So, you want to get into Harvard? What, like, it’s hard? Yes, it's hard. It's really hard. In case you live under a rock, Harvard is an Ivy League university in Boston… sorry we mean Cambridge, Massachusetts. It wouldn’t be a leap to say that Harvard is the most famous college in America, and maybe the world, and with good reason. They have fabulous academics, high-class research, and a tradition of excellence. They are also extremely hard to get into, with just a 3.4% acceptance rate last year.
What to do if you’re Waitlisted by Harvard
Harvard is Harvard. It is one of the most famous schools in the world, and for good reason. Harvard is an outstanding place to study nearly any subject anyone would want to pursue, and it is exceptionally hard to get into. In recent years, Harvard has received over 60,000 applications for first-year admission, and accepted less than 2,000. The acceptance rate hovers around an intimidating 3%.
Applying to Harvard as an International Student
Even if you’re applying to Harvard as an international student who lives outside of the United States, it’s an institution, a school, and a brand that really needs no introduction. That said, we’ll give it one. Harvard is a university in Cambridge, Massachusetts right alongside Boston that is a member of the vaunted Ivy League. It has 7,240 undergraduate students and about 1,000 international undergrads. The on-campus community as a whole represents 151 countries. In this post, we’re going to talk about how you can increase your chances of making it into the 3% of students, out of over 60,000 applications, who are offered a seat in the first-year class.
Demonstrated Interest at Harvard
Honestly, we should be applying our clown makeup as we write this post, because Harvard is Harvard. Who doesn’t want in? Interest is implied. You don’t get brownie points for wanting to go there because, um, duh. You want to go there, your neighbor wants to go there, every teen rom-com protagonist wants to go there, and — we’re pretty confident in this assumption — even your imaginary friend wants to go there. Yeah, we’re talking Rory Gilmores out the wazoo.
Rejected from Harvard Restricted Early Action 2023
Receiving that deflating rejection letter from your dream school during the Early Decision phase can be really disheartening. You’ve poured your heart, soul, sweat, and tears into becoming a standout candidate. It’s really important to keep in mind that this outcome doesn’t reflect your value or your potential. You still have a bright future ahead. College admissions have become incredibly tough. I mean, Harvard’s acceptance rate is about 3%. (3!!!) And by the way, a rejection from Harvard doesn’t mean you’re not a qualified candidate for other Ivy League universities. So, don’t get too discouraged.
Deferred by Harvard — Now What? (2023-24)
If you’ve been deferred by Harvard, you are not alone. Harvard is notorious at this point for deferring an enormous percentage of early admission applicants. While most elite colleges with early admissions programs, like early decision and early action, only defer students they are seriously considering for the next freshman class, the statistics Harvard has released on early admission suggest that they take a very different approach.
How to Write the Harvard Supplement 2023-2024
Harvard College, the undergraduate college of Harvard University, is one of the best schools in the world. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts — right alongside Boston — it was founded in 1636. Harvard is at the top of its field across the board, but over 60% of students arrive at Harvard intending to study subjects in the humanities, social sciences, or biological sciences. They are extremely selective, and they look for not only the best students in the world, but the best students for them in the world. As they read applications, they see a lot of perfect scores and amazing extracurriculars, so they need to look beyond that. They look for drive, determination, focus, a global perspective, clarity of purpose, and a vision for their future. The acceptance rate is 3.2%.
Harvard Extracurricular Guide
“Should I even apply to Harvard?” It’s a question that we often hear from nervous students. These students routinely have over a 4.0 GPA and at least a 34 on the ACT but are still worried about getting in. They understand that with only a 3.2% acceptance rate, it takes more than just excellent grades to get in. Harvard uses a holistic admissions process, meaning they look at all aspects of your application. A large part of that is your extracurriculars. You may ask yourself, “Well, what should my extracurriculars look like?” Let us break it down.
Most Popular Majors at Harvard
We often tell our students that applying for a specific program or major is critical. That may seem crazy for a high school student who has no idea what they want to do with their life to start considering. But the truth is, college is SO incredibly competitive these days and the Ivy League is just out of control. In order to have a competitive advantage, our students cultivate a highly-specific academic niche throughout high school and leverage that to apply to majors and programs that are a natural extension of what they’ve already been doing in high school.
What to do if You're Waitlisted by Harvard 2023
Barely more than 3% of applicants get into Harvard. As of the 2022 application cycle, the most recent one we have statistics for, of over 61,000 applicants less than 2,000 were admitted. It is excruciatingly hard to get into Harvard, but hundreds of applicants — or more — don’t receive an acceptance or a rejection. Instead, they’re stuck in the middle. They’re waitlisted.
Harvard Legacy Strategy
We hear it all the time, “My kid is a legacy so of course, they are going to get in.” We, however, hate hearing this. Mostly because it's simply not true. And it's especially not true at a school like Harvard. Harvard has one of the lowest if not the lowest acceptance rate in America… really take that in. Of course, something as simple as legacy status is not going to make a student a lock.
Transferring to Harvard 2023
Deferred by Harvard — What Comes Next?
If you were deferred by Harvard, you are far, far, far from alone. As fewer and fewer top-tier colleges publish their admissions statistics, Harvard continues to come through for us with fairly comprehensive and transparent statistics. In 2021, Harvard deferred 80 out of every 100 students who applied early. 80% of students who applied early were deferred. Again, 80%. Only 7.4% of students who applied early were accepted. So if you applied early, it is much more likely that you were deferred than any other potential outcome.
How to Write the Harvard Supplement 2022-2023
So you are applying to Harvard? Congratulations. It feels silly even explaining Harvard. Everyone kind of already knows about it, but Harvard is an Ivy League school located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard has been the school of choice for Nobel Prize winners, presidents, supreme court justices, and a surprising number of comedians. It’s also one of the hardest if not the hardest school to get into with an acceptance rate of just 3.13%. This means if you are applying to Harvard, you need to take it extremely seriously. Don’t believe one Ms. Elle Woods, it’s hard. With such a low acceptance rate, your application needs to be flawless and part of that will be the writing supplement. This is how we believe you should approach it for your best shot at Harvard.
Most Unique Programs at Harvard
Harvard is hard to get into. More like HARDvard, am I right?? Sorry. Anyways, you’re thinking about applying to Harvard and you want to find anywhere and everywhere you can to get ahead on your application. One of the ways you can do this is by familiarizing yourself with programs, labs, and research opportunities that fit into your personal niche. We’ve rounded up some of the most interesting majors and minors… uh… we mean “concentrations” and “secondary fields,” at Harvard to help you along with your research and eventual essay prep. Anyways, here’s a list of some of the coolest concentrations (sigh), secondary fields (eye roll), and other programs at Harvard
Legacy Admission Guide for Harvard
We hear it all the time. “I went to Harvard… does that mean my kid will get in?” It’s an important question for a lot of the parents of students we work with and it’s a harder question to answer than some might think. Every year we work with legacy students whose parents have realized that simply being a legacy isn’t enough to get into a top school. Being a legacy isn’t everything, but it can help. Your next question is probably, “But how much exactly does it help at a place like Harvard?” We wanted to break it down and talk about the ins and outs of legacy status at Harvard.
Top 5 Tips for the Harvard College Interview
Some of the Ivy Leagues are very upfront about their interview process. They post statistics on how many interviews they offer. They post sample questions and make how-to videos. Harvard doesn’t. Their admissions interview can thus feel like it is shrouded in secrecy. But it doesn’t have to be. While Harvard doesn’t offer up students as many tips for its interview as other schools do, we got you covered. Here are our top tips for nailing your Harvard interview.
Top 5 Harvard Interview Tips
Some of the Ivy Leagues are very upfront about their interview process. They post statistics on how many interviews they offer. They post sample questions and make how-to videos. Harvard doesn’t. Their admissions interview can thus feel like it is shrouded in secrecy. But it doesn’t have to be. While Harvard doesn’t offer up students as many tips for its interview as other schools do, we got you covered. Here are our top tips for nailing your Harvard interview.