Why/how are people with gpa's below 3.0 getting into Harvard?

<p>Why are people with low GPA's getting into Harvard. On about.com's college application section there is a post about Harvard admission statistics and within it is a graph. The graph mostly showed what I expected - a lot of red dots, but there were a few green (accepted) outliers with extremely low SAT, ACT, and GPA. Who are these people? What are they doing to get in? How do they get in?</p>

<p>Because they have some other characteristics that makes them attractive to Harvard. This can be an musical ability, athletic ability, research they have done, adversity they have overcome, busineses/organizations they have created, etc. There are many reasons a kid could have made it into Harvard. Not everyone who goes there has a 4.0</p>

<p>That’s a good point @shawnspencer‌! I know that not everyone has a 4.0 at Harvard, but a 2.5 GPA seems really low even if you are exceptionally talented in the arts or sports! But then again, Harvard wants students who will be successful in life</p>

<p>Who are these people? People who lie on the Internet.</p>

<p>@Sue22‌ There are actually (very very few) data points on Harvard’s admissions statistics graph, showing that people with 2.5-3.5 GPAs are sometimes accepted. The catch though, is that there are only 1-2 per year. To answer the OP’s question-- remember, Harvard wants excellence. People with 2.5-3.5 GPAs are going to have to be absolutely phenomenal in some area, or have incredible extenuating circumstances-- such as living in Rwanda without parents for 10 years.</p>

<p>The Harvard Crimson actually publishes extremely detailed information about this. They do a very comprehensive survey of all freshmen each year, and in the past 2 years the lowest GPA of any admitted freshman has been 3.3.
You can see this, and the rest of the data at this link <a href=“The Harvard Crimson | Class of 2018 By the Numbers”>http://features.thecrimson.com/2014/freshman-survey/admissions/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>An extremely large donation can also be a factor. Celebrity and/or VIP status may also offset lower grades or scores. In short, it’s tough to say why the kids were admitted other than they had something truly exceptional going for them.</p>

<p>@VSGPeanut101‌ </p>

<p>Very minor, but there was one admit with a 3.0 for the class of 2017. He/she also had a 2230 SAT.</p>

<p>@bemusedfyz, as far as I can tell the graph on the site the OP cited are self-reported. HArvard’s own information is much more reliable. Last year’s CDC showed not a single admittee with a GPA below 3.0</p>

<p>Often legacies with below a 3.5 gpa but otherwise qualified (SAT, extracurriculars) are offered to be z-listed to attend the following year. I believe that way Harvard does not have to report GPA in CDC.</p>

<p>@Sue22‌ Thanks for pointing that out, I was unaware!</p>

<p>Does Harvard typically publish its admission data like this? Or is this a response to the lawsuit? </p>

<p>Interesting that it claims the SAT “scores varied little between ethnicities” and shows a totally zoomed out bar chart scaled from 0 to 2400. If I looked at an image of earth from space, I don’t see much difference between the Himalayas and sea level, either.
<a href=“The Harvard Crimson | Class of 2018 By the Numbers”>http://features.thecrimson.com/2014/freshman-survey/admissions/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to appreciate that a 200 point spread in average SAT scores between groups is very significant. A 200 point spread between 2 students is insignificant. A 200 point spread in averages comprising hundreds or thousands of students indicates a persistent bias. It may be evidence that harvard is making students compete against candidates in their own racial group rather than compete against the entire applicant pool.</p>

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<p>Many of us here on CC, myself included, have thought that’s what Admissions has been doing for years – and not just at Harvard. In fact, I’ve often used the below to describe college admissions. Maybe this model will soon become outdated.</p>

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