Harvard
University
Although Harvard is known for its top-notch
teaching staff and its endless opportunities, we firmly believe that one of our
main strengths is the exceptional diversity of our community.
Here, you will find information that will help you
learn more about Harvard College, from our extensive financial assistance
program to our holistic admissions process.
IMPORTANT: Harvard College is the undergraduate
school of Harvard University. For information on graduate school programs
(medicine, law, business administration, education, etc.), please consult the
school directory to contact the appropriate office.
If you wish to communicate with a Spanish-speaking
representative to learn about undergraduate studies at Harvard, contact the
minority recruitment program (UMRP). Note that the UMRP offers information
specifically about Harvard College, and not about the graduate schools.
- Paying for your studies
Once a student is admitted to Harvard, we work with your family to
ensure they can afford the cost of attending college. We are interested in the
best students, beyond their economic situation. Therefore, we commit ourselves
to fully comply with the financial need during the four years. International
students have access to the same financial assistance as their American peers,
regardless of their citizenship status. In fact, around 60% of students receive
scholarships according to their need with an average cost of $ 12,000 per year.
20% of our families pay nothing. No loans are required as part of our financial
assistance; The help we offer is in the form of scholarships.
We take as a basis two fundamental principles:
• Admission to Harvard does not take into account the ability to pay. This
means that your financial need will not affect the possibility of being
admitted Financial aid depends entirely on financial need, not on merit
Our student financial aid officers
collaborate with families to determine what their financial need is and what
payment they will have to make. For many families, this represents between 0%
and 10% of family income. The student will also be asked to contribute the cost
of their education with employment during the school year and summer.
Check out our net price calculator
to get an idea of how much a Harvard education will cost you. In less than
five minutes, you will have an estimate of your financial aid package and the
payment that would correspond to your family. We think you will be pleasantly
surprised.
Applications
Each Harvard College applicant is
carefully evaluated. There are no formulas to be admitted, but we hope that
this information will help you understand what we are looking for in our
holistic admission process.
Proficiency in the English language
Students
must have a solid knowledge of the English language, including the ability to
understand and express ideas quickly and clearly. It is not compulsory to take
the aptitude test in English language (TOEFL) or other language proficiency
exams. If you have already taken them, you can present your qualifications as
part of the application, but it is not mandatory.
Visit
Attend an
admissions briefing and a tour.
Visiting
Harvard is a great way to learn about daily life in college, to meet current
students, and to explore Cambridge and Boston. It is easier to experiment than
to describe the intangible aspects of the Harvard community, the atmosphere of
Harvard Yard, and the warmth and enthusiasm of its students.
We know
that many students do not have the possibility to visit universities before
submitting their applications. Therefore, we hope that our website serves to
highlight the vast opportunities of Harvard and the outpouring of its
community. You can also take a virtual tour to preview Harvard from the comfort
of your home.
Cultural diversity
The Ethnic Minority Recruitment
Program (UMRP) is sponsored by the admissions office. Our program encourages
talented students from ethnic minority groups to apply to Harvard College for
the purpose of expanding the diversity of future classes. The UMRP program,
staffed by current students, answers questions about life at Harvard College
and the application process. They also coordinate visits to the campus, as well
as tours and special information sessions. Contact the UMRP program for more
information on cultural diversity at Harvard.
Stanford
University
HOW DO I GET AN
ADMISSION IN STANFORD
Each year
thousands of parents around the world dream that their children will be
admitted to the most prestigious universities in the world, convinced that an
education in these academic centers will guarantee them a successful
professional career and a future full of the best opportunities. There are a
number of universities, such as Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale, Penn
and some others, that illuminate the faces and dreams of these parents, knowing
that an education in these centers will change the lives of their children,
will provide them with a spectacular network of contacts for the future, and
will give you countless professional opportunities before you even finish your
degree.
But it is
important to understand how difficult it is to get an admission to Stanford or
centers of the same academic level and above all, be aware that success in life
does not depend on being admitted, or not, in these universities. Many of the
students who go to these universities go unnoticed by life, while many others,
who study in many other university centers, have a global impact on their
activities. Many families make the mistake of thinking that it is only worth
studying at Yale or Stanford elite universities, not knowing that there are
dozens of highly educational sites in the United States and that in some fields
of study there are universities that are better academically than the most
recognized sites by name.
Universities
like Stanford can open many doors to your children, allow you to show off in
front of other parents, classmates and friends, but the most important thing
when you value an international education is not only to be realistic with the
profile of our child, but also to find the university that is really ideal for
the student, evaluating academic, social and financial variables. It is
important to realize that only a few students from all over the world (most of
them with perfect academic records or with histories that show that they are
phenomena) go through the hard admission process, with what is normal, even if
our son is very good student and have done many things in his baccalaureate
years, is that he does not get admission to Stanford, Yale, Princeton or
similar universities. And for this reason it is also very important to have
different alternatives when you start the process of evaluation of
universities, to have a Plan B or a Plan C in case you do not get the admission
in university that you have chosen for your child, well be Stanford or another.
In fact, with the numbers that are handled, it is very good not to trust the
admission in this type of universities and to consider a range of options that
guarantee a good university for the future of the student in the USA.
I HAVE NOT GOT
ADMISSION IN STANFORD, WHAT ALTERNATIVES DO I HAVE?
There are many
parents who think that their children can study in these types of universities,
even if they come with a remarkable academic record and have not excelled in
any extra-classroom activity. In most cases, the parents are not realistic with
the profiles of their own children, not wanting to understand that the
possibilities of getting admission are practically nil, and not letting them
evaluate many other universities that could be more suitable for their children
and even more. beneficial for your futures.
The bad news is
that, it's really hard to get admission into Stanford or TOP universities with
more and more competition inside and outside the US, with thousands of young
people with perfect academic records applying and with more and more admission
ratios. low. But the good news is that nothing happens if you do not get
admission in this type of universities, since there are hundreds of
universities that can also help you achieve your personal, academic and
professional goals. In addition, they can also bring countless benefits to
students and can be a better choice for most young people. Yes, there are
hundreds of success stories of graduate students from Stanford or Harvard, but
there are also thousands of success stories that come out year after year from
the more than 4,000 universities that exist in the US. And all this without
including all the benefits that an education and international experience has
in young people from 18 to 22 years old.
HOW IS THE
ADMISSION PROCESS IN STANFORD
The admission
process in Stanford and first level university centers is very complex,
starting with the preparation with two, three or even four years in advance.
Admission ratios at most academic centers such as Stanford range from 5-15%,
and the majority of students applying for access have perfect academic records,
very high scores on the SAT and in the Subject Tests, extracurricular
activities, and voluntarily or and other personal projects
that demonstrate ambition and that speak in a very positive way of
extraordinary experiences at an early age.
The ratio of
admission for students of all outstanding is even lower, since a good number of
seats are already occupied by those students who have shown exceptional talent
in their years of 'High School' and who stand out for their profiles in front
of the rest . Athletes also have special treatment when it comes to getting
admission, since they already show something different in their lives and bring
a lot of value to the campus and diversity. They still need a good academic
record but are not competing against thousands of students in the admissions
process, nor do they have to prove anything beyond what they have already shown
to the sports coaches who want them on their teams.
Incredibly, at
Stanford, 69% of the applicants who had had all outstanding and a perfect SAT
of 2,400 points were not admitted, probably because the department that manages
admission to the university did not consider that they could add much value to
the campus, beyond of his intellectual talent. They already have a lot in
Stanford. What they really look for are those extraordinary students who have
already demonstrated special actions in their life and who add value to the
diversity of the campus.
Admission at
Stanford
WHAT TYPE OF
STUDENTS GET AN ADMISSION IN STANFORD
To get admission
into Stanford, the first step they take is a holistic assessment of each
student, focusing on the academic excellence, intellectual vitality and
personal context of each individual. They will value very intelligent students,
who have excelled intellectually or with some other talent, and who have
demonstrated that they are ready to do great things. They look for the next
Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg, people who can change the world in the future.
The most
important point in the evaluation of students is academic excellence, based on
the preparation they have received, the results they have obtained and the
potential they have to be successful people. At Stanford, they want young
people who have given their best during the baccalaureate years, who have
outstanding grades, who do very well in the entrance exams and who have not
been satisfied with the academic experience.
The second point
is the ambition and intellectual vitality of the student, valuing his
commitment, his dedication and his interest in wanting to do extraordinary
things with his life. The letters of recommendation and the 'essays' (written
essays) that go into the application for admission, will give a lot of
information about the candidates. Stanford wants to see in his candidates
curiosity, enthusiasm, energy, commitment and / or ambition in the activities
carried out, regardless of the field of action or 'expertise' of the student.
They want to have people that stand out, that are extraordinary in the
activities they do, whether in research, in volunteering, in technology, in
entrepreneurial projects or in sports.
There are many
students with a perfect academic record who do not get admission to Stanford,
mainly because in doing this holistic analysis, the managers see that they
could contribute little to the student community. And there are others, such as
athletes, artists or entrepreneurs, who with worse grades (compared to that
vast majority of perfect academic results) have higher chances of admission to
Stanford, Yale, Columbia, etc., by giving a higher value to the university,
bringing different knowledge and experiences and helping with the diversity
that a university like TOP needs.
STATISTICS ON
THE ADMISSION PROCESS IN STANFORD
It is really
difficult to enter this type of 'top' universities, especially in recent years,
due to the large increase in applications for admission that they receive and
that make the ratio of admissions lower each year. In the following table we can
see the admission ratios for 2016 of some of the most recognized universities
in the USA.
University Ratio
Admission # of students # of applications
Brown 9.6% 1,485
28,742
Columbia 7.4%
1,391 31,818
Harvard 5.9%
1,661 34,285
Princeton 7.9%
1,300 26,664
Yale 6.8% 1,355
26,664
MIT 7.81% 1,485
19,020
Stanford 4.8%
2,114 43,997
ADMISSION RATIOS
FOR THE STANFORD 2016 CLASS
The admission
ratio for freshman students in Fall 2016 was 4.8%, with 2,114 admitted from
43,997 applications. The Stanford website offers a series of statistics on the
admitted, which allows to understand the academic profile and, above all, shows
how many students can have perfect results on the SAT or at school, but
nevertheless most have not been admitted finally at Stanford.
WHAT NOTES WERE
THE STUDENTS ADMITTED TO STANFORD IN 2016?
96% of the
admitted students have had an outstanding average in the last four years of
school.
GPA *% of
applicants% of those admitted
4.0 or above 4.0
58% 75%
3.7 - 3.99 28%
21%
Below 3.7 14% 4%
* (The GPA is
the Grade Point Average, the average grade, and the highest grade is a 4.0,
although students who do classes with greater difficulty can get an even higher
grade)
WHAT
CLASSIFICATION DO YOU HAVE, COMPARING THEM WITH STUDENTS FROM YOUR SCHOOL?
95% of the
students were in the top 10% of their class at school.
Rank% of
applicants% of those admitted
Top 10% 78% 95%
11% - 20% 13% 4%
Below 21% 9% 1%
WHAT RESULTS HAD
THE SECTION OF CRITICAL READING OF THE SAT?
Half of the
admitted students obtained a result in the Critical Reading section of the SAT
from 700 to 799. 22% of the admitted students had a perfect result.
Result% of
applicants% of admitted
800 10% 22%
700 - 799 36%
49%
600 - 699 34%
24%
Below 600 20% 5%
WHAT RESULTS HAD
THE SAT'S MATHEMATICS SECTION?
Half of the
admitted students obtained a result in the SAT mathematics section from 700 to
799. 28% of the admitted students had a perfect result.
Result% of
applicants% of admitted
800 18% 28%
700 - 799 40%
49%
600 - 699 28%
20%
Below 600 14% 2%
WHAT RESULTS HAD
THE SECTION OF 'WRITING' OF THE SAT? *
55% of those
admitted had a result in the written part of the SAT from 700 to 799. 20% of
the admitted students had a perfect result.
Result% of
applicants% of admitted
800 9% 20%
700 - 799 38%
55%
600 - 699 34%
20%
Below 600 20% 5%
* The Writing
section does not exist in the new SAT that came into force in 2016
WHAT STANFORD
AND OTHER UNIVERSITIES ARE REALLY LOOKING FOR
The main
objective of this type of universities is to create value, to be known for
"producing" students that will make a difference in the world, that
will change things in society and in the future. These universities want to
attract and admit those young people, students who want and can change the
world, and who are willing from an early age to focus on their dreams and
passions, to sacrifice and work hard on their goals, and to achieve
extraordinary things. To do this they have to evaluate what these 17-year-old
boys and girls have achieved in the past, which is the variable that can most
predict their success in the future.
WHAT DO YOUNG
PEOPLE HAVE TO DO TO GET AN ADMISSION IN STANFORD?
Proving
something they have done in an extraordinary way, something that stands out at
a national or international level, that completely differentiates the student
from the rest of the applicants who enter the process. Yes, the students of all
outstanding, with very good grades in the SAT and in the Subject Tests, and
with extracurricular activities that demonstrate passion, sacrifice, commitment
and hard work, have many possibilities of being admitted, but nevertheless,
those that stand out really in some activity are those that really have more
chances of getting admission.
How to be
extraordinary?
Are you an
athlete of the best in the world in your discipline?
Are you a
blogger or Youtuber with thousands of followers?
Have you created
any company? Or a volunteer foundation?
Have you done
projects or have you received internationally recognized awards?
Have you
developed a technological project?
Have you
published any of your essays, poems or other works?
Have you
invented something?
If the student
has done any of these things, it will show that he is someone extraordinary,
someone with enough talent to add value to his future colleagues at Stanford
and to make a difference in the future. When evaluating the past of the
students, an athlete, a musician, an entrepreneur, an inventor, an engineer or
a Youtuber can demonstrate that they are already successful people, who have
managed to stand out in an important way, who have dedicated a great part of
their lives to achieve those successes, who have worked hard and made many
sacrifices to get what they have achieved, and with that ambition and a
university education, they can achieve what they set out to do in life, helping
to change the world. It is much more important for these universities to get
this type of young people, even if they do not have everything outstanding,
than for students with a perfect file that has not yet shown anything out of
the ordinary, of which there are already thousands in the US and
internationally. .
The more you
prove that you are very good at something, the more you compensate for the
weaknesses that the student may have in an academic record or in the results of
the SAT. The main objective is to stand out in something to make the difference
with the rest of the students who are applying for admission.
Admission at
Stanford
stanford.edu
IN SUMMARY, WHAT
DO YOU NEED TO KNOW TO HAVE GREATER CHOICES TO GET AN ADMISSION IN STANFORD?
It is a dream to
enter Stanford but it is not a failure not to get it. There are dozens of
universities of the highest academic level in the USA. They also provide many
other benefits to the student. You have to turn to the application and the
process, but you also have to prepare other options where you can have more
possibilities of admission.
You have to
start preparing the admission process years in advance. The sooner you can
start preparing the student, especially in developing some extraordinary talent
that can make a difference, the better. Do not waste time on activities that do
not excel, but focus on that talent that can show that it is someone special
and can get to Stanford.
The academic
part is very important. The student must be outstanding, students who can not
show their intelligence or have several notables in their academic record do
not count. Nor are shortcuts useful. The more difficult and complex your
classes are and the higher the level, the better seen it will be by the final
evaluators.
If the student
is notable and is not a phenomenon in any activity outside of academics, you
should be aware that it is not the academic level sought by these universities
and that it is impossible to get admission. Better not waste time or fill with
hope with something that is impossible.
You can not
think only of the academic part, it is very important to demonstrate that the
student can contribute much more than just good grades, and for that it is
imperative that he demonstrate activities and actions that are relevant and
extraordinary. It has to be very good, exceptional, a star of sports, music or
art, an entrepreneur or a precocious engineer with projects already developed.
If you are one of these individuals, with a good academic record, you will have
more options to be admitted than any other outstanding student who does not
contribute anything else to Stanford.
It is very good
that you do many activities apart from the studies but not because you belong
to a greater number of associations or groups you will have more possibilities
of admission in Stanford. It is much more important to transmit passion and
talent and excel in any activity in which you have participated. You should
focus and dedicate your time and effort to a particular activity that you like,
that you are passionate about and that is very good.
Yale University
Yale University is located in the historic
city of New Haven in the state of Connecticut. This port city has 125,000
inhabitants and is 120 kilometers northeast of New York City and 200 kilometers
southwest of the city of Boston. Founded in 1701, the university consists of
twelve faculties: The Yale College, the faculty of licensure; the faculty of
postgraduate studies in arts and sciences; and ten professional faculties. The
College is the heart of the University and provides humanities and science instruction.
More than 2,000 undergraduate courses are offered each year in nearly
sixty-five faculties and academic programs, forming a curriculum of
extraordinary variety and depth. Faculty faculty members are dedicated to
teaching undergraduate students, a commitment for which Yale has been
recognized for a long time. Many of Yale's most distinguished teachers teach
introductory courses.
The History of Yale
Yale's roots go back to the 1640s when a
group of members of the colonial clergy took the initiative to establish a
college in New Haven to preserve the European tradition of humanistic education
in the New World. This mission was fulfilled in 1701 when the concession was
granted to the educational institution. In 1718, his name changed to "Yale
College" in gratitude to the Welsh merchant Elihu Yale who donated the
proceeds from the sale of nine bales of products, 417 books, and a picture of
King George I.
Yale College survived the War of the
American Revolution intact (1776-1781) and by the end of its first hundred
years it had grown rapidly. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries brought the
establishment of the graduate and professional faculties that would make Yale a
true university. The Yale School of Medicine was founded in 1810, followed by
the Faculty of Theology in 1822, the Faculty of Law in 1824, and the
Postgraduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1847 (which, in 1861, awarded the
first doctorate ( PhD) in the United States), followed by the Faculties of Art
in 1869, Music in 1894, Forest Engineering and Environmental Studies in 1900,
Nursing in 1923, Drama in 1955, Architecture in 1972, and Administration in
1974. The University began admit women at postgraduate level in 1869 and
undergraduate level in 1969.
Residential Schools
Yale College was transformed in the early
1930s through the establishment of residential colleges. Taking as a model the
medieval English universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, this distinctive
system divides the undergraduate population into twelve separate communities,
each with around 450 members. This allows Yale to offer its students the
intimacy of a small school environment while providing the vast resources of an
educational research center. Each school is located around an interior
courtyard and occupies up to a whole block of the city. The foregoing
guarantees the environment of a welcoming community where residents live, eat,
socialize, and practice a variety of academic and extracurricular activities.
Each school has a teacher preceptor and a dean, in addition to a number of
resident members of the faculty called "fellows." Each school also
has its own dining room, library, seminar rooms, recreation rooms, and other
facilities.
Yale Today Yale has evolved to become
one of the best universities in the world. Its more than 10,000 students come
from all fifty American states and from 110 different countries. The faculty
constituted by women and men, many of them leaders in their respective fields,
represents a rich demographic diversity. The central campus now covers 170
acres (69 hectares) that extend from the Nursing Faculty in the New Haven
Center to the residential and tree-lined streets around the Faculty of
Theology. The 225 buildings at Yale include contributions from distinguished
architects from all periods of its history. The architectural styles range from
the New England Colonial to the Victorian Gothic High, and from the Moro
Renaissance to the contemporary. Yale's buildings, towers, green areas, inner
courtyards, sidewalks, gates, and arches create what one architecture critic
has called "the most beautiful urban campus in America." The
University also maintains nearly 600 acres (243 hectares) of athletic fields
and nature reserves that are only a few minutes by bus from the city center.
Yale has taken an investment program in
its largest facilities since the thirties. A new group of buildings for the
Faculty of Art has just opened, as well as new environmental science
laboratories, an athletic center, and a student residence. Massive renovations
of historical academic buildings as well as residential schools have been
carried out. In the next decade the University will continue investing in
improvements to the facilities for the benefit of students and teachers.
Library
Worth mentioning is the university's
library system, which has more than eleven million volumes in both general and
specialized fields, as well as several collections of specific topics, files,
recordings, maps, and other artifacts. This is the third largest library in the
United States and the second largest university library in the world. Although
centrally cataloged, the system is comprised of forty locations distributed
throughout the campus, which range from the Gothic and majestic building of the
Sterling Memorial Library, which contains about half of the entire Yale
collection, to the modern building and Geometry of the Beinecke Rare Book and
Manuscript Library, which protects more than 800,000 irreplaceable books and
documents.
Galleries and Museums
The extensive collections of the
University also enrich life and research on campus. The Yale Art Gallery,
founded in 1832, contains a collection that has become one of the leading
public art museums in the United States. Its two connected buildings contain
ancient, medieval, Renaissance, oriental, pre-Columbian and African art,
archaeological material, works of the great European and American masters of
virtually all newspapers, and a rich collection of modern art. In addition, the
Yale British Art Center, which opened in 1977, contains the largest collection
of British art and illustrated books outside of the United Kingdom.
Yale's Peabody Natural History Museum,
founded in 1866, contains one of the largest scientific collections in North
America. Among its heritage are extensive mineralogical and ornithological
collections of the University, the second largest collection of dinosaur
artifacts in the United States, and the largest and most intact Apatosaurus in
the world. The Peabody Museum is really a museum where public exhibitions,
research, conservation, teaching, and learning are coordinated in a dynamic
educational juncture.
Institutions such as the Art Gallery, the
British Art Center, and the Peabody Museum contain only a portion of the
treasures in the collections of Yale University. From the paintings of Picasso
and the remains of terdactyls, to a tenor viola of 1689 in the Collection of
Musical Instruments, Yale resources are available for the enrichment of diverse
communities. However, even considering the magnitude of these university
services, Yale's greatest resource is undoubtedly its people. Just as students
are inspired by the example and teaching of their teachers, the faculty is
constantly rejuvenated through the explorations and new perspectives of their students.
Science and Engineering
Yale is distinguished in the humanities as
well as in the sciences. Many people are unaware that Yale is also one of the
best scientific research universities in the United States. The faculties of
biology, chemistry, molecular biophysics and biochemistry, physics, astronomy,
mathematics, computer science, environmental science, geology and geophysics,
and other scientific fields at Yale, are consistently among the best in the
United States and the world. The resources and facilities available to
undergraduate students in all of these areas of study, as well as in
biomedical, chemical, electrical, environmental and mechanical engineering, are
of the highest quality.
To support and strengthen its resources,
Yale will invest more than 500 million dollars during this decade to expand and
improve its laboratories and teaching facilities for science and engineering.
It will also invest an additional $ 500 million in its medical and
biotechnology research facilities.
Strengthening of the Yale International
Programs
Yale's relationships with the outside date
back to the early nineteenth century when some members of his faculty began
conducting international studies and research. Yale has also been at the
forefront of attracting foreign students: the first student from Latin America
came to Yale in the 1830s and the first student from China to enroll in a
college or university in the United States came to Yale in 1850.
Currently the University is actively
engaged in international studies. Courses are offered in more than fifty
foreign languages and more than 600 courses related to international affairs.
The Yale Center for International and Regional Studies has four decades of
growth, and now offers six undergraduate and four master's programs, as well as
several research activities. International capacity has been increased through
the creation of four new research and pedagogical support centers: the Center
for the Study of Languages, the Center for the Study of Globalization, the
Center for International Finance and the International Institute of Corporate
Governance.
Yale is proud of the growing percentage of
international students studying on its campus. These students constitute
sixteen percent of the total student body of the University. In some graduate
programs more than thirty percent of the students come from foreign countries.
More than 900 academics abroad from 110 countries reside annually at Yale. For
example, the Fox International Fellowship Program facilitates the exchange of
post-graduate students with seven recognized universities, including the College
de México since 2001. Since 2002, the new World Fellows Program brings Yale
every fall to new emerging leaders from different parts of the world
