Just ask Vincentian scholar, Abigail Scott, who recently graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a perfect 5.0 GPA (grade point average).
Final Admissions Verdict
If you don't pass their SAT and GPA requirements, they'll likely reject you without much consideration. To be safe, you should aim for the 75th percentile, with a 1570 SAT and a 4.17 GPA or higher to be above average.
Aim high. Even though there are no official MIT GPA requirements, you should aim for a 4.17 weighted GPA. If you're already a junior or senior figuring out how to get into MIT and your GPA is lower than 4.17, know that scores close to the average MIT SAT scores or ACT scores can counterbalance a lower GPA.
The MIT grade point average (GPA) is calculated on a 5.0 scale. Your cumulative GPA displays on your grade report (internal record) and on your transcript (external record).
While there is no GPA requirement to apply to Harvard, the average unweighted GPA of incoming students is 4.18. Do your best to achieve a high GPA to boost your chances of acceptance!
You should also have a 4.18 GPA or higher. If your GPA is lower than this, you need to compensate with a higher SAT/ACT score. For a school as selective as Harvard, you'll also need to impress them with the rest of your application. We'll cover those details next.
Average GPA: 4.18
The average GPA at Harvard is 4.18. This makes Harvard Extremely Competitive for GPAs. (Most schools use a weighted GPA out of 4.0, though some report an unweighted GPA. With a GPA of 4.18, Harvard requires you to be at the top of your class.
MIT and Stanford are not Ivy League, but rank better than Harvard. Of the American universities in the QS World University Rankings, for example, the highest placed Ivy League university, Harvard, is third, beaten by non-Ivy universities, MIT and Stanford.
For students applying to MIT, GPA is an important factor to consider. According to MIT's website, the average GPA of admitted students is 4.17 on a 4.0 scale. However, it is important to note that GPA is just one of many factors that MIT considers in its admissions process.
Not All GPAs are Created Equal
There is wide variability in the scale used to calculate GPA. GPAs can be based on a 4.0, 5.0 or 6.0 scale. Also, there are different weights applied to grades used in calculating a GPA. Some schools give plus/minus grades and some do not.
Generally speaking, if your GPA is not at least equal to 4.18 then Harvard University may be a reach. However, Harvard University considers the ENTIRE application - we can make up for a weak GPA with more factors that we'll discuss below.
GPA. There is no minimum required GPA, but competitive applicants generally have a GPA of 3.5 or above, and mostly A's in mathematics and science courses.
Score Range
One percent of the admitted students had the lowest SAT ERW score in the 600-640 range. This tells us that it is possible to be admitted to MIT with a composite SAT score in the range of 1300-1380, although most students are within the 1510-1580 range.
Of the 11,924 applicants, MIT accepted only 685 students, with an early acceptance rate of 5.7%, to the Class of 2027. The university deferred 7,892 applicants, rejected 2,815 applicants and 532 withdrew before decisions were announced.
In terms of standardized test scores, MIT students have slightly higher averages, with an SAT score of 1520 and an ACT score of 35, compared with Harvard's averages of 1480 and 35. Overall, these slight differences are nominal, meaning that both schools are extremely hard to get into.
According to Niche, MIT is the #5 hardest school to get into, and Harvard is the #2 hardest school to get into. Harvard has a college acceptance rate of 3.19% compared to the MIT acceptance rate of 3.9%.
MIT is frequently ranked as one of the best universities in the country, with Forbes naming it America's top college for the first time in 2022. Parents, however, favored Princeton, the survey found, with Harvard and Stanford coming in second and third place respectively.
How do international students apply? The application requirements are the same for all applicants whether a student attends high school inside or outside the U.S. All first-year candidates must complete the Common Application or the Coalition Application along with the required supplements.
The average GPA at Yale is 4.14. This makes Yale Extremely Competitive for GPAs. (Most schools use a weighted GPA out of 4.0, though some report an unweighted GPA. This school did not officially report its average GPA, but we've estimated it here using data from over 1,000 schools.)
GPA Requirements
Yale University does not have a strict minimum GPA requirement for undergraduate admissions. However, admitted students typically have very high GPAs, ranging from 3.8 to 4.0, with an average GPA of 3.9.
Harvard, Stanford and Princeton, unsurprisingly, are America's toughest colleges to get into in 2023, according to Niche's most recent rankings.
Does Harvard Accept B Students? Yes, just like I mentioned above, it's completely possible to get admitted into Harvard University with B grades.
The unweighted GPA scale goes up to a 4.0 and doesn't take class difficulty into account. A weighted GPA scale typically goes up to a 5.0 and does consider the difficulty of a student's classes. It is important that student's know which GPA scale their school uses and how it effects them.