radcliffe and Harvard were separate, but closely connected. Radcliffe students could receive instruction connected to Harvard, but Radcliffe still had its own identity, its own college structure, and its own place in the history of women’s education.

Over time, the two schools became more integrated. In 1963, Radcliffe students began receiving Harvard degrees. In the 1970s, admissions, housing, and finances became more connected between the two schools.

The official merger happened in 1999. Radcliffe College became part of Harvard University, and the Harvard Radcliffe Institute was created. That is why Radcliffe no longer operates as a separate undergraduate college today.

So when people ask if Radcliffe became Harvard, the answer is yes, but the history is more specific. Radcliffe began as a way for women to access Harvard-level education when Harvard was closed to them, became its own women’s college, and eventually merged into Harvard more than a century later.

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