<p>How hard is a 4.0 @ Harvard??? For that matter, any of the top Ivies such as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, UPenn? I know there is a Princeton thread like this. But this is more to get opinion on the other Ivies.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/841424-how-hard-get-4-0-harvard-2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/841424-how-hard-get-4-0-harvard-2.html</a></p>
<p>Probably five, six, or seven in the College’s history.</p>
<p>I currently have a 4.0 and I will certainly try to keep it up. I feel though that I preserve a good balance between academics, extracurriculars, and social life.</p>
<p>Congratulations Noitaraperp. Just curious: what’s your concentration and what kind of classes have you taken? And have you been heavily involved with extracurriculars?</p>
<p>w t f stalker</p>
<p>MeSsIah: Pardon me, but what are you talking about? </p>
<p>And what is a typical good but realistic longer term gpa for a Harvard undergrad?</p>
<p>For the most competitive internships, fellowships, and study abroad programs, a 3.7 is generally considered the minimum. At least at Harvard. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>That being said, I think 3.8 is a reasonable ambitious goal.</p>
<p>i mean it also depends on what your studying.</p>
<p>I have a tickling feeling that grade grubbers aren’t very well liked around Harvard.</p>
<p>I’m sure that by trying to obtain a 4.0, you’d certainly sacrifice a multitude of academic opportunities that probably would have served better on your application AND in your experiences than would a .2 to .3 higher GPA. Although the GPA is important, it’s certainly not the only thing in the world.</p>
<p>If one were to take Math 55, would it be impossible to manage a 4.0 that semester?</p>
<p>^ Not impossible, but it depends how well suited you are for the class. There are students who’ve placed out of 55, so if they were to take the class an A would not be much of a challenge since they already have had that instruction. But there are some people who may want to challenge themselves and may not have had a substantial enough background for the class in which case such a grade would be more difficult</p>
<p>@ 13mom, there used to be a post with very specific details about noitaraperp’s life by another guy. He deleted it though.</p>
<p>I think it is not uncommon to have a GPA between 12 and 13 on the 15-point scale.</p>
<p>A 4.0 is pretty hard to get, but it depends upon your concentration. Picking classes is about balancing your interest in the class with the workload. It’s a bad idea to take all rewarding-but-difficult classes, because you’ll burn out. It’s also a bad idea to take all unfulfilling-but-easy classes, because you won’t learn anything. Someone who gets a 4.0 is obviously intelligent but I would be surprised if they didn’t spend a little too much time in the latter camp.</p>
<p>To the above “4.0” poster: a 4.0 after 1 semester of grades isn’t really what the OP is asking about.</p>
<p>It is sad to hear about the students who avoid the toughly-graded classes in order to preserve their GPA. One can always prep hard for the GRE,GMAT, or MEDCAT to revive one’s stats.</p>
<p>Yes, one semester of an eager frosh barely is worth exclaiming. Let’s see if we hear back fom him in three years.</p>
<p>^Well, I don’t want to divulge my classes or my extracurriculars for the sake of anonymity, but I’ll tell you that the classes I took were ones that I was interested in, and half of them are deemed somewhat difficult by most undergraduates (i.e. a difficult physics course and another course that I couldn’t name because it would probably give me away). Granted, I’m only a freshman, but I believe it CAN be done without killing yourself.</p>
<p>I personally don’t believe in tradeoffs (when it comes to my life). Time is the only limiting case, and while I don’t rigorously structure my day, when I do something, I really DO it. I don’t do my work in Lamont while hanging out with my friends, because I’ll half-ass both thing. When I do work, I actually sit down, shut everything unrelated off, and let the material fill my world. When I relax with my friends, I don’t multitask - it’s pure enjoyment. I’ve been able to really LIVE in Harvard and I find it comical that people sometimes pose these absolute tradeoffs that do not necessarily exist.</p>
<p>I am glad that things seem to be going well for you, Noitaraperp.</p>
<p>Please don’t aim for a 4.0 when you’re at Harvard. It almost certainly won’t happen (I believe 7 students have done it in 350 years), and even if you do, it probably won’t be worth it. A girl graduated with one 3-4 years ago, but I remember seeing that she was taking a year to study the LSAT with hopes of getting into Pepperdine Law School. Can you get a 4.0 some semesters while you’re here? Sure. I know 3 people who did it all of freshman year. But you should take challenging courses while you’re here, especially if you want to go on to challenging graduate schools. Especially for Ph.D programs, class difficulty is very important. Remember that the average reported GPA at graduation is about 3.5 most years, and you’re doing a great job if you break 3.7. Also remember that if you break 3.6 you’re in the running for any graduate school in the country (with perhaps the exception of Yale Law and Harvard Med, though it does happen). So relax, and don’t worry about it. Besides, people will seriously make fun of you here if you talk about wanting to get a 4.0.</p>
<p>is it true that science classes at harvard is very diificult to get As</p>