<p>It has always been my childhood dream to go to Harvard University. But the cost involved is great so I want to know if it's possible for me as an international student to get a full ride or full scholarship to Harvard. Does Harvard give any full scholarships at all? Please I need replies. Thanks</p>
<p>Harvard, and all the Ivy League colleges, does not give scholarships based on merit, i.e. your grades or test scores. However, they will give accepted students, including internationals, financial aid based on your degree of need, up to an including a full ride for student from very low income homes.</p>
<p>However, as with all schools, the size of the aid award is based on their determination of how much you need and may not necessarily agree with yours. But having said that, Harvard is known for having one of the most generous financial aid programs.</p>
<p>The hardest part about matriculating to Harvard often isn’t the financial aid; it’s getting accepted in the first place.</p>
<p>It’s worth noting that Harvard is one of the few need-blind schools for internationals, which works in your favor. Essentially this means admissions won’t know the extent to which you are applying for financial aid when reviewing your application.</p>
<p>Keep several things in mind:</p>
<p>1) Harvard admits about 10% to 11% international students every year. Based upon an overall enrollment of 1660 students, that means that international students are competing for approximately one of 182 beds. Thousands of international students from around the world compete for those slots – so, your credentials (course rigor, GPA, test scores) have to be top-notch, as the competition is absolutely fierce.</p>
<p>2) Harvard has need-blind admissions – which means they don’t look at your ability to pay when considering you for one of those 182 slots. They are just looking at your potential as a scholar, not your ability to pay.</p>
<p>3) If admitted, all financial aid is determined by need. If your family cannot afford to pay the full amount for tuition, room, board, books, personal expenses, and travel between your home country and Cambridge, Harvard will offer you a full scholarship.</p>
<p>As coureur said:</p>
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<p>Thank you all for the information but I don’t get the getting accepted part. Can you please explain further?</p>
<p>As coureur and Gibby noted…whether you get the needed full financial aid or not is mainly dependent on you getting ACCEPTED to Harvard FIRST…which is a tough proposition to begin with for international students…hope you understand.</p>
<p>Daisy: You need to do some more research on how difficult it is to be accepted to Harvard. Almost 35,000 students submit applications to Harvard and Harvard only has room for 1,660 students – that’s why the acceptance rate is 5.8%. As Harvard only accepts about 182 international students out of those 1,660 students, it’s much more difficult be accepted as an international student than a domestic student. Here, read this article: [J.D</a>. Rothman: Why Your Brilliant Child Didn’t Get Into The Ivies](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Why Your Brilliant Child Didn't Get Into The Ivies | HuffPost Life)</p>
<p>And this: [Financial</a> Aid Office](<a href=“http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do]Financial”>http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do)</p>
<p>Many kids dream of certain colleges, since they were little. Always good to dig into their web info and see how they operate, what their considerations are. And, what you can learn about the nature of the competition for admits.</p>
<p>Getting accepted to Harvard is very difficult. Only about 10% of international students are accepted and most applicants are highly qualified. So just getting selected is very difficult. It’s not an automatic accept. However, whether you have financial need or not does not come into the picture.</p>
<p>Though Harvard is one of the more generous schools OVERALL in terms of providing financial aid, be aware that the school determines what your need is, not you or your family. YOU don’t tell them what you need to go there. You fill out a form that does have to be verified on what you and your parents earn in a calender year and how much in assets, including properties you have. If there is a family business involved, information on that is needed. Based on all of that, the school’s financial aid ofice decides how much money you and your family need to pay.</p>
<p>“Full ride” is nearly always not “full”. Almost every student, has to come up with a required student contribution even when family finances are such that your are considred full need. That is part of what the school considers what a Harvard students should be able to figure out to do. You are not going to get any merit scholarship, athletic scholarship from Harvard, and as an international student, the usual loan venues here are closed to you. Working here in the US may be an issue too. How Harvard takes all of that into consideration when coming up with a required student contribution, I don’t know. But I’ve seen kids with full need still be required to come up with some money, some how as part of the student contribution . Many, if not all schools work this way.</p>
<p>^Correct. Even if your parent/family contribution is zero, you’ll still need to work during the school year and summer to pay your student contribution.</p>
<p>“Getting accepted to Harvard is very difficult. Only about 10% of international students are accepted and most applicants are highly qualified.”</p>
<p>Do we actually know this is true? Because if so, then the acceptance rate for internationals is actually higher than the overall rate of 5.8%. On the other hand, roughly 10-11% of the incoming class is from abroad (consistent with Gibby’s comments) so perhaps this is what cptofthehouse means?</p>
<p>It sounds like the original poster (daisylamp) needs to go over some basic information before she can understand the answers to her post. Your child needs to to do several things to determine if your child would even consider going, full ride or not. </p>
<p>1) Your child needs to pass the requirements to apply to Harvard (testing, personal statement, etc.). Many international students do not know what is needed to have their application even reviewed.</p>
<p>2) They then need to supply all application materials and APPLY. The Harvard Admissions Committee will review their application amongst ALL applicants, and make a decision without regards to your ability to pay. (That is what need-blind admissions is). This is the hardest part.</p>
<p>3) ONLY AFTER BEING ACCEPTED, will they talk about how to pay. Harvard offers NEED based aid. NO MERIT-based. And in some cases based on the need cover the full cost of attendance, based on a review of your financial circumstances and their resources, (which are some the most generous in the World).</p>
<p>In short the answer is yes, if you get accepted, demonstrate need, and they have the resources to cover that need (International Students can be tricky as they don’t qualify for Gov’t Loans).</p>
<p>I hope that helps.</p>
<p>I don’t know what the exact percentage is any given year for international applicants and if you narrow it down to countries, the numbers can change again. The fact of the matter is that the chances are low for any given candidate to get accepted to Harvard. Or any of the highly selective schools. It’s not a matter of meeting a certain threshhold in qualifications means you are in. These schools have to pick among a large number of qualified students because more people apply than there are seats. ‘’</p>
<p>Once accepted, there will be a financial aid package offered which will be based on what Harvard, or any such school that guarantees to meet full need, determines is the need. You don’t tell these schools what you need. They tell you what your need is based on your family assets and income, and if you own a business, on what they determine it is worth. There is also a student contribution that is up the student to earn or get somehow. That’s the way it works.</p>
<p>There was a chart posted sometime back that broke down the # of international students in attending each school at Harvard per country. You should check that out.</p>
<p>@OP Anyway, Harvard is a super generous school for FA. They have a financial aid calculator right on their website. Put in your parents’ income, savings etc and you should get a rough estimate though people have told me Harvard is quite good at adjusting. </p>
<p>You just have to get admitted first 
GL!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for all the info. It’s going to be of a lot of help. I guess I’m going to have to reconsider my decision.</p>
<p>@ecouter11 what do you mean by “quite good at adjusting”?</p>