Harvard University is the oldest of all the colleges and universities in the United States. Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Dartmouth all came after Harvard.
In the early years, these schools were nearly the same. Only young men went to college. All the students studied the same subjects, and everyone learned Latin and Greek. At that time, people knew little about science, and one kind of school could teach everything about the world. When the students graduated, most of them became ministers or teachers.
In 1782, Harvard started a medical school for young men who wanted to become doctors. Later, lawyers could study in Harvard's law school. In 1825, besides Latin and Greek, Harvard began to teach modern languages, such as French and German. Soon it began to teach American history.
As knowledge increased, Harvard and other colleges began to teach many new subjects. Students could choose the subjects that interested them.
Today, there am many different kinds of colleges and universities. Most of them are made up of smaller schools that deal with special fields of learning. There's so much to learn that one kind of school can't offer all.
