<p>I have never seen a profile of unsuccessful applicants...anywhere. Some schools list means for their incoming classes (e.g. "average 3.5 undergraduate GPA" or "most successful applicants received at least a 700 on the verbal section of the GRE" or some such), but I would be shocked to find any publicly available information on the average stats of their applicants compared to those of those accepted.</p>
<p>You probably haven't read these boards much, or you would have seen something posted along these lines in one of every five threads: there is no hard and fast rule regarding GPA or GRE "minimums" beyond the obvious (at least as high as you're talking; they don't throw people out for 3.8's, but they probably wouldn't entertain high hopes for someone with less than a 3.5 at Harvard). Same for GRE, though I would think somewhere between 750-800 in verbal/analytical would be typical for someone of your background. Not sure what they would want for quantitative...maybe 600 min.?</p>
<p>Here's the problem with GPA conversions: some schools do half-grades, and some don't. My university does, so an A is worth 4.0 points, an A- is 3.67, a B+ is 3.33, a B is 3.0 etc. We calculate GPA by multiplying the points from the grade by the credit hours. Example: for a semester in which a student takes 13 credit hours, say his classes consist of two 3-credit lectures, one 4-credit language, a 2-credit lab, and a 1-credit filler. He gets an A in the first lecture, a B in the second, an A- in the language and lab, and a C in the filler because he didn't take it seriously and forgot to show up a couple of times.</p>
<p>(3<em>4.0+3</em>3.0+4<em>3.67+2</em>3.67+1*2.0)/5 classes = 3.26</p>
<p>If the pluses and minuses were discarded, like they are at some colleges, it would be</p>
<p>(3<em>4.0+3</em>3.0+4<em>3.0+2</em>4.0+1*2.0)/5 classes = 3.4</p>
<p>I can't tell you what your A/A- average would be because I don't know which classes you received which grades in. I would guess a 3.7 or 3.8, but that could swing drastically depending on the class.</p>
<p>Don't worry about the professors not knowing your professors. Do you think they know every professor in the US? We're a big country...and not everybody who gets into Harvard graduate programs comes from another Ivy. </p>
<p>Having answered some of your questions, I must admit I don't think they're the right questions to ask. Fifty stellar students, all with GPAs of 3.8-4.0, GRE verbals of 750-800, research experience and perhaps several applicable degrees, probably apply to your program each year. They're sorted out by fit, funding, professorial temperament, and blind luck. It's not the sort of place you get into because you're a good student and they're a good school--it's incomprehensible and darned near impossible to predict success.</p>
<p>Harvard has an international reputation, which is probably why you're aiming for it. But it gets much too much press time compared to its real worth as an institution of higher learning. Yes, it churns out papers. Yes, it turns away students by the droves, and exclusion is supposed to be some sort of distinction of quality. What about the dozens of other wonderful universities here? Everyone says they want to go to Harvard, and I think it's mostly because they never hear about anything else. I imagine that if you ask most people outside the US to name an American university, the knee-jerk reaction is "Harvard," just like asking Americans to name a British university will turn up nothing besides "Oxford" (and asking them about Canadian universities will give you some variation of "huh?")</p>