<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>How hard is it to get a 3.7+ GPA at Harvard? meaning would I have to sacrifice extracurriculars etc. (For non-science majors)</p>
<p>And I am currently trying to decide between government and econ, what are some pro's and con's of both?</p>
<p>Thanks :D</p>
<p>How long is a piece of string?</p>
<p>There are those getting +3.7s w/o sacrificing their other endeavors. It depends on the individual, dontcha think?</p>
<p>The cutoff for top 20% of GPAs at Harvard last year was about 3.74. I don’t care to tell any anecdotes about myself, nor know any anecdotes about the grades of my friends, but that should give you an idea of what you’re aiming for.</p>
<p>exultationsy,</p>
<p>Do you have a source for that? Honestly curious, I haven’t seen that kind of information anywhere. Thanks!</p>
<p>20% is the magna cum laude mark, and the College publishes the GPAs associated with that every year–I don’t remember if it varies between disciplines, is averaged between them, if “3.74” represents the lowest magna awarded, or what. But googling by summa/magna/cum will get you more information than “Harvard top GPA” or something more general.</p>
<p>My Phi Beta Kappa class included a lot of highly involved people, including myself. The JUNIOR PBK’s (meaning roughly the top 24 people in the class) were mostly very academically focused. Not a lot of folks in that group who were on the Glee Club board or president of the Crimson or whatever. But the graduation PBK’s (people between roughly the top 3% and 10%) had a decent cross-section of activities.</p>