# List of Harvard University non-graduate alumni

This is a list of some notable people who attended Harvard University, but did not graduate or have yet to graduate. See List of Harvard University people for a more comprehensive list of people affiliated with Harvard.
| Name | Life | Known for | Relationship to Harvard |
| Bülent Ecevit | 1925–2006 | Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey | Attended Harvard University with a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship Scholarship in 1957, studying social psychology and Middle East history for eight months. He attended lectures on anti-communism with Olof Palme and Bertrand Russell and attended Henry Kissinger's Harvard International Seminar. |
| John Adams II | 1803–1834 | aide to his father President John Quincy Adams | Attended College; expelled prior to 1823 graduation; later among those designated as "Bachelor of Arts as of 1823" and admitted to Roll of Graduates |
| Vincent Astor | 1891–1959 | businessman and philanthropist | Attended College |
| F. Lee Bailey | 1933–2021 | lawyer | Attended College |
| William J. A. Bailey | 1884–1949 | Radithor scandal | Attended College |
| Andrew Beyer | born 1943 | horse racing expert | Attended College |
| James Blake | born 1979 | tennis player | Attended College in 1997–1999 |
| Rick Brewer | born 1956 | president of Louisiana College in Pineville, Louisiana; former administrator at Charleston Southern University in North Charleston, South Carolina | Post-graduate study at Harvard |
| William Starling Burgess | 1878–1947 | aviator, yacht designer, automotive innovator, poet | Attended Harvard College 1897–1900 |
| Frederik X of Denmark | born 1968 | King of Denmark since 2024 | Spent the 1992–1993 academic year at Harvard, studied political science under the name Frederik Henriksen |
| Frank Carlucci | 1930–2018 | United States Secretary of Defense | Attended Business School |
| Alistair Cooke | 1908–2004 | journalist, broadcaster | Visiting graduate student |
| Hamilton Coolidge | 1895–1918 | soldier | Attended College 1916 but dropped out to fight in World War I (killed in action); posthumously awarded an A.B. (War Degree), Harvard Class of 1919 |
| Broderick Crawford | 1911–1986 | actor | Attended college after high school graduation but dropped out after three weeks |
| Vincent Cronin | 1924–2011 | historian, writer | Attended College |
| Matt Damon | born 1970 | actor | Attended College |
| Eli Dershwitz | born 1995 | 2023 World Saber Champion, 2015 Under-20 World Saber Champion, and US Olympic saber fencer | Attending College |
| Paul Douglas | 1892–1976 | United States Senator | Attended Graduate School |
| Edmund Fanning | 1739–1818 | British Colonial Officer and Governor | Given A.M. Degree in 1764 |
| John F. Fitzgerald | 1863–1950 | mayor of Boston, Massachusetts | Attended Harvard Medical School but dropped out in 1885 after father died |
| John Gould Fletcher | 1886–1950 | poet and philosopher | College (attended 1903–1907, but did not finish) |
| Benjamin Franklin | 1706–1790 | scientist | Never attended College; awarded an honorary degree in 1753 as Class of 1724 |
| Robert Frost | 1874–1963 | poet | Attended College (1897–1899); awarded an honorary degree in 1937 |
| Buckminster Fuller | 1895–1983 | designer, architect | Attended College |
| William Gaddis | 1922–1998 | novelist | Attended College |
| Bill Gates | born 1955 | co-founder and chairman of Microsoft, entrepreneur, and philanthropist | Attended College (1973–1975); awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws in 2007 |
| Frank Gehry | born 1929 | architect | Attended Design School |
| Ruth Bader Ginsburg | 1933–2020 | Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States | Attended Law School, later transferred to Columbia |
| James Halperin | born 1952 | co-founder and chairman of Heritage Auctions, entrepreneur, and author | Attended College (1970–1972) |
| S. Herbert Hare | 1888-1960 | landscape architect, co-founder of Hare & Hare | Attended Design School |
| William Randolph Hearst | 1863–1951 | newspaper magnate | Attended College |
| Bruce Henderson | 1915–1992 | founder of the Boston Consulting Group | Attended the Business School |
| Joel Iacoomes | 1644–1665 | Native American student (Wampanoag) | Attended Harvard's Indian College; died in shipwreck at Nantucket before receiving his degree as Class of 1665; awarded a posthumous degree A.B. in 2011 |
| Henry James | 1843–1916 | novelist | Attended Law School |
| Philip Kaufman | born 1936 | film director, screenwriter | Attended Law School |
| John Key | born 1961 | Prime Minister of New Zealand | Attended professional courses at the Business School |
| Dan Kiley | 1912–2004 | landscape architect, architect | Attended Design School |
| Edwin Land | 1909–1991 | inventor | Attended College; awarded honorary doctorate in 1957 |
| William Harrington Leahy | 1904-1986 | rear admiral in the United States Navy, son of fleet admiral William D. Leahy | Attended Business School |
| Fred A. Leuchter | born 1943 | inventor and execution equipment designer | Attended for post-graduate studies |
| Alan Lomax | 1915–2002 | musicologist | Attended College (1932–1933) |
| John Lomax | 1867–1948 | musicologist | Visiting student (1907) |
| Amory Lovins | born 1947 | environmentalist | Attended College (1964–66) |
| Robert Lowell | 1917–1977 | poet | Attended College |
| James MacArthur | 1937–2010 | actor | Attended Harvard; dropped out in second year to become actor |
| Rosario Marin | born 1958 | Treasurer of the United States | Attended KSG Program for State and Local Government Executives |
| Tshilidzi Marwala | born 1971 | academic, community leader, and businessman | Attended Harvard Business School |
| Dustin Moskovitz | born 1984 | co-founder of Facebook, Inc. | Attended College |
| Ogden Nash | 1902–1971 | poet | Attended College (1920–21) |
| Benjamin Netanyahu | born 1949 | Prime Minister of Israel | Attended College; studied political science |
| Gabe Newell | born 1962 | co-founder of Valve | Attended College |
| Eugene O'Neill | 1888–1953 | playwright | Attended College |
| James Park | born 1976 | co-founder and CEO of Fitbit | Attended College |
| Gram Parsons | 1946–1973 | father of country rock | Attended College |
| James Peck | 1914–1993 | civil rights and anti-war activist | Attended College |
| Ion Perdicaris | 1840–1925 | businessman and philanthropist | Attended College but left in second year |
| Mary Peters | born 1948 | United States Secretary of Transportation | Attended KSG Program for State and Local Government Executives |
| Albert Pike | 1809–1891 | Confederate General | Attended but then chose not to attend college because of fees |
| Cole Porter | 1891–1964 | composer | Attended Law and Graduate Schools |
| David Endicott Putnam | 1898–1918 | Soldier | Attended College 1917 but dropped out to fight in World War I {killed in action}; posthumously awarded an S.B. {War Degree} Harvard Class of 1920} |
| Bonnie Raitt | born 1949 | singer, songwriter | Attended Radcliffe |
| Richard Read | born 1957 | two-time Pulitzer Prize winner | Nieman fellow (1996–97) |
| Eden Riegel | born 1981 | actress | Attended College (1998–2000) |
| Laurance Spelman Rockefeller | 1910–2004 | businessman and philanthropist | Attended College but dropped out when he decided not to be a lawyer |
| Quentin Roosevelt | 1897–1918 | soldier | Attended College 1916 but dropped out to fight in World War I (killed in action); posthumously awarded an A.B. (War Degree), Harvard Class of 1919 |
| Pete Seeger | 1919–2014 | songwriter, singer, activist | Attended College |
| Birendra Bir Bikram Shah | 1945–2001 | late King of Nepal | Attended for one year (1967–1968) |
| Robert Gould Shaw | 1837–1863 | abolitionist, Union Army colonel | Attended College (1856–1859); killed in American Civil War |
| Harry Shearer | born 1943 | actor, writer | Attended Graduate School |
| Wallace Stevens | 1879–1955 | poet | Special student (1897–1900) |
| Adlai Stevenson | 1900–1965 | 1952 and 1956 Democratic U.S. presidential nominee, Governor of Illinois | Attended Law School |
| Jonathan Taylor Thomas | born 1981 | actor | Attended College (2001–2002) |
| Daniel Cosío Villegas | 1898–1976 | economist, historian | Student |
| David Foster Wallace | 1962–2008 | writer | Attended graduate school |
| David Kenyon Webster | 1922–1961 | soldier, journalist, and author; was profiled in Band of Brothers | Attended College one semester; dropped out to fight in WWII |
| John Wentworth | 1815–1888 | Mayor of Chicago | Attended Law School in 1841 |
| Marjorie Williams | 1958–2005 | writer | Dropped out after junior year |
| Charles W. Woodworth | 1865–1940 | entomologist | Studied under Hermann August Hagen 1886 to 1888, 1900–1901 |
| Isoroku Yamamoto | 1884–1943 | World War II Naval Marshal General, Imperial Japanese Navy | Visiting student (1919–1921) |
| Mark Zuckerberg | born 1984 | founder & CEO of Facebook | Left College in his second year |