What, like it’s hard? Sorry to burst your bubble. Yes, transferring to Harvard is extremely hard. Harvard is an elite research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And it is easily one of the most famous schools in the world.
Harvard says it themselves, “Each fall, we welcome a very small number (12 on average) of transfer students to Harvard College.” Last year, they actually took 15, but with nearly 2k applicants, this represents only about a 0.7% acceptance rate. Oof. Their first-year acceptance rate is also low (last year it was 3.5%ish); however, 0.7% is next microscopic.
If you are hoping to transfer to Harvard, you have to be realistic. No matter how good of a student you are, think of some great backups. For the record, Harvard also says, "The number of well-qualified applicants far exceeded the number of students admitted and enrolled each year as transfer students. As admission to transfer to Harvard is competitive, we encourage you to explore a variety of colleges in your transfer search.”
That being said, if you have your heart set on applying to Harvard as a transfer, we are here to help. Let’s break it down.
Harvard’s Requirements
Harvard has the usual requirements, but before we even get into those, they state that all accepted transfer students have three things:
A clearly defined academic need to transfer
A proven record of achievement at your current institution
Strong faculty recommendations
It is essential to make sure you check these three boxes (we will talk about them a little bit more later).
Furthermore, Harvard defines transfer students as students “who have completed at least one continuous academic year (fall and spring semesters) in a full-time degree program at one college, and not more than two academic years, by the time you would be enrolling at Harvard.” They also say, “Students are not permitted to relinquish credit earned in order to restart their college experience or regain eligibility.” This is pretty standard, but make sure that you fit this description.
You must also be “enrolled as a full-time student in an undergraduate program similar to our liberal arts curriculum” because they only take transfer students from certain college backgrounds. But what does that mean? Well, they don’t accept transfers from Part-time, Online, Night-time, Performance-based, Extension, or continuing education programs. They also don’t take students from Professional (Business/Finance/Accounting, Medical/Dental, etc.) or Technical or Vocational (Art schools, trade schools, etc.) schools. If you are unsure if your current institution falls under one of these categories, reach out, we can help.
Once you have confirmed that you are actually eligible to apply as a transfer, there are also several things you will need to send to Harvard. They require official college and high school transcripts sent directly from your schools and a college report filled out by an official at your current college. Harvard also requires SAT or ACT scores. If your current school is test optional and you did not take standardized tests, Harvard does say, “ In exceptional cases, when those are not accessible for a student, one of the following can meet the requirement: AP exam results, IB Actual or Predicted Scores, GCSE/A-Level Actual or Predicted Results, or National Leaving Exams Results or Predictions.”
You will also need at least two academic letters of recommendation from instructors at your institution. Technically, their application has space for up to 11 letters of recommendation (9 of them purely optional). However, we would highly recommend using letters sparingly. Trust us; it is better just to send the two required, and maybe one other if you have someone who could speak to something significant about you (or if Obama or the Dean of Harvard is a close personal friend). Please, don’t go overboard and promise us, you won’t use all 11 slots! More is not better.
You can also optionally submit a midterm report and self-report your grades through Harvard's applicant portal. Harvard publishes a transfer brochure with a list of required and optional materials, which you may also want to review before applying!
Finally, Harvard asks students to write several essays.
Essays
While all the essays have a 1,000-character (or about 200 words) limit, there are a lot of them, so give yourself time to answer all of them well.
Briefly, please indicate the most influential factors in your decision to attend your present college (for example, location, cost, size of student body, only option, special program offered, Early Decision plan, etc.) (Approximately 200 words)
There is a little bit of a trick to this essay. You need to either speak to factors that also describe Harvard or make it clear that you are no longer compatible with that factor. For example, if you are at a rural school that you choose for being rural, you need to show why it is not the best environment for you now that you have experienced it. Or if you are currently at a school in the middle of Boston, you can just say why that is important to you (because it aligns with Harvard). This should feel like a mini-story that connects the factor to why it is (or was) important to you.
Briefly describe your reasons for transferring and the objectives you hope to achieve. (Approximately 200 words)
Remember, Harvard is looking for “a clearly defined academic need to transfer.” Your answer needs to connect to academics at Harvard. If your reason is “Harvard is a better school,” that isn’t going to work. You want to mention specific academic opportunities that led you to transfer and connect them to a good reason. For example, a great reason would be like if you hope to study Applied Computation and your current school doesn’t have that major. Another good reason would be that your school doesn’t do enough research in the academic area that you are studying, and you need more opportunities for hands-on lab work. Take some time to really think about your goals and how they connect to transferring. You want to introduce your goals/reason for transferring with a short story. After reading this essay, we should know more about you and what you hope to achieve.
What alternatives to transferring to Harvard are you considering? (Approximately 200 words)
This is a very hard question and we don’t know why Harvard asks it. The most important thing is to make it clear that Harvard is your top choice and is the best place for you. Other options are back ups. Outside of that, you can mention that you are applying to other programs or that you have chosen to stay at your current institution. However, we wouldn’t mention other schools specifically. If you are staying at your current school, add in some goals or changes that you will be making. If your current school doesn’t have the research opportunities you are looking for, maybe you will intern over the summer somewhere that does or plan to go aboard.
Please indicate your intended concentration and briefly outline your academic plans at Harvard College. (Approximately 200 words)
Get specific: if you want to mention specific classes, professors, labs, and any other opportunity that can connect to your reason for transferring or goals you hope to achieve at Harvard. You want to paint a clear picture of who you will be and what you will do at Harvard. This also needs to directly connect to your second essay (but shouldn’t repeat its points.)
What are your current postgraduate/career plans? (Approximately 200 words)
It is okay not to know what you want to do at 18, but you need to write this essay like you have a 100% solid five or even ten year plan. Take some guesses and write with confidence. Your goals and plans should fit with what you are studying and your academic plans at Harvard. If you are studying math, don’t say that you hope to be a chemist. The more logical and thought out plan you have the better.
Harvard has long recognized the importance of enrolling a diverse student body. How will the life experiences that shape who you are today enable you to contribute to Harvard? (Approximately 200 words)
This question is hard only because of how short the word count is. You want to tell a good but short story about an important life experience. Your story should feature and experience where you learned or used a life skill that will also serve you well at Harvard.
We know this prompt has a preamble about “diversity;” however, your essay doesn’t need to be specifically about minority status. It can be if being part of a community has shaped you. However, this essay can be about any meaningful experience that has shaped your perspective or taught you a skill. By the way, we don’t know if the college that lowkey invented the use of legacy status to keep out Jewish students only 100 years ago should use the word “long” in the same sentence as “diversity” but we digress.
Harvard has some tough requirements and a lot of writing. If you are thinking about transferring to Harvard, you also kind of need to be perfect. Yes, it feels like asking a lot, but they take so few students that you need to be the full package. If you are thinking about transferring to Harvard we would highly recommend talking to a college counselor, making a great plan, and giving yourself enough time to finish an amazing application. If you need help, we are here for you!
Contact us today!