While Harvard will not grant college credit for your AP tests, the school does want to see that you have taken advantage of all of the opportunities that are available to you, including AP courses and tests. Some schools offer international baccalaureate classes. Like AP classes, these courses are more challenging than typical high school classes. Take IB courses if they are offered at your school, and take the IB exams. Like the AP tests, Harvard will not grant college credit for your IB exams, but taking them and scoring highly can strengthen your application.
Finally, some high schools do not offer many AP or IB classes or any at all. If your high school does not offer these types of classes, take the most difficult curriculum that is offered at your school. Some schools partner with local colleges or universities to offer dual credit or dual enrollment courses. If this option is available to you, take as many dual credit or dual enrollment classes as you can while you are in high school.
This can show your preparedness for college and your self-motivation. When you do take difficult classes at your high school or through your local college, remember the importance of your grades. Harvard expects you to take difficult courses and to do well in them. If you start taking a class in high school and notice that you are struggling with it, hire a tutor as soon as possible to help you. Often, a tutor can help you to understand concepts that are difficult for you so that you can achieve a great grade in hard classes.
A tutor might also help to unlock subjects for you in such a way that you might find that you enjoy a subject that you previously avoided. Harvard does not grant credit for college coursework that you have completed before you matriculate at the school. In other words, if you have credit from your AP tests, IB exams, or dual credit classes in high school, you will not be granted credit at Harvard.
The school also no longer has advanced standing exams, so all students enter the college on equal footing. Prior coursework can help to strengthen your application, however, so you should not refrain from taking classes that lead to college credit in high school. Getting into Harvard is not easy, but it is possible. Being admitted will require dedication, focus, perseverance, and organization.
It is best if you can start preparing to apply for Harvard as early as possible. To learn more about how the professionals at Going Ivy can help, schedule a consultation today. There is no one, magic extracurricular activity the Harvard admissions department wants in students. Harvard is less interested in the number of extracurricular activities in which you are involved and more in the quality of the ones that you have chosen. College-bound high school students across the U. This leads students to overcommit to extracurricular activities and to sign up for as many as possible.
Instead of signing up for everything, participate in quality extracurricular activities that accurately reflect your areas of interest. You should also seek leadership roles in the clubs or organizations that you join for your extracurriculars. If your school does not have a club that reflects your interests, talk to your principal about starting your own. In addition to extracurricular activities through your school, consider participating in activities outside of school.
Think about some of the problems in your community and what you might do to help. Showing a spirit of volunteerism and concern for others can help to demonstrate the quality of your character. If you can come up with an innovative solution to a social ill in your community, that is even better. As a part of your application, you will be asked to write a personal essay. This essay allows you to tell the admissions officers more about you so that they can understand why you should be admitted to Harvard.
Resist the urge to recite your accomplishments in your essay. It should not be a regurgitation of your high school resume. Instead, it should be personal and demonstrate the person that you are. You should anticipate writing multiple drafts of your essay. Continue working on it until it is the best that it can be. Do not allow your parents to write your essay for you.
The admissions officers want to hear your voice and see the world through your eyes. Consider having someone you respect such as a teacher or college admissions counselor read your essay so that he or she can provide some objective criticism. Be prepared to rewrite it as many times as you need to so that it will be compelling.
In some cases, a great essay can push an otherwise average application over the top to admission. You should select a recommender who knows you well and who will dedicate the time necessary for a strong recommendation. Your letters of recommendation are important because they allow the admissions officers at Harvard to see who you are through the eyes of others. Ask teachers who know you well on both a personal and academic basis to write letters of recommendation for you.
You will not be able to read what they write about you, so choose carefully. Harvard asks for two teacher reports to be submitted on your behalf. There will be a link in your confirmation email to send to your teachers for recommendations. The teachers you choose should be in different academic subjects. If you think that you might want to attend Harvard, you should start preparing as early as possible.
If you are still in junior high, you are at an advantage with preparing for Harvard. If you are in high school, start preparing during your freshman year if possible. Harvard will want to see that you have been a stellar student during your entire high school career. If you are a sophomore, junior, or senior, it does not mean that it is too late. Your time frame will be shortened, and you will have much more to do in less time. Juniors and seniors who have decided that they want to attend Harvard will not be able to do much to raise their GPAs.
If you are at this point in your high school career, you hopefully will have earned top grades and can concentrate on preparing for and taking the standardized admissions tests of your choice.
Seniors who have earned good grades and test scores will need to concentrate on their applications and keeping their grades up during their senior year. The key to having enough time to prepare for applying to Harvard is to start as early as possible. If you are reading this article, you have hopefully already begun. Harvard strives to interview applicants. If an interview can be arranged in your area, you will be contacted by a Harvard alum by email, phone, or letter.
You should respond promptly if you are asked for an interview. If you are not asked for an interview, this does not mean that your application will be harmed. If you are chosen for an interview , you should prepare for it. There are numerous blogs about these interviews online. You should also try talking to people who have gone through a Harvard application interview to get an idea of the questions that you might be asked. Prepare for the questions that you anticipate.
However, you should not give rote answers that sound rehearsed. You will want to be as relaxed as possible and answer the questions that you are asked. On the date of your interview, give yourself enough time to arrive early.
You should never be late for an interview with a Harvard alum or to any interview you might have in your life. Dress appropriately for the location where you are meeting. You do not need to overdress. Finally, some students go to their interviews with their parents in tow. Do not do this. Showing up to your interview with a parent makes you look like you are not independent and that you lack confidence. It also makes your parents look like they are overbearing.
Go alone, and be yourself. Be prepared to ask your interviewer any questions that you might have. Visiting Harvard can indirectly increase your chances of admission by demonstrating interest and giving your material for your personal essay. If you can, you should schedule a visit to Harvard. Visiting the campus allows you to gain a sense of the campus and the community, and it allows you to see why it may be the right fit. Harvard offers information sessions and tours for students and family members who visit.
If you cannot afford to visit Harvard, you can still take a virtual tour of the campus. High school seniors are also able to schedule an overnight stay at Harvard. During the stay, you will be hosted by an undergraduate student. You can also schedule a time to sit in on a class at Harvard during your visit. Finally, if you are interested in the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, you can request a supplemental tour of the school.
The admissions officers at Harvard travel around the country two times per year to conduct information sessions all across the U.
If you're taking the ACT as opposed to the SAT, you have a huge advantage in how you send scores, and this dramatically affects your testing strategy. Here it is: when you send ACT scores to colleges, you have absolute control over which tests you send.
You could take 10 tests, and only send your highest one. This is unlike the SAT, where many schools require you to send all your tests ever taken. This means that you have more chances than you think to improve your ACT score. To try to aim for the school's ACT requirement of 35 and above, you should try to take the ACT as many times as you can.
When you have the final score that you're happy with, you can then send only that score to all your schools. By and large, most colleges do not superscore the ACT.
Superscore means that the school takes your best section scores from all the test dates you submit, and then combines them into the best possible composite score. Thus, most schools will just take your highest ACT score from a single sitting. We weren't able to find the school's exact ACT policy, which most likely means that it does not Superscore. Regardless, you can choose your single best ACT score to send in to Harvard, so you should prep until you reach our recommended target ACT score of This guide was written by Harvard graduates and ACT perfect scorers.
They'll use this as another factor in their admissions consideration. Schools vary in their SAT subject test requirements. Typically, selective schools tend to require them, while most schools in the country do not.
Harvard has indicated that SAT subject tests are required for admission. Read further to see how many and which ones they require. If taking Subject Tests causes a financial burden or if you feel other parts of your application like AP or IB scores convey the same information, you don't have to submit scores. You should also have a 4. For a school as selective as Harvard, you'll also need to impress them with the rest of your application. We'll cover those details next.
But if you apply with a score below a SAT or a 35 ACT, you unfortunately start out with the odds against you and have a tiny chance of getting in. Here's our custom admissions calculator. Plug in your numbers to see what your chances of getting in are. See how much your chances improve? Click to learn more about our program , or sign up for our 5-day free trial to check out PrepScholar for yourself:.
Every school requires an application with the bare essentials - high school transcript and GPA, application form, and other core information. Many schools, as explained above, also require SAT and ACT scores, as well as letters of recommendation, application essays, and interviews.
We'll cover the exact requirements of Harvard here. If you're interested in Harvard, you'll probably be interested in these schools as well.
We've divided them into 3 categories depending on how hard they are to get into, relative to Harvard. These schools are have higher average SAT scores than Harvard. If you improve your SAT score, you'll be competitive for these schools. If you're currently competitive for Harvard, you should have no problem getting into these schools. If Harvard is currently out of your reach, you might already be competitive for these schools.
Our experts have written hundreds of useful articles on improving your SAT score and getting into college. You'll definitely find something useful here. Subscribe to our newsletter to get FREE strategies and guides sent to your email.
Learn how to ace the SAT with exclusive tips and insights that we share with our private newsletter subscribers. You should definitely follow us on social media. You'll get updates on our latest articles right on your feed. Follow us on all of our social networks:. Our chancing engine factors in extracurricular activities, demographic, and other holistic details. Harvard University holds a special place in the academic and popular culture of the United States.
Getting into Harvard may seem like a near-impossible dream, and truthfully, it is very difficult. There are quite a few applicants competing for a limited number of spots, and the applicant pool is remarkably strong. However, it can be done: every year, over 2, students receive that coveted acceptance letter. How do they do it—and how can you improve your own chances of being accepted to Harvard?
Read on for some expert advice from CollegeVine. Harvard accepts applications through your choice of three application systems: the Common Application, the Coalition Application, or the Universal Application. The school has no preference among these options, so you can choose whichever one works best for you. You also have a choice of when to apply. Along with its Regular Decision application timeline, which has a January 1st deadline, Harvard has a Restrictive Early Action program with a November 1st deadline.
For more information on applying early and what Restrictive Early Action means for you, take a look at our blog post on Early Decision versus Early Action versus Restrictive Early Action.
An interview , generally with a local Harvard alumnus, is also typically part of the application process. Currently, Harvard is the second most selective college in the United States—only Stanford University has a lower acceptance rate. According to its official Admission Statistics page , Harvard received 43, applications for the class entering in the fall of , members of which will graduate in the spring of This indicates that a solid majority of people who are accepted to Harvard will end up attending Harvard.
There are certainly things you can do to strengthen your applicant profile—achieving a Harvard-worthy GPA, for example—and put your best foot forward for Harvard. Given the sheer pressure of numbers, however, there are no guarantees. The bottom line is that getting into Harvard is very difficult, even for top students. Inevitably, some applicants who put a great deal of work and effort into their applications are going to end up disappointed.
Reading these facts and figures, it may seem like getting into Harvard is well-nigh impossible. Clearly, though, some applicants do get accepted.
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