<p>I read in a college guide published by a Harvard student that one of his friends at Harvard recieved a few C's in high school and still got into the school. From what I have seen on College Confidential most of the students who get accepted have high GPA's. It did not say if the student was very good at sports or "unique". Can you get into Harvard with a low GPA... without sports recruitment or legacy connections? I know that is a really dumb general question, but I want to see if there are students out there who did not have the highest GPA's and still got accepted to schools like Harvard.</p>
<p>"Can you get into Harvard with a low GPA... without sports recruitment or legacy connections?"</p>
<p>Well, never say never, but I think for all practical purposes the answer to your question is no.</p>
<p>What kind of courses was the person taking?</p>
<p>The book did not say. It said the student explained why she got the poor grades and in the end, Harvard understood and accepted them.</p>
<p>Depends what you mean by poor GPA. Not everyone who gets in was in the top 10% in high school, so it's a myth that you have to be the #1 student in your high school class or anything.</p>
<p>A 3.7 GPA or so definitely doesn't eliminate anyone, but it obviously makes it more difficult. I'm sure that in the last few years, there have been examples of students that have gotten one or more C's that have gotten in, but I imagine that it's extremely rare.</p>
<p>The most important thing is that you shouldn't view this as being predictive of someone's chances whose grades are higher than this. It's not nearly as simple as "if your grades are above a certain point, you get in, if they're below, you don't." Some people become overly pessimistic when they learn how many valedictorians get rejected, and others become overly optimistic when they learn that students with GPAs lower than theirs get accepted. The important thing is that barring extreeme cases, no one factor flat out eliminates or guarantees acceptance.</p>