Harvard University Acceptance rate

Overview

Harvard University is one of the most famous Ivy League schools and holds the title of being the oldest university in the United States. It is consistently ranked among the top five universities worldwide. Students from all over the world dream of studying here, but because of its highly competitive admission process, only a small number of applicants are accepted each year.

Interestingly, even though Harvard University is one of the hardest universities to get into, it does not require proof of English language proficiency for students applying to its bachelor's programs.

Harvard University Acceptance Rate What’s new?

Harvard University has a welcoming community with students from many different countries and backgrounds. For the Class of 2027, Harvard received more than 56,000 applications. However, only around 2,000 students were accepted to study at the university. This means that with an acceptance rate of just 3.4%, getting into Harvard University is very hard.

Harvard University has an acceptance rate for international students of less than 4%, making it one of the hardest universities to get into for study abroad.

There are almost 4,000 international students at Harvard, which is about 15.4% of all students. Many of these students come from regions like the Middle Atlantic, South, New England, and the Pacific.

For the class of 2026, Harvard University had an acceptance rate of 3.1%. The next year, this rate increased to 3.4% for the class of 2027. In the admissions for the class of 2028, Harvard accepted only 692 out of 7,921 students through their Early Decision program. This is a change from the previous year’s early decision acceptance rate of 7.6%. The acceptance rate for international students at Harvard has gone up slightly, now at 8.7%.

Usually, the acceptance rate at Harvard is between 3.0% and 3.5%. See the table below for a detailed comparison of Harvard University’s acceptance rates over the past few years:

Every year, Harvard University accepts international students through both Early Decision and Regular Decision. Typically, the acceptance rate for Early Decision is higher than that for Regular Decision. Early Decision allows students to apply to the university earlier than Regular Decision.

For the class of 2028, the Early Decision acceptance rate at Harvard University increased compared to previous years, now standing at 8.74%. The university is still accepting applications for Regular Decision, and the acceptance rate data for this year is yet to be released.

Looking at the class of 2027, Harvard accepted 722 out of 9,553 applicants through Early Decision and 1,220 out of 47,384 applicants through Regular Decision. This means the Early Decision acceptance rate was about 7.6%, while the Regular Decision acceptance rate was only 2.6%. Therefore, it is clear that getting into Harvard through Regular Decision is much more competitive than through Early Decision.

Harvard University English Proficiency Requirements

International students do not need to submit English language test scores for admission to Harvard University's bachelor's programs.

However, students who want to apply for master's programs at Harvard must meet the English language requirements. The minimum score requirements are provided below:

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