Harvard is widely regarded as the most prestigious college in the country. As such, its acceptance rate is remarkably low - just seven percent of the applicant pool made the cut for 2009-2010.

Do you have to be superhuman to beat the Harvard admission odds? While exceptional qualities can certainly boost your chances of  

getting into Harvard

 , even regular Joes can make it to the top of the Ivy Tower. Read on to unravel the mysteries of Harvard admission.

The Numbers Game
It's no surprise that Harvard values objective criteria as a strong predictor of students' college grades. According to William R. Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard for more than two decades, the best predictors of academic success at Harvard are AP and IB exam scores, closely followed by SAT Subject Test scores. High school grades are next in predictive power, followed by SAT and ACT scores. Since some students do better on one type of test than another, Harvard requires the SAT or the ACT as well as three SAT Subject Tests for admission.

Three Categories
Fitzsimmons says Harvard seeks students who fit into one or more of these three categories: potential scholars, extracurricular stars, and all-arounders with strong personal qualities. It goes without saying that exceptional academic credentials and scholarly work can help you get into Harvard. Those who pursue an activity to an unusual degree are also in demand; admissions officers view extracurricular accomplishments as a way for students to express intelligences other than linguistic and mathematical.

Beyond those superstar categories, Fitzsimmons says Harvard looks for students who possess "intellectual imagination, strength of character, and ability to exercise good judgment." Students who are outstanding "educators" - those who will inspire peers and professors - also stand a good chance of getting into Harvard. Intangible qualities like these can often be discovered in more subjective areas of the application like recommendation letters.

Ideal Recommendations
Since "personal qualities and character provide the foundation upon which each admission rests," according to Fitzsimmons, recommendation letters are a key component of the Harvard application. Harvard looks at teacher and counselor letters for evidence of a student's potential to make a significant difference to the college community and beyond. Students who have taken full advantage of their educational opportunities, whether paltry or plentiful, are considered most likely to make the best use of Harvard's resources.

If your teachers and counselors don't know you well enough to write informed recommendations, consider sending an additional letter or two from supervisors of other activities.

In the end, even Fitzsimmons admits that "making admissions decisions is more of an art than science." In other words, there are no guarantees of getting into Harvard. But if you follow this expert advice, your odds of being part of the successful 7 percent go up considerably.

 
Additional Resources
Hopeless to Harvard (2nd edition, 2009)
This short e-book, promoted as "an emergency guide for the average student," contains words of wisdom from a student who got into Harvard with a B+ average and a 1360 SAT score. The corresponding Web site consists of articles covering everything from how extracurriculars are scored to how to spend your high school summers.

How They Got into Harvard: 50 Successful Applicants Share 8 Key Strategies for Getting into the College of Your Choice (2005)
If you want to know how to get into Harvard, go to the source. This book by the staff of The Harvard Crimson, Harvard's daily newspaper, offers insight from grads into ways to identify and present your key talent; submit the perfect application package; forge and use connections to your advantage; and more.

50 Successful Harvard Application Essays: What Worked for Them Can Help You Get into the College of Your Choice (2nd edition, 2005)
This book offers 50 top-notch application essays along with Harvard students' 15 steps to admissions success. You'll learn how to pick a topic, structure your essay, keep the reader entertained, and avoid common pitfalls that could keep you from getting into Harvard.

The Harvard Mystique: The Power Syndrome That Affects Our Lives, from Sesame Street to the White House (1979)
Books about Harvard are not a new phenomenon. This 20-year-old book identifies the American obsession with elitism, which can be traced back to a certain centuries-old academic institution. Maybe the question is not so much how we can get into Harvard, but why we care so much.

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