I’ve looked at the College Apps website and noticed a few people with a GPA around 2.5+ got in Harvard, which really makes ME want to apply there, even though my GPA is pretty low as well. I’m just asking for your advice, should I or not? I do have a huge number of extracurriculars, displayed good leadership throughout high school, wrote a killer Common App essay, and so much more, but I honestly have no idea if that would all go against my GPA. Any advice? Anything is fine, really.
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=444 says otherwise.
Does your “huge number of extracurriculars” include being related to someone who donated a building to Harvard?
I honestly have no idea about these statistics, but this is what I saw: http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/harvard-admission-gpa-sat-act.htm
Students who get into Harvard with a GPA of 2.5 or thereabouts are probably named (first name) Kennedy or George W. Bush, unless their parents are lifelong friends of the admissions dean.
. . . . . . And are celebrities, or EXCEPTIONAL athletes.
The data in that chart don’t come from Harvard–it’s self-reported by students who are members of Cappex. So, not the most reliable source.
But let’s assume that it’s real, and that at least two students with a GPA below 3.0 and an SAT score below 1700 were accepted to Harvard. What the graph doesn’t tell you is that these students were one of the following:
*Has a parent who’s donated tens of millions of dollars to Harvard;
*Is a world-famous celebrity whose name you would immediately recognize;
*Has low stats because of all of the time they spend training as an Olympic athlete and concert pianist who regularly sells out Carnegie Hall;
*Was a refugee from a war-torn area of the world who has not been able to have much formal education, but whose collection of short stories is regularly mentioned as being a possible Pulitzer winner;
*Is the child of a world leader.
In other words: no, you should not apply to Harvard with a low GPA unless your non-academic accomplishments or connections are of this level.
In your tile you say "lots’, in your post you say “a few”. You are grasping at straws. If you have a sub 3.0 you will not get in.
Okay, well I just confused by this then. I was really surprised to see the data showing admitted students with GPAs lower than a 3.0, haha!
Here is a survey that is administered to Harvard students. It’s still self-reporting but at least you know only people at Harvard are responding vs. any rando on the internet: http://features.thecrimson.com/2015/freshman-survey/makeup/
For the class of 2019, they had ~70% of students respond (or ~1160 students). 1 student reported a GPA <3.0, but still had an SAT score of 2290.
For 2018, again, 1 person reports a GPA <3.0 (2.8 with a 2400 SAT)
For 2017, 1 person reports a 3.0 GPA with a 2230 GPA.
OP is an international student, needing fin aid with 3.0 GPA and 1500/2400 SAT as of this summer. He should realize that he’ll have some difficulty finding any US college that will accept him which he can afford.
many-almost all- of those students are athletes- MUST have at LEAST a 3.9 if you are “average” (meaning you have no connection to the school/admissions staff)- that being said I wouldn’t apply!
Unless you have a hook (legacy, athlete or other preferred status), you really need to be above their average scores/GPAs. A lot of people look at top and bottom quartile and think if they are close to the bottom quartile, they have a good chance of getting in. But that really won’t be true without a hook.