Submitting Your Application

• Receiving confirmation of your application

  After you submit your application, we will send an email confirmation with a PIN to access the Applicant Portal. We begin sending these daily application confirmation emails in mid-September each year. Most applicant receive their confirmation email the day after they submit their application online. Applications sent in the mail will take up to two weeks to process.

  If you have no received your confirmation email, please check your spam/junk folder for messages from college@fas.harvard.edu or fileroom@fas.harvard.edu. 

  If have searched your inbox and still cannot find your confirmation email, we encourage you to check the application system you used and ensure you clicked "Submit" and not just "Save".

  If you still cannot locate your application confirmation email, please contact us. Choose the category “Admissions” and then the subject “Applicant Questions (if you've already submitted your application)” in the drop-down menu, or call 617-495-1551.

• Paying the application fee or requesting a fee waiver

  You may pay your application fee online with a credit card via the Common Application, Coalition Application, or the Universal College Application websites.

  You may also send a check or money order to Harvard College Admissions, 86 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. Please include the applicant’s name with the payment.

  Fee waivers: We are committed to making the application process accessible for all students. If the admissions application fee presents a hardship for you or your family, the fee will be waived. You can request a fee waiver directly through the Common Application or the Coalition application if you meet their respective indicators of economic need. If you do not meet these indicators or you are applying using the Universal Application, please fill out Admissions Application Fee Waiver Request Form. Requesting a fee waiver will not disadvantage your application in any way.

• Completing the Harvard supplement questions

  Complete the Harvard Questions with the Common Application or Coalition Application. If you are using the Universal College Application, complete the Harvard supplement and submit it online or mail it to the Admissions Office.

Additional application questions

• What if I am homeschooled?

  Each applicant to Harvard College is considered with great care and homeschooled applicants are treated the same as all other applicants. There is no special process, but all relevant information about your educational and personal background is welcome.  In addition to the application, all applicants are required to submit standardized tests, a transcript (you may create your own), and recommendations. If the application fee presents a hardship for your family, simply request a fee waiver.

  Hear from Harvard students who were homeschooled, in the Harvard Gazette article ‘Homeschooled en route to Harvard.’

• What if I need to make updates to my application after I submit it?

  Do not resend your application in order to make updates. If you need to update your identification or contact information, or send updates, additional information, or corrections, please do so via the Applicant Portal.

• Misrepresentation of Credentials

  Be completely accurate in your application materials. If we discover a misrepresentation during the admissions process, you will be denied admission. If you have already been admitted, your offer will typically be withdrawn. If you have already registered, your admission will normally be revoked, and we will require you to leave the College. Harvard rescinds degrees if misrepresentations in application materials are discovered.

  The determination that an application is inaccurate or contains misrepresentations rests solely with the Admissions Office and will be resolved outside the student disciplinary process.

Midyear School Report FAQs

• What if I'm applying Restrictive Early Action and I don't have my midyear grades yet?

  Restrictive Early Action applicants are not required to submit the midyear report by the November 1 deadline. If you applied Restrictive Early Action and are deferred to Regular Decision, please submit the midyear report and transcript in February, or as soon as your midyear grades are available.

• I'm an international student and my academic year is different. Do I still need to submit the midyear report?

  If you study the IB curriculum or the A-level curriculum, then we expect that your school will send predicted grades, based on your current classroom work and the results of any internal or mock exams you have taken up to that point. If your school does not issue official or predicted midyear grades for your final year of school, then you do not need to submit the midyear report form, although the item may remain on your checklist.

• What if I have already graduated from high school?

  If you have already graduated from high school, you should ignore the midyear report requirement (though the item may remain on your Checklist in the Applicant Portal) and simply ask your school to send a final school report if you have not already done so.

• What courses should I take to prepare for applying to Harvard?

  There is no “one size fits all” rule about which curriculum to study during secondary school years. Students should challenge themselves by taking courses deemed appropriate by their teachers and counselors. But some students believe that “more is always better” when it comes to AP, IB or other advanced courses.

  While some students prosper academically and personally by taking large numbers of such courses, others benefit from a more balanced approach that allows them additional time for extracurricular and personal development. For example, not everyone needs to enroll in calculus if another algebra or a statistics course would be a better fit. Even the best students can be negatively affected by taking too many courses at once, and might benefit instead from writing, reading or research projects on subjects of great interest to them.

  To learn more, read our Guide to Preparing for College. To avoid the “burnout” often seen among secondary school students, please refer to our article, Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation.

Standardized Testing FAQs

• How do I let Harvard know whether I would like my application reviewed with or without test scores?

  When you apply for admission, you can choose whether or not our review of your application will include your standardized test scores (SAT and ACT).

  • If your scores already are on file before you apply and you choose at the time of your application to proceed without scores, we will not consider those scores. 
  • If you initially chose an application review without scores and would now like to include scores in your file, you may make this request by submitting the [Change to consideration of test scores] form on your Applicant Portal. 
  • If you ask that our review includes your scores, either at the time of application or after you apply by submitting the form in the Applicant Portal, they will be part of your application throughout the admissions process.

• Can I self-report my test scores?

  Yes. Applicants may provide self-reported SAT and ACT test scores (including Subject Tests, Advanced Placement, IB, etc.). Admitted students who decide to enroll at Harvard College will be required to submit official test scores.

• How do I send my test scores?

  You are free to use the College Board Score Choice option or the similar option offered by the ACT. Our official codes are 3434 for the College Board SAT Reasoning Tests and 1840 for the ACT if you are submitting official test scores as part of your application.

  • How to send your SAT scores
  • How to send your ACT scores

• Are there test score "cutoffs"?

  There are no score cutoffs, and we do not admit “by the numbers.” For the ACT, we will evaluate your highest composite score and any other scores you choose to share with us. We take into account your educational background when reviewing your scores.

• How can I prepare for standardized tests?

  Research indicates that short-term test preparation usually has little effect, but the free “test prep” now offered by the SAT and the ACT might make a significant difference for students who follow their programs for extended periods of time. Such free programs could help to level the playing field for students from under-resourced high schools by providing the academic skills that will serve them well on standardized tests and also in college.

  Students who attend well-resourced schools throughout their lives tend to do well on standardized testing. Those without such advantages can also do well by studying widely and deeply over a long period of time on their own with the help of family or school or community organizations.

• How does Harvard use ACT or SAT scores in the admissions process?

  Standardized tests provide a rough yardstick of what a student has learned over time and how that student might perform academically in college – but they are only one of many factors considered in our admissions process. High school grades can also be helpful in assessing readiness for college courses but secondary schools around the country and the world employ a wide variety of grading systems – and some students have no grades at all from their schools or are home-schooled.

• Does Harvard accept SAT Subject Test scores?

  As announced by the College Board, Subject Tests and the essay portion of the SAT will be terminated, except in certain special circumstances. See the College Board's announcement for more details. Harvard admission officers review all material that an applicant submits, so if you have already taken Subject Tests or the essay portion of the SAT, you may still submit it along with your other application materials.

• Why can't I view my standardized test scores in the Common Application?

  Since Harvard College is not requiring applicants to submit standardized test scores for the 2020-2021 application cycle, your standardized scores will not display in the Common Application PDF preview, even if you have chosen to submit them. However, if you entered your test score information and would like it to be considered, that data will still be transmitted to us with your application and we will review it. You can verify this by viewing the Application Checklist in your Applicant Portal. You will see a green check mark if we have received your standardized test scores.

Material Types

• How to submit documents and articles

  Scholarly articles, research, creative writing or other documents of which you are the primary author should be submitted in the Upload Materials section of the Applicant Portal. This is the most efficient and direct method of submitting these materials, because they will be added directly to your official application. All submissions should include a list of any individuals with whom you collaborated in the production of the work. If appropriate, please identify your research sponsor, mentor, and/or laboratory or research group leader and provide a short description of your particular contribution to the work.

• How to submit media (video, audio, or images)

  You may submit optional supplementary media materials (e.g. videos, audio recordings, or images) electronically via Slideroom. Details for submissions in art, dance or choreography, musical performance or composition, will be found on the Slideroom website. There is a small submission fee, but if this fee causes you economic hardship, you may request a fee waiver at the point of submission. You may also contact us to request a fee waiver.