How to Get Into Harvard Undergrad: Strategies and Essays That Worked
/How hard is it to get into Harvard? Learn Harvard’s admissions requirements and study successful Harvard essays to improve your odds of getting in
learn how to get into harvard
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Part 1: Introduction
If your child is a competitive applicant for Ivy League and Ivy Plus schools (e.g., Stanford, Duke), you’re probably encouraging them to consider applying to perhaps the most famous, prestigious, historical, and globally admired of the Ivies: Harvard. There’s nothing quite like the Harvard name, and it’s difficult to overstate how life-altering the chance to attend this renowned university in Cambridge can be.
From years of advising students, we’ve assembled some crucial information for you and your child about how to get into Harvard.
At Harvard, your child can research in the lab of a cutting-edge cancer scientist, study literature or history with a New Yorker writer, collaborate with musicians through the New England Conservatory or Berklee College of Music, or immerse in the complexities of international trade under the guidance of a legendary economist.
They can spend their summers taking advantage of the enormous network and funding opportunities available. Perhaps they’ll head to France to pursue an independent study on culinary history, or to Chile to write for an English-language newspaper. They might grab an internship in the White House, on Wall Street, or at a major tech company—at such positions, they’ll be actively courted and recruited.
And after Harvard? Graduates teach, travel, earn Rhodes Scholarships, start companies, write books, make films, set up art installations—more than you can possibly imagine, all with the help of enormous financial support, drawing on the wide and prestigious network that includes Nobel and Fields and Pulitzer winners.
Harvard University ranking
Harvard is routinely at or near the top of Ivy League rankings:
Forbes: 9
Niche: 4
U.S. News & World Report: 3
Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education: 1
Where is Harvard?
Harvard is located in Cambridge, MA—a few public transit stops away from Boston proper. Cambridge’s population is just over 117,000—a small city that can often feel like its own bubble apart from Boston (the population of Greater Boston is 4.9 million).
Harvard setting
Semi-urban. Cambridge has its own life, with cafés, shops, bookstores, hotels, theaters, and more.
Harvard student population
Total Harvard graduate and undergraduate population: 25,266
Harvard acceptance rate
Here’s the admissions data for Harvard’s class of 2027:
Applications: 56,937
Accepted: 1,966
Accepted from waitlist: 27
Acceptance rate: 3.45%
(Suggested reading: Ivy League Acceptance Rates)
Harvard tuition and scholarships
Harvard’s 2022–2023 cost of attendance (i.e., tuition, room, board, and fees) ranges from $82,950-$87,450.
55 percent of Harvard students receive financial aid, and the average family contribution is $13,000. Harvard’s financial aid covers 100 percent of demonstrated need and does not include student loans, allowing all students the possibility of graduating debt-free. However, families can take out loans if they wish.
Families with yearly income under $85,000 are generally not expected to contribute to their child’s cost of attendance, including room & board as well as other fees. 22 percent of Harvard families pay nothing.
Who gets into Harvard?
Examining the profiles of current students can help you determine your child’s odds of getting a Harvard acceptance. First, let’s examine the academic accomplishments of the class of 2024:
Harvard students tend to rank among the top 5-15% of their graduating classes, and nearly 76% self-reported ranking in the top 2% of their graduating class.
Average GPA: Harvard doesn’t publish its average admitted student GPA, but it’s safe to assume that the average unweighted GPA is around 3.90/4.0.
Harvard average ACT score: 34
25th percentile: 33
75th percentile: 35
Harvard average SAT score: 1520
25th percentile: 1460
75th percentile: 1580
It should be noted that ACT or SAT test scores are currently optional at Harvard; submitting them is entirely up to the applicant. (You can read their announcement regarding this here.) However, in April 2024, Harvard announced that it will be reinstating their standardized testing requirement (i.e., ACT or SAT) for students applying in Fall 2025 and beyond.
In addition, here are some demographic statistics for the class of 2027:
International students: 15.4%
49.2% intend to concentrate in STEM fields, 28.2% plan to concentrate in the social sciences, and 16% are currently humanities-bound.
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Part 2: Harvard admission requirements
Harvard academic requirements
Like most of its counterparts in the Ivy League and Ivy Plus cohort, Harvard is seeking excellence and passion from its students.
Excellence can show up in grades and test scores, but that isn’t enough. Extracurricular activities, and, perhaps most importantly, commitment and enthusiasm for a small number of clubs, teams, or other organizations, also demonstrates excellence.
Admissions officers will tell you they expect your child to have made the most of the opportunities that were given to them. That means if your daughter’s school offers three APs, Harvard will be happy to see your daughter took advantage of all three courses, and perhaps enrolled in community college classes and tried a summer program at Stanford, too.
Harvard notes that, while there is no single academic path for successful applicants, ideal preparation for Harvard includes the following:
English: 4 years, with extensive practice in writing
Math: 4 years
Science: 4 years, comprised of biology, chemistry, physics, and an advanced course in one of these subjects
History: 3 years, including American and European history
Foreign language: 4 years of a single language
Harvard application requirements
Harvard accepts the Common Application, which means your child will need the following to apply:
Harvard supplemental essays
Optional in 2023–2024: ACT or SAT scores (with or without writing)
Optional: AP or other examination results
2 teacher letters of recommendation
School report, counselor evaluation, transcripts, and mid-year school report
Optional: Supplemental materials such as academic work, creative writing, artwork, or music
Harvard also accepts the Coalition Application and the Universal College Application.
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Part 3: Applying to Harvard early action vs. regular decision
Your child can apply early to Harvard by November 1st and receive a decision of either accepted, deferred, or denied, by mid-December.
Harvard follows the restrictive early action (as opposed to early decision) model, which means your child need not commit to attending Harvard if accepted; they can still apply to other universities and make their choice in April. Defer means your child will be re-entered into the pool and will hear back by the end of March, and may be accepted, waitlisted, or rejected then.
Your child can also apply regular decision, by January 1st.
How do you know if your child should apply to Harvard early?
Early action might be the right choice for your child if:
Harvard is their top choice
There’s no other school they’d like to apply to via early decision or restrictive early action
Their test scores and grades are strong by the end of junior year
Harvard, like many schools, lets in a significant portion of its class early—in some years, as much as half—but it’s important to remember that this discrepancy is likely due in large part to the fact that many highly prepared students choose early action. These are top candidates who make a great case for themselves to attend Harvard, whose grades and scores are ready, and who know what they want.
Most importantly: Harvard doesn’t offer preference to those who apply early.
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Part 4: 2023–2024 Harvard supplemental essays (examples included)
(Note: While this section covers Harvard’s admissions essays specifically, we encourage you to view additional successful college essay examples.)
Acing the supplemental essays is a crucial part of your child’s strategy to get into Harvard. In addition to the Common App Personal Statement, Harvard’s essays, like other Ivy League essays, help admissions officers get a fuller qualitative sense of your child’s personality, goals, passions, analytical capacity, and creative expression.
The following students and their essays are composites of students we've worked with in nearly 20 years of advising college applicants.
Harvard supplemental essay #1
Harvard has long recognized the importance of enrolling a diverse student body. How will the life experiences that shape who you are today enable you to contribute to Harvard? (200 words)
This essay prompt is a standard ‘diversity’ essay, one that’s asked by many schools. Harvard values the diversity of its student body and wants to ensure that each incoming class represents a cross-section of society that’s willing to explore and engage with each other in ways that support the intellectual life of the university.
Notice that the prompt asks about the “life experiences that shape who you are” indicating that the ‘diversity’ they are seeking is much broader than differences in race or socioeconomic factors. Your child should think through their important experiences and how those moments contributed to their personal growth, then consider how the diversity of those experiences will add a unique perspective to the campus community at Harvard.
Here’s how one student answered this question:
I was nine when a doctor inserted an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) into my chest to monitor and manage my LQTS arrhythmia. I proudly thought of myself as Iron Man, and life proceeded as normal– only without the seizures that had plagued me before.
Now I can go days without remembering about my ICD. In a way, it’s a privilege to have an invisible disability, because people can’t stereotype me at first glance. But it’s also a challenge, because some people doubt the legitimacy of a disability they can’t see.
But that doubt disregards the way I still get paranoid about my phone interfering with my device. I still worry that my German Shepherd could get too excited during a game of fetch and dislodge it when he affectionately tackles me. And I still worry that because I can’t feel or see it, it might stop working without my knowledge.
There are so many invisible disabilities out there– like severe food allergies, hearing loss, and learning disabilities. I want to connect with Harvard’s Undergraduate Disability Justice Club in order to amplify disabled students’ voices and ensure that we’re granted the same access, opportunities, and respect as everyone else.
Here’s what the student does well in tackling this Harvard supplemental essay:
This student opens directly with their disability, an aspect of them that makes them unique. Even in the first sentence we’re hit with the unusualness of having a device implanted surgically at just nine years old. This sets up a lifetime of experiences leading up to college that truly shapes the author into a one-of-a-kind individual.
The student discusses the challenges inherent in their disability and clearly expresses how the invisible disability lingers in the back of their mind, affecting all that they do. This gives readers a sense of how their experiences mold their perspective and approach to life into who they are today. Aspects of the author’s inner life and humanity come through.
The student then turns to direct application of their experiences to Harvard. They plainly talk about how they wish to support disabled students and seamlessly connect their life to a contribution to the college.
Harvard supplemental essay #2
Briefly describe an intellectual experience that was important to you. (200 words)
Harvard Supplemental Essay #3
Briefly describe any of your extracurricular activities, employment experience, travel, or family responsibilities that have shaped who you are. (200 words)
Harvard Supplemental Essay #4
How do you hope to use your Harvard education in the future? (200 words)
Harvard Supplemental Essay #5
Top 3 things your roommates might like to know about you. (200 words)
Gain instant access to essay examples for every supplemental essay prompt from the top universities and BS/MD programs in the United States.
Final thoughts
You already know that getting into Harvard is no easy task. It’s a reach school for everyone, no matter how talented. With its matriculating class demonstrating such high test scores and grades, Harvard is clearly looking for something more than excellence. By cultivating intellectual and extracurricular passions, your child can become as strong a candidate as possible.
About the Author
Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on college admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into top programs like Harvard, Stanford, and MIT using his exclusive approach.
THERE'S NO REASON TO STRUGGLE THROUGH THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS PROCESS ALONE, ESPECIALLY WITH SO MUCH ON THE LINE. SCHEDULE YOUR COMPLIMENTARY CONSULTATION TO ENSURE YOU LEAVE NOTHING TO CHANCE.