Hey everybody, I want to transfer to Harvard to have better opportunities after college. I didn’t apply right out of high
school because I let someone talk me out of it (biggest mistake of my life- I’d rather know than sit here wondering if I could have made it). My weighted high school GPA is 4.055 and my highest ACT score is 28 (I know it’s low), but I did get a 35 on the English section. I’m pretty good at writing, so I could submit some supplementary writing. I’m also white/Native American, which would give me a URM boost. In high school, I was involved in musical theater, chamber choir, symphonic handbell choir, a select-singing group, and math league, and I was co-editor of the school’s literary magazine and creator and president of the writing club. I also tutored during the summer (not sure if any of the high school stuff matters). At my college (freshman), I currently have a 4.0 unweighted GPA on a fairly tough grading scale (93-100=A). I also work part-time at a calling center and am involved in horse club. I’m trying to start a student organization now to save horses from slaughter, but it’ll take a few months to start. I love my current college- really, I do. But I want to switch my major to dual degrees in engineering and business, and my school doesn’t offer an engineering degree. Thoughts? Opinions? Guestimate at my chances of being accepted to Harvard?
Harvard accepts very few transfers. They will want to know why you want a Harvard education and it sounds like you are primarily looking for the prestige which won’t cut it.
Harvard accepts just a few (like 30) transfers each year. I encourage you to apply but, focus on schools more receptive to transfers.
93 as the benchmark for an A is a fairly average grading scale. Are you a freshman now (meaning you don’t actually have a 4.0 yet)? Or were you a freshman last year and you have earned those A’s?
I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news, but you have a very very small chance of obtaining admission.
Here is what you should know-- the seats at Ivy-plus schools that are available for transfers is largely tied to attrition. Since attrition is almost non-existent in the top Ivy schools, so are the seats available. By way of example, recently, Harvard had over 1500 applicants and admitted about 15, and Yale had over a 1000 applicants in which about 2 dozen were offered seats. Brown is close to 5%.So, while being qualified is certainly a criteria, the other portion must convey why these schools; typical reasons are that these schools offer programs and/or degrees not offered at your existing institution. Transferring because of the desire to attend a more elite institution is NOT consider a valid reason for transfer.
Second, that you could have obtained admission as a freshmen applicant. Third, that you have perfect scores at your current institution. Long story short…it is much more difficult to obtain admission as a transfer than as applying for a freshmen seat…
Finally, while being an enrolled tribal member is a valid hook, your test scores would make it prohibitive.
I would recommend retaking the ACT, as you have little to no chance with your current score. Because of your beneficial ethnicity, an ACT score of 30+ would probably give you a good shot. Even so, you should remember that Harvard’s transfer acceptance rate is around 1%.
Harvard doesn’t allow dual majors. The best you could hope for is a joint concentration (their terminology for major) or a concentration in one field and a secondary (minor) in another. The biggest obstacle to your plan, however, is that Harvard doesn’t offer an undergraduate business degree. Citing this as a reason for transfer would probably result in an automatic rejection.
Finally, I don’t think that being Native American will give you any advantage as a transfer. I could be wrong about how this, however. I’d stay put and keep doing well. There’s always grad school.
You’re right- I don’t technically have those final grades yet, but I’m going to try my hardest to keep them there.
That doesn’t mean a whole lot when you’re probably between one and six weeks into the semester.
If you would like to look at it this way, the semester is half over next week 
No need to wonder. You had zero chance with a 28.