<p>Can anyone tell me what the credentials to get into Harvard on a full-ride scholarship consist of?</p>
<p>(And I'm sorry if you post back and I have to ask you to explain what some of the abreviations mean, I've just started thinking seriously about college the last few months.)</p>
<p>No Ivy League school, including Harvard, offers scholarships. All financial aid is generous and need-based.</p>
<p>Your total family income would have to fall below 60,000 dollars. Moreover, your family’s assets would have to be fitting to that income bracket.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, there are two different kinds of things: merit-based scholarships (which could be based on academic merit, or athletic merit, or other qualities as well), and financial aid. You can get a merit scholarship even if you are wealthy. Financial aid is generally based on your need – the college’s determination of your need, which may be very different from what you think – and also generally includes a combination of loans (subsidized or not), grants (which are basically like scholarships), and work-study (which are basically jobs). Colleges use different methods to determine need. Some take into account savings, others don’t. Some look at non-custodial parent financial information, others don’t. As a general rule, though, the more grants a college is willing to give, the more closely it is going to scrutinize what you need.</p>
<p>Harvard – and all other Ivy League colleges, and the most selective liberal arts colleges – ONLY grants need-based financial aid. For that, however, it is extremely generous, and will often provide more grant aid than almost anywhere else, and at higher income levels, too. If, honestly, your family is basically poor, Harvard financial aid will be the equivalent of a full ride. (That’s true at a number of other equivalent colleges, too, although many will require that you borrow some of the money.)</p>
<p>Lots of (most) non-Ivy colleges do give merit aid, to attract desirable students who may not qualify for need-based aid. Outside of revenue sports like football and basketball, “full ride” scholarships (tuition plus expenses for books, living, travel) are pretty rare, and often more competitive to get than getting into Harvard. Smaller merit scholarships, $3,000 - $10,000 /year, can be fairly common. Many merit scholarships are renewable only if you maintain a minimum GPA, and depending on the minimum and your major that may be easy or really tough, so you have to look carefully at that.</p>
<p>A number of state universities (not generally the most academically reputable ones) have automatic merit deals for people like National Merit Scholars – sometimes full tuition, often reduction to in-state tuition for out-of-state students, which can be a really good deal. If you have high PSAT scores, and checked the right box on your registration, you will be inundated with these offers.</p>
<p>Check into the National Merit award. My son earned $24,000 by becoming a finalist. He was able to take this award to Harvard. He also earned a few other awards which he was also able to take with him.</p>
<p>The short answer is:</p>
<ol>
<li>Get accepted by Harvard.</li>
<li>Come from a low to moderate income family.</li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck.</p>