[h.b123]

What do you need to do in terms of extra curriculum and grades and what do you generally need to do to study a undergrad course at harvard?

[SaintSoldier]

Playing a sport/doing some sort of activity at an international level will help a lot.

Source - a guy at my school got in there this year; he's in the GB squash team and is one of the best players in the world for his age.

[MAchInE_hEAd]

A guy from my school was ranked very highly nationally for tennis on top of which he nailed the SATs.

[geetar]

1. Be rich
2. Be clever
3. ????
4. HARVARD!!!

[pi=3]

[benq]

You need to be best of the best in something ...but better in everything.And only in that case you have a chance to compete with other applicants. Money won't help since Harvard got $30b+ year's endowment, so if you can't offer at least $1m you should concentrate your powers on studying and extra-curricular activities.

[Hearty_Beast]

I don't think American uni's care much about A-level grades. They have their own SAT's which you gotta take to apply.
(a friend applied to MIT and said the SAT's were pretty easy compared to A-levels though)

I agree with everyone though, you gotta be amazing at something to think about getting an affordable offer...

[roh]

(Original post by h.b123)
What do you need to do in terms of extra curriculum and grades and what do you generally need to do to study a undergrad course at harvard?

Stellar academics (grades and SAT) are a given, otherwise you're unlikely to get near.

Then you need something that sets you apart. Top level sport is probably the best because it's hard to replicate in a short period, rowing in particular sees a lot of Brits go over to crew for Harvard.

Music is a similar thing, you can't get good in a short time, so if you're a brilliant singer or instrumentalist you can offer something a bit unusual. Though music and academic brilliance are probably a more common combination than sport.

Finally, the 'quick fix', some form of volunteering, the 'personally built an orphanage in Africa then dug the well myself using only a teaspoon' sort of thing. Probably the most common because it doesn't require years of practice.

And a healthy dose of luck probably helps.

If you post on collegeconfidential you'll get a lot more info from applicants and current students.