This is quite a naive statement.
Harvard is a great school. They also have a very, very large set of graduate programs and the opportunities for an undergraduate to “perform experiments” that are meaningful while not unheard of, are going to be very limited compared to if the student were at a much smaller, research-oriented school (I’m thinking Rochester or Brandeis, etc.).
The issue concerning financial resources is really not going to be an issue at any top-100 or so school.
I’m going to say that there are probably very few applications that truly impress Harvard admissions officers.
You should do what most unhooked applicants do: Apply to Harvard, just assume you will not get in and be pleasantly surprised if you do. You will likely get into somewhere very good that will (and I know you’ll find this hard to believe) meet your needs even better than Harvard would have.