You should also have a 4.18 GPA or higher. If your GPA is lower than this, you need to compensate with a higher SAT/ACT score. For a school as selective as Harvard, you'll also need to impress them with the rest of your application. We'll cover those details next.
A 3.5 GPA will be highly competitive, and admission can be reasonably expected at many colleges. Still, it's not the most competitive at places like Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth, which, on average, accept students with GPAs exceeding 4.0.
Harvard does not have a minimum GPA requirement. However, Harvard is highly competitive, so it may be challenging to get in with a 3.7 GPA. The average GPA for entering Harvard students is 3.9.
While it's certainly possible to get into Harvard with a low GPA, as the numbers bear out, it's improbable. For the Class of 2026, a mere 2.09% of admitted students to Harvard had GPAs below 3.5. Such students often meet other institutional needs (e.g., star quarterback for the football team, development case, etc.).
Even though the average weighted GPA for Harvard is 4.2, this is still an average. Successful applicants may have scores that fall well above or below that figure. That means you won't automatically be rejected if your GPA is under 4.0. Some say that the lowest GPA accepted to Harvard is about 3.0 (weighted).
You should also have a 4.18 GPA or higher. If your GPA is lower than this, you need to compensate with a higher SAT/ACT score. For a school as selective as Harvard, you'll also need to impress them with the rest of your application. We'll cover those details next.
The unweighted GPA scale goes up to a 4.0 and doesn't take class difficulty into account. A weighted GPA scale typically goes up to a 5.0 and does consider the difficulty of a student's classes. It is important that student's know which GPA scale their school uses and how it effects them.
Niche, a ranking and review site, recently published its list of the “2023 Hardest Colleges to Get Into.” Using data from the U.S. Department of Education on various colleges' acceptance rates and SAT/ACT scores, they found, unsurprisingly, Harvard University to be the most difficult college to get into.
GPA Requirements
Yale University does not have a strict minimum GPA requirement for undergraduate admissions. However, admitted students typically have very high GPAs, ranging from 3.8 to 4.0, with an average GPA of 3.9.
It is much easier to achieve a 5.0 GPA if you attend a school where some classes are worth more than five points (e.g., on a six-point scale). The goal is to take as many courses with a weighting of 5.0 or higher as possible. As a result, even if you have to take 4.0 classes, your overall GPA will not fall below 5.0.
Cornell is considered the "easiest" Ivy League to get into because it has the highest Ivy League acceptance rate. While it's easier, statistically speaking, to get into Cornell, it's still challenging. It's also important to remember that students apply directly to one of Cornell's eight undergraduate colleges.
The 25th percentile New SAT score is 1460, and the 75th percentile SAT score is 1580. In other words, a 1460 places you below average, while a 1580 will move you up to above average. There's no absolute SAT requirement at Harvard, but they really want to see at least a 1460 to have a chance at being considered.
MIT does not have a strict minimum GPA requirement for undergraduate admissions. However, admitted students typically have very high GPAs, ranging from 3.9 to 4.0, with an average GPA of 3.96.
We do not set a minimum GPA, nor do we attempt to re-weight GPA's to any standard other than what a school provides. An applicant's complete secondary school transcript (not just the GPA or class rank, if they are provided) is evaluated during the admissions process.
The lowest possible grade is usually equal to a 0.0 on any scale and most times correlates to an "F" or the failing grade for the course. The scale coverts linearly from the 0.0 to 4.0 with your grade whether you are on a number or letter grading system for the class.
Unofficially, 2.0 is the lowest GPA accepted into a standard college, so while there's a chance that college admission is possible, it's not likely at more than a few institutions.
At a minimum, you must earn a 3.0 GPA or better (3.4 for nonresidents) in all college preparatory courses. No grades can be lower than a C.
GPA Requirements
Stanford University does not have a strict minimum GPA requirement for undergraduate admissions. However, admitted students typically have very high GPAs, ranging from 3.8 to 4.0, with an average GPA of 3.9. The university also recommends students take 5 classes in each of their semesters.
Which University is harder to get into Harvard or Oxford? Oxford University has an acceptance rate of around 17% which is considered relatively good in comparison to Harvard University's low 5% acceptance rate, which makes Oxford easier to get into.
Harvard University
It is considered one of the most prestigious universities in the world and has topped the THE World Reputation Rankings since 2011. The institution has been affiliated with 161 Nobel laureates, 32 heads of state, 50 Pulitzer prizewinners and many other academic accolades and prizes.
Jasmine Mazard-Larry's grade point average was an astonishing 8.07. The 17-year-old was the valedictorian at Dr. Kiran C. Patel High School.…
Your grade point average (GPA) is the average result of all your grades and is calculated on a 7-point grading scale. 7 being the highest (HD), and 0 is the lowest (fail). The GPA calculator can help you determine if you are eligible for scholarships, programs such as Honours or admission to other universities.
The average high school GPA in the US is 3.0, which also accounts for roughly 35% of students who don't end up applying for college. However, for college applicants, the average GPA is more likely between 3.5 and 4.0.