How To Get Into Harvard – A Guide To Ivy League Admissions

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As an elite exam prep visitor whose students have been accepted to Harvard, its not uncommon for the states to be asked how to get into Harvard University. Afterwards all, attention a prestigious Ivy League school is undoubtedly a dream for many. And, while it may be more difficult to become into an Ivy League school such as Harvard, the expert news is that it'southward not totally impossible.

In this article, we're going to talk over how to get into Harvard university including:

  • the Harvard acceptance charge per unit (spoiler: information technology'southward only 5% as nosotros explain afterwards in the commodity)
  • Harvard early conclusion acceptance charge per unit (it's 7.ix% – click here to run across why)
  • Harvard university GPA requirements
  • plus, boosted Harvard academy requirements you need to know

Ready to learn how to get into Harvard University? Let's dive in:

Desire to know your chances of acceptance? Calculate your chances with CollegeVine'due south free admissions calculator.

  1. Dean of Admissions Explains The Harvard Admissions Process
  2. The History of Harvard University
  3. Harvard Campus Map
    • Harvard Academy Facilities
    • Notable Harvard Alumni
  4. Fun Facts About Harvard University
  5. What Kind of Pupil is Harvard Looking For?
  6. v Types of Students Harvard Admissions Prefer
    • In a Nutshell, Harvard Looks For Work-Life Balance
  7. Is Harvard the Right Fit For Me?
  8. Not sure if Harvard is the right school for you?
  9. Harvard University Acceptance Rates
  10. Harvard Early Decision Acceptance Charge per unit
  11. Harvard Admissions Demographics
    • Demographics At A Glance
    • Harvard Class of 2024: Ethnicity Rates
  12. Harvard Class of 2024 Geographical Data
    • Areas Where Harvard Students Are From
  13. Popular Intended Fields of Study by Harvard Students
  14. Harvard University Requirements: Hither'southward What You Need to Get into Harvard
    • Harvard Academy Credence Rates Infographic
    • Harvard Academy GPA Requirements
    • What SAT or ACT Scores Exercise Y'all Need To Go Into Harvard?
  15. Harvard Application Nuts
    • Mutual App
    • Harvard's Supplemental Essays
  16. How to Get an Edge When Applying To Harvard
    • Utilise Early Action (If Y'all Can)
    • Nether-Represented Intended Major
    • Get Recommendations From Someone Who Knows You Well
    • Putting It All Together
  17. 2 Pitfalls To Avoid If You lot Want To Become Into Harvard
  18. Examples of Successful Harvard Applicants
  19. The Hardest Part of Getting Into Harvard
  20. Are yous serious about getting into Harvard?
  21. Schedule a Gratis Consultation

Dean of Admissions Explains The Harvard Admissions Procedure

Let's start past jumping dorsum a few years and hearing how Harvard's Dean of Admissions explain the process.

In 2009, the New York Times interviewed William R. Fitzsimmons, the and so dean of admissions and financial assistance at Harvard College.  Fitzsimons went into item near the procedure by which Harvard evaluates the applicants in their pool.  He said that in one case the vast number of applications had been whittled downward to a select grouping, admissions officers would become over each and every application in that pool individually.  Some applications were discussed and considered for over an hour.

What would they talk over for an hr? Everything.

Consider their task: the The states has just under 100,000 loftier schools, and Harvard received near 40,000 applications last year.

That means every other high school had one student who idea he or she was qualified for Harvard.

Out of those 40,000 Harvard applicants, only one,980 were accepted.

That ways for every l high schools in the U.s.a., Harvard can only pick one student to attend.

Imagine taking 50 high schools worth of students and trying to find the best student. If but one in fifty students has a 4.0 GPA, that would still exit an unabridged high school worth of perfect-GPA students, and Harvard will only accept one.

If that sounds extreme, it is.

But here'southward the proficient news: someone's got to become into Harvard, and we want information technology to exist you lot.

On that note, let's first digging into some of the specifics. If you desire to maximize your chances of getting into Harvard, avert common mistakes, and find out if Harvard is right for you, read on as we go over Harvard'due south University admission requirements, demographics, and strategies to succeed in the bidder puddle.

The History of Harvard University

Harvard Campus Map

Presently, Harvard's total campus area occupies about 500 acres, concentrated in Cambridge and Boston.

Harvard Academy Facilities

Harvard has 9 unlike facilities which students seeking admission can consider.

Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences includes:

  • the Harvard Higher
  • the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
  • the Division of Continuing Teaching
  • and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

The other eight facilities are:

  • Business Administration
  • Design
  • Divinity
  • Education
  • Authorities
  • Law
  • Medicine (including Dental Medicine)
  • and Public Wellness

Additionally, Harvard likewise has the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Notable Harvard Alumni

ruth bader ginsburg, harvard alumni
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harvard graduate and Acquaintance Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Harvard boasts a staggeringly impressive listing of notable alumni. Any pupil who gains admission to Harvard can take pride in knowing they will be attention a school that has produced an infrequent roster of artists, politicians, scientists, and prodigies in countless other fields as well.

One-time Harvard alumni include:

  • Westward. E. B. Du Bois
  • T.Due south. Eliot
  • Hellen Keller
  • Ruth Bader Ginsburg
  • Neil deGrasse Tyson
  • Matt Damon
  • Al Gore
  • and Marking Zuckerberg

But that's just to proper noun a few…

Harvard has besides produced (either as alumni or staff) 28 Nobel laureates, the starting time of which was Professor Theodore William Richards who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1914 for determining diminutive weights; as well as 8 Presidents of the United States, including John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, John F. Kennedy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, George Westward. Bush, and Barack Obama.

Fun Facts Near Harvard University

  1. The names of eight Harvard alumni, including Adams (pictured), adorn the Declaration of Independence.
continental soldiers

two. Continental soldiers were quartered in Old Stoughton Higher in 1775.  The soldiers caused so much harm to the building that it had to exist torn downwardly.

harvards phi beta kappa logo

3. The oldest continuous chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was formed at Harvard in 1781.  Theodore Roosevelt after joined this chapter in 1880.

mary fasano Harvards oldest graduate

4. In 1997, Mary Fasano became the oldest person ever to earn a Harvard degree when she graduated from the Extension School at the age of 89.

nathaniel ames

5. In 1791, a author in the Boston printing accused Harvard of poisoning students' minds with Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.  President Joseph Willard replied that far from even because Gibbon, the College used a text by French historian Abbé Millot.  Nathaniel Ames (pictured), who graduated from Harvard around 1812, recalled Millot'southward text as "the most utterly worthless and contemptible work of that kind or any other extant."

george parkman

6. In 1849, Dr. George Parkman (pictured) disappeared at the Medical School in i of the near famous murder cases in Harvard history.  Before, Parkman had lent money to colleague Dr. John White Webster.  To secure the loan, Webster gave Parkman a mortgage on his personal property, including a valuable collection of minerals.  When Parkman learned that Webster had backed another loan with the same collection, he began relentlessly pursuing Webster to collect the debt.

A week subsequently his disappearance, a suspicious janitor bankrupt through a brick vault below Webster'due south lab and found human body parts, which the authorities soon discovered all around the lab.  Found guilty of first-degree murder, Webster belatedly confessed and appealed for clemency, but was hanged on Aug. 30, 1850.  Parkman's widow led a fund drive to support Webster's wife and children.

What Kind of Pupil is Harvard Looking For?

Students who are wondering how to become into Harvard need to know this:

Harvard is looking for students with "growth and potential".

To become accustomed into Harvard, students must prove commitment to excellence through "interests and activities," have upstanding "grapheme and personality," and "contribute to Harvard's community."

But what does that actually hateful?

Volition you get into Harvard?

Detect out how likely y'all are to get accepted based on your GPA, exam scores, and fifty-fifty extracurricular activities. Then, get custom recommendations for how to better your odds – completely for free on CollegeVine.

Will you get into Harvard?

Notice out how likely you are to become accepted based on your GPA, test scores, and even extracurricular activities. Then, go custom recommendations for how to amend your odds – completely for free on CollegeVine.

five Types of Students Harvard Admissions Prefer

When they say they are looking for students with "growth and potential," they want to see that a prospective student is on their mode to always increasing heights.  At its about basic level, this ways students should not only have nearly-perfect grades, but that the difficulty of their courses should as well steadily increase each year.

young female harvard student depicts types of students who get into harvard
Harvard expects students to showroom exemplary growth and potential.

Presume that most Harvard applicants will accept perfect grades.

How do you lot differentiate in this environment?

ane. Those Who Seek Out Advanced Classes To Become Into Harvard

With the difficulty and quantity of your coursework. All 4.0 GPAs are not created equal—a 4.0 GPA that was achieved with all AP classes is superior to one that isn't.

Students looking for an border should constantly exist looking for ways to grow outside the available high school curriculum.

Supplement your high school curriculum with courses from your local customs higher in subjects more avant-garde or unavailable at your high school.

This demonstrates dedication to noesis and intellectual curiosity.

Harvard is looking for students who volition be the time to come best in their field, so what students choose to focus their growth and potential on should chronicle to their hereafter aspirations.

2. Students Who Know What They Want To Exercise After Graduation

Harvard is well-nigh interested in students who already know or have an thought of what they want to practice after they graduate college.  However, it is non necessary to have a fully fleshed out plan and so long as a student can demonstrate that they take given the topic serious consideration and have actively explored options that practise interest them.

3. Passionate Individuals With Demonstrated Leadership

Harvard wants students who are passionate about something specific and meaningful to them.  This more often than not comes in two forms: interests and activities that chronicle dorsum to a pupil'due south future career goals, or interests and activities which demonstrate either a student'southward unique life experience or a student'south "character and personality."

For the one-time, Harvard prefers students who actively pursue a narrow field of interest to a meaningful caste.  60-v percent of students from the form of 2023 reported holding a leadership position in 1 to iii extracurriculars, with the majority of those holding simply one to two leadership positions.

However, this isn't a hard and fast dominion: and then long every bit a student is passionate well-nigh what they do and devotes nearly of their extracurricular time to those passions.

4. Student'due south Who Don't Buy Into "Gild Collector" Mentality

Similarly, while Harvard is interested in the breath and telescopic of the activities pursued in the name of a educatee'south goal or passion, it is more important that a educatee has taken the greatest advantage of all the activities they do have access to.

Just don't fall victim to the 'club collector' mentality. Joining clubs is fine, but being in 5 that have goose egg to do with one another or have no link to your extracurricular passions is distracting.

Furthermore, gild membership is somewhat assumed. Club leadership is meliorate but is still basically table stakes at Harvard.

Consider doing something more meaningful, more challenging, or unique to demonstrate pursuit of your intellectual passions.

Don't have any?

Unfortunately, you're going to have to imitation information technology.

Harvard students studying together
Harvard expects students to contribute to the campus community and actively participate in educating themselves and their young man students.

5. Students That Contribute To Their Communities

Those activities related to a student's unique life experience or their "character and personality" may seem supplemental simply are no less important.

Harvard specifically says that "contributions that students make to the well-beingness of their secondary schools, communities, and families are of great involvement to us."

This includes:

  • extracurricular activities
  • local community
  • piece of work experiences
  • and aid provided to family unit, such as babysitting, household responsibilities, or working in a restaurant to help with family or personal expenses

These activities "may reflect underlying graphic symbol and personal qualities," co-ordinate to Harvard.

However…

Our view is that Harvard doesn't really believe this statement.

Absent extreme extenuating circumstances, a student who talks about babysitting and household responsibilities is not going to exist a competitive applicant compared to one who has published a novel.

Harvard is, of course, looking for customs interest, just not of the banal variety.

If y'all're passionate almost your community, show it by leading a protest or helping a mayoral candidate, not by babysitting. The one thing which holds true, regardless of activity, is that they should demonstrate a student's commitment to excellence.

When Harvard says they are looking for students with "character and personality," they are looking for students with intellectual imagination, strength of character, and who can exercise personal initiative and good judgment.

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In a Nutshell, Harvard Looks For Work-Life Residuum

On the most basic level, Harvard wants students with time management and work-life residue skills.

Harvard is a difficult schooling environment for students who are not cocky-motivated. They only accept students they believe tin handle that rigor.  More broadly, Harvard is looking for students who can be teachers to other students, though non in a lecture-type sense.

Harvard alumni often report that the teaching they received from boyfriend classmates was every bit valuable and intellectually stimulating equally the one they received from their professors.  Harvard wants students who provide fascinating conversation over coffee or dejeuner and who leave their fellows feeling enriched.

harvard student exercising between study sessions
To get into Harvard, students are expected to maintain work-life residuum between their extra-curricular activities, community service, and studies.

The final thing Harvard describes looking for in prospective students is their ability to "contribute to the Harvard customs."  Much of what we have already discussed, such as the ability to have on the pressures of college life and beingness a teacher to fellow students, applies hither, simply this has more to exercise with what a pupil will do on campus rather than who they are.

Near 75% of the Harvard course of 2023 reported being involved in community service during High school, but this is not the merely fashion students can demonstrate how they will contribute to the Harvard community.  For students seeking admission to Harvard, it is more important to demonstrate that their interests are Harvard-specific.

Is Harvard the Right Fit For Me?

Hopefully, the in-depth word of what type of student Harvard wants has illuminated whether Harvard is a adept match for your or your student's personality.

In terms of classmates, all Harvard students characterize their fellow students as intelligent, driven, and exceptional.  Students usually come up from a wealthy groundwork, with well-off outnumbering low-income students 23-to-1.

Merely this should not be a deterrent to Harvard applicants of any background.

We mention this as an indication of the culture you're probable to experience, as Harvard has a reputation for snobbery that is not entirely undeserved, though general consensus implies that such students can be avoided.

harvard campus services
Before applying to Harvard, consider if you are a good fit for the school and will mesh well with the campus atmosphere.

The school has a "sink or swim" mentality, where students who are not independent and self-directed will struggle.  The numerous opportunities for enquiry, networking, etc. must be actively pursued, and students who do not do so volition not have those opportunities.

However, students who accept mental fortitude and bulldoze thrive at Harvard.

Not certain if Harvard is the right school for you?

Dive into our comprehensive, data-backed guides to learn what it takes to get into any of the Ivy Leagues, including:

  • what your high school GPA should exist
  • what your target Sabbatum or Deed test scores need to exist
  • what kind of extra-cirriculars to focus on

Plus, other actionable tips you lot tin can utilize to gain an ethical border when applying to your dream school.

  • How To Go Into The Ivy League
  • How To Get Into The Ivy League As An International Student
  • How To Get Into Brown
  • How To Get Into Columbia
  • How To Get Into Cornell
  • How To Get Into Dartmouth
  • How To Get Into Harvard
  • How To Get Into Princeton
  • How To Go Into UPenn
  • How To Get Into Yale

Harvard University Acceptance Rates

The Harvard University acceptance rate for the Class of 2024 was 5%. This figure was derived based on the admissions statistics on Harvard's website.

harvard acceptance rate for the Class of 2024 was 5%

According to Harvard in that location were a total of 40,248 students that applied. Of those students, 2,015 were accepted into Harvard, including 34 from the wait list.

The Harvard Crimson noted, "This year's admissions charge per unit marks a slight increase from the record-low 4.50 percent admitted to the Class of 2023. The College's acceptance rate has steadily declined for the past several years; the bump in this yr's rate is the first increment since students applied to the Grade of 2018. The number of applicants in this admissions wheel was seven percent lower than last year."

Harvard Early Conclusion Acceptance Rate

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Early Decision acceptance rate is seven.9%. (We'll talk more about why y'all should utilize Early Action a bit later in the article.)

Harvard Admissions Demographics

Most students are white, and about 24% of those white students tend to be legacies (pregnant their parents were Harvard alumni). The total number of legacy students admitted to Harvard each year fluctuates slightly but generally hovers around 15%.

One study revealed that 43% of white students admitted into Harvard in the concluding six years were either:

  • legacy students
  • recruited athletes
  • children of faculty members
  • or teens whose relatives had donated big amounts of money to the university

Demographics At A Glance

Compare your information to those of the students accepted into the Harvard Course of 2024.

harvard student body ethnicity demographics chart

Harvard Class of 2024: Ethnicity Rates

  • White: 46.1%
  • Asian: 24.4%
  • Hispanic or Latino: 12.7%
  • African American: 14.vii%
  • Native American: 1.viii%
  • Native Hawaiian: 0.3%

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Well-nigh Harvard students come from the Northeast and W coast, which is also where the largest volume of Harvard applications come from.

Furthermore, 60% of students come up from suburban areas, xxx% from urban areas, and only ten% come from rural areas.  As such, students applying from a less populous land, such as the Smashing Plains states, may have a slight admissions advantage by virtue of less competition from their area.

Areas Where Harvard Students Are From

harvard student body geography graph
  • Mountain three%
  • Pacific 14%
  • Key two%
  • Mid-Atlantic 22%
  • South 20%
  • Midwest x%
  • New England 18%
  • International 12%

Most students who are admitted to Harvard have declared some intended field of study, even if they end upward pursuing a different concentration.  Most students study Biological Sciences or Social Sciences.  This makes sense given that Harvard's graduate Biological and Physical Sciences programs besides as their Political and Social Science programs consistently rank as meridian 5 in the nation.

  • Humanities: 14.8%
  • Social Sciences: 26.0%26
  • Biological Sciences: xviii.9%
  • Physical Sciences: 7.seven%
  • Engineering: 10.half dozen%
  • Reckoner Sciences: 8.2%
  • Math: 7.4%
  • Undecided: half dozen.5%
graph of harvard student majors

And then long as they have the quality of activities to demonstrate passionate interest on their application, students who apply while declaring a less common intended major may have an easier time standing out from their peers.  This is peculiarly truthful if they are an underrepresented demographic within that concentration, such as women in computer science (note that there are some caveats here that volition be addressed later).

Past that same token, students who apply to Harvard as undecided may have a harder fourth dimension standing out and will need to make sure their awarding is exceptional in another style.

Harvard University Requirements: Here'due south What You Demand to Get into Harvard

If you recall, the Harvard credence rate is merely 5%. Information technology's an extremely difficult school to get into. On top of stellar grades, Harvard academy requirements include:

  • 4 years of a foreign language
  • iv years of English (focused on classics and earth literature)
  • at least 3 years History (one year each of American and European, with i year of some avant-garde history grade)
  • 4 years of Math
  • and four years of Science (1 yr each of Physics, Chem, and Biology, and i additional year of any of those three at an avant-garde level)

Harvard also recommends students accept coursework which regularly practices "expository prose" (5-paragraph essays or like).

Harvard Academy Acceptance Rates Infographic

Harvard University Acceptance Rates infographic

Harvard University GPA Requirements

Almost all students admitted to Harvard had a loftier school GPA of 3.75 or higher.  However, equally we previously discussed, GPA is not the most useful metric for colleges when comparing applicants.

average gpa of harvard students

What Sabbatum or ACT Scores Do You Need To Get Into Harvard?

Students' admitted to Harvard had average Sabbatum scores from 1460 to 1580 points; and ACT scores ranging from 33 to 35.

average sat and act scores of harvard students

For Harvard, it seems to be more important that students are in the acme percent of their graduating class.  Of students whose high school provided class rank, 94% of admitted students were in the top 10% of their graduating class, and no students were in the lesser 50%.

Harvard says that "sometimes AP or IB scores are higher than equivalent Sat or ACT scores and can demonstrate a wider range of your accomplishments," so if a student'southward Sat or Deed scores are not up-to-par, they tin hypothetically make upward for it with stellar AP and IB scores.

Nevertheless, keep in listen that the AP and IB tests are an additional price to the SAT and ACT. They also encompass a wider and deeper range of topics, and achieving an excellent event on an AP or IB test is more hard than performing well on the Sat or ACT.

student studying to get into harvard
If you are seeking comprisal to Harvard University you need strong test scores in addition to a high GPA.

Even in the era of COVID-nineteen, admitting a decent Saturday or Act score is in a student'southward all-time interest as, even though submitting scores is optional this year, doing so demonstrates a student's commitment to excellence, a quality Harvard emphatically prizes. (You can read more than about the change to Harvard'south SAT and Act requirements here.)

Harvard recommends that students submit two Saturday Subject Test scores of their option.

(Update 1/23/2021: The Higher Lath has officially concluded the Sabbatum Subject field Tests. Y'all can read more than about this story hither.)

This is technically optional merely highly recommended. Especially for international students and students whose showtime language is not English.

What Subject Tests a student takes should be determined past what their intended subject field is and what they excel in to demonstrate their academic prowess.

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Harvard Application Basics

Common App

Virtually students applying to Harvard use the Mutual App.  Students doing so should make sure to fill out all the fields optimally.

For example, Harvard specifically mentions on their "application tips" webpage that descriptions in the "Positions held, honors won, messages earned, or employer" category should be concise, otherwise they may be cut off, implying that this is an error many students brand.

Students who desire to be accepted should brand sure they are not one such casualty.

Similarly, there are various points on the Common App where students will have a limited amount of space to write or list their activities.  Harvard calls these places an "act of prioritization".  Students should convey the most crucial parts of who they are and what they have washed concisely and with specificity.

For instance, "raised $xxx,000 for UNICEF" is a meliorate than "hosted UNICEF fundraiser."  This way, students demonstrate that they are Harvard material not just with what they say but with how they say it.

Harvard's three supplemental essays are among the about of import ways—-besides students' personal statements—-to stand out from the application crowd.

student typing supplemental essay to get into harvard

The first prompt should be less than 150 words and reads as follows:

Students should elaborate on one of the activities listed in their awarding but which they have not already discussed elsewhere.

As with most things in the Harvard application, students should prioritize what is well-nigh important to them and explain how and why that is.  Bonus points for doing so through a brief anecdote.

Harvard Supplemental Essay Prompt #ii

The second prompt should besides be 150 words and reads:

Your intellectual life may extend beyond the academic requirements of your particular schoolhouse.  Please use the space beneath to listing additional intellectual activities that you have not mentioned or detailed elsewhere in your application.  These could include, merely are non express to, supervised or cocky-directed projects not done as schoolwork, training experiences, online courses non run by your school, or summer academic or research programs not described elsewhere.

This essay is excellent for quickly describing activities and experiences which do non fit neatly anywhere else in the application.  Students could discuss edifice an App at dwelling house, shadowing someone in a profession they wish to go into some day or familiarizing themselves with a country's language through an online course earlier visiting.  These types of activities provide a modify for students to demonstrate the qualities Harvard is looking for (dedication to fantabulous, self-motivation, etc.) in a unique way.

The final prompt should be around 500 words long and reads:

You may wish to include an additional essay if you feel that the college application forms do non provide sufficient opportunity to convey important data well-nigh yourself or your accomplishments.  You may write on a topic of your option, or you may choose from one of the following topics:

  • Unusual circumstances in your life
  • Travel, living, or working experiences in your own or other communities
  • What you would desire your time to come college roommate to know nearly you
  • An intellectual experience (class, project, book, discussion, paper, verse, or research topic in engineering science, mathematics, science or other modes of enquiry) that has meant the most to you lot
  • How you lot hope to utilise your college education
  • A list of books yous have read during the by twelve months
  • The Harvard College Honor code declares that we "concord honesty as the foundation of our customs." Equally yous consider entering this customs that is committed to honesty, please reflect on a time when you or someone yous observed had to make a pick about whether to act with integrity and honesty.
  • The mission of Harvard Higher is to educate our students to be citizens and denizen-leaders for order. What would you do to contribute to the lives of your classmates in advancing this mission?
  • Each yr a substantial number of students admitted to Harvard defer their access for i year or take fourth dimension off during college. If yous decided in the future to choose either option, what would you similar to do?
  • Harvard has long recognized the importance of student body multifariousness of all kinds. We welcome you to write about distinctive aspects of your background, personal evolution or the intellectual interests you might bring to your Harvard classmates.

This essay is technically optional, but if students want to be competitive, no essay is truly optional.

For this essay, that is peculiarly truthful.

Students should think of this equally a second personal argument specifically for Harvard.

If possible, students should get out this essay until final to give themselves the plenty of time to brainstorm.  According to Harvard, in the past, successful students have used this prompt to "send [Harvard] an essay that they wrote for another school that they idea turned out particularly well; others connect to one of our suggested prompts to add together to the mutual personal statement already prepared."

The specific topic a student chooses for this prompt is less of import than using information technology to demonstrate the Harvard-qualities that students possesses.

How to Go an Edge When Applying To Harvard

student applying to harvard
Our best advice is to apply early action to increment your chances to get into Harvard.

Apply Early Action (If You lot Can)

The unmarried all-time thing a student can do to ameliorate their admission's chance is applying early on action, but just if their application is completely set up by the early action borderline.

Call up, the The Harvard early on conclusion credence charge per unit is 7.ix%. That ways Early Action candidates are nigh 3 to four times more likely to be accustomed than those who just utilize regular conclusion.

Yet, this is considering students who apply early had known for years that Harvard was their top choice and have honed their applications to perfection long before the deadline.

Further READING: Almost Higher Admissions Advice is Wrong. Here's What Your Child Should Do Instead.

Nether-Represented Intended Major

With the Harvard acceptance charge per unit beingness every bit low as it is, one way to become an edge is by choosing an under-represented major.

Perhaps the best intended major to declare is the Humanities.  From the section on Application Demographics, students should know that most students apply with Social Sciences or Biological Science every bit their intended major.

Due to the volume of applicants, students who list these every bit their intended major will be in competition with anybody else who did the aforementioned.

However, students should besides avoid going in the exact opposite direction by choosing the to the lowest degree represented majors in the accustomed applicant puddle: Informatics and Technology.

These majors may actually decrease a student'south chances at acceptance, and the reason why stems from a single question:

Is Harvard the all-time place to pursue an education in those majors?

Harvard is known for producing Nobel laureates and political heavy weights.  Students genuinely seeking an exceptional degree in Informatics or Engineering could receive an equal or better pedagogy in those fields at MIT or Caltech, and Harvard knows information technology.

If a student is determined to apply with such majors anyway, he or she should make sure to explain in ane of their essays what Harvard has which furthers the student's goals and that other colleges cannot provide.

For example, wanting to get into computer science for election security and developing online voting.

That said, the safer bet for applicants is to choose the pop but underrepresented majors for their awarding: Humanities and (even) Biological Sciences.

Get Recommendations From Someone Who Knows Yous Well

teacher talking to students
Nurture relationships with your professors and bosses early on earlier asking for a letter of recommendation to accompany your Harvard awarding.

Along with a pupil's personal essays, the recommendations submitted with the application are ane of the admissions officers' biggest windows into who a educatee is.

While guidance councilors are invaluable to their schools and students, most guidance counselors in the Us service upwards of 500 students per year, which limits the corporeality of time they tin spend with each student.

Information technology can be difficult for councilors and teachers to become in depth on a educatee they do not know well or when they also take 100 other recommendations to write in merely a few weeks.  This could result in messages of recommendation which come off as rote or play into stereotypes, both of which have a better risk of harming a student'southward admissions chances than helping them.

Students should look for a councilor/mentor/teacher who knows them well and on a personal level.

Student should also ask their called letters of recommendation writers well in advance of whatsoever deadlines to give them enough time to craft meaningful and insightful messages of recommendation.

Putting It All Together

The student with the best (statistical) chance of success comes from a rural area, comes from a unique background (such equally being a beginning generation American), and is applying with the Humanities as their intended major.

That student has splendid Saturday or ACT scores and a GPA which places him or her in the top 10% of their class.  And Finally, the student has exceptional personal essays and instructor recommendations which highlight their passions also as their energetic but mature personality.

2 Pitfalls To Avert If Yous Want To Get Into Harvard

Two means not to go an edge at Harvard are attempting to transfer or taking a gap twelvemonth and applying again.

That is non to say that students who maintain a strong bookish and extracurricular profile will not have a shot, but the transfer acceptance rate is extremely low and requires extra work.

Taking a gap year is mostly riskier than just accepting a spot at a different school and requesting a gap twelvemonth there.

Examples of Successful Harvard Applicants

It may be easier for some to go a stronger thought of what all has been washed to get into Harvard by seeing it in practice.  Provided hither are links to examples of students telling their success stories and showing the applications which helped them succeed in getting into Harvard.

Yet, students reading these applications should remember that this is how other students got into Harvard, it is not an exact guide on what they need to do.

These are references and guidelines, not common cold, hard rulebooks for how to get in.

  • What I Educatee's Marked-Upwards Harvard Application Reveals About the Admissions Process
  • x Successful Harvard Application Essays | 2019

The Hardest Office of Getting Into Harvard

Every bit with all Ivy League schools, admissions to Harvard requires a demonstration of academic and extracurricular excellence. What makes Harvard different is that the things that would be considered excellent at almost any other schoolhouse are expected at Harvard.

graduating class at Harvard ivy league

If you want to know how to get Into Harvard Academy, we can confidently say that it's not the application that makes Harvard admissions difficult, it'southward the things yous must do in the four years before the awarding that make the committee spend an 60 minutes marveling over your achievements.

So how do y'all distinguish yourself in an applicant pool full of people who achieved perfect grades?

You achieve perfect grades in harder and more than courses.

How exercise yous distinguish when everyone founded or is president of iii clubs?

You cull a specific focus and exercise things that others aren't. If you like art, don't bring together an art club—submit your art to competitions; teach art therapy; write a volume on art.

Similarly—how do you distinguish yourself when everyone has a 1500 SAT score?

By scoring a 1550, of class.

Are you serious about getting into Harvard?

With the best boilerplate point gains in our industry, Powerful Prep students are accepted into the nation's top schools, and often receive merit-based scholarships that more than cover the cost of our services.

Schedule aGratuitous Consultation

Find out how Powerful Prep tin can build a customized, one-on-1 programme to suit your educatee'due south needs and goals. Give u.s.a. a call at 714-312-1393 or consummate the form below.