So this is just a question for fun, but what percent of Harvard applicants would you guess are actually qualified/have a shot? Obviously Harvard gets TONS of qualified students applying, and a rejection doesn’t necessary mean you’re not qualified. But I know at my school there are at least a dozen kids who apply each year who really have no shot (too low gpa, class rank, act, etc.). Of course test scores and grades aren’t all there is to an application, but I feel like it’s pretty safe to say someone applying with a 29 on the ACT, a class rank not in the top 5 or 10 percent, and nothing super compelling about their application doesn’t stand much of a chance. So what percent of applicants would you guess are really “qualified”?
Last year I heard an admissions counselor say 80% would qualify from those who applied early. He said they were confident those students could do the work. Then he said, and that’s how difficult it is. Not sure what the stat is overall.
I’ll speculate that 80% are qualified in that they’re capable of handling the classes, but that at least 50% apply with profiles that warrant very little serious consideration. So to answer the question “what percent are actually qualified/have a shot”, I’d say perhaps 80% are technically qualified but less than 50% have a legitimate shot.
I also heard the 80% number from a Harvard admissions officer - however I was privately speculating that perhaps that number was inflated in order not to discourage those who might apply who really don’t have a chance but whose applications serve to keep Harvard’s ranking high since the number of people who apply is factored into a lot of ranking forumlas. This is purely anecdotal evidence, but I notice that each year my school has about 15 or 20 people applying to Harvard and similar schools, and based on their stats most from my school stand almost no chance. However, I’d assume that there are a lot of private and magnet schools who have a lot of very qualified people applying, which likely helps counteract the trends I’ve seen at my school. And of course this is all pure speculation - I was just curious what others estimated!