I am currently 16 years old, and it’s my dream to go to Harvard and study economics. It’s just that in Ireland, we don’t have a GPA, or anything similar:in order to get into university here, everyone sits an exam at 18/19 years old, called the leaving cert. There are no interviews, no essays, nothing except the exam(think similar to South Korea). So if there any Irish students here, I was just wondering how you did your GPA when the only thing that really matters in Ireland are your final exams?
Many international countries do not have GPA’s. As such, it’s the job of an Admissions director to understand the educational system in the countries they are covering and holistically look at their application in the context of what their school offers.
Please understand that International applicants do NOT have the same odds as US applicants. Harvard limits the number of international students to about 10% to 11% of an incoming freshman class. That means that Harvard admits about 160 to 190 international students per year – and most of those students are from 6 countries: Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, China, Japan and South Korea. To see how many students from Ireland are currently attending Harvard, go to: http://www.hio.harvard.edu/statistics.
From the pull-down menus, select STUDENTS, HARVARD COLLEGE (the undergraduate school) and IRELAND. As you can see, there are seven (7) students from Ireland currently enrolled at Harvard who are freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors. That means, on average, Harvard admits about two (2) students a year from Ireland.
Now, Harvard doesn’t publish the number of applications from each country, but there could be several hundred students applying from Ireland in any given year for just those two slots! Those are terrible odds, no matter what your stats. By all means apply, but understand that Harvard has the most prestigious brand name in the world, so you should expand your idea of a ‘dream’ school.
Would having letters published in newspapers be a positive thing from an admissions standpoint? I have had 2 letters published in our national newspaper, and 2 in the Economist. Also, I did an early university entrance program this year, doing the same course as 1st years in Law and Politics. I got a high 2.1, which I think is the equivalent to 3.6.
As a student from the UK, the admissions director for the UK and Ireland is fantastic. She knows all about the British/Irish educational system and Harvard Admissions is very familiar with the “grading” and examination systems used in both countries.
As for your odds of admissions, for the past three years the admit rate for the UK has been higher than for the US. If you have any questions, contact the Harvard Club of the UK. They can put you in touch with someone in Eire.