Harvard Outreach Newsletter
139th Issue, March 2025
In this issue:
- Harvard expands financial aid for 2025/26
- Admissions decisions to be released on 27th March
- What should I do if I'm offered a place?
- What should I do if I'm put on the waitlist?
- What should I do if I'm not offered a place?
- Essential tasks if you wish to apply to American colleges in the future
- Information for parents and families
- Harvard Housing Day 2025
Harvard expands financial aid for 2025/26
This article is a shortened version of the one that appeared in the Harvard Gazette on 17 March 2025. Click here to read the full article.
Harvard has announced an expansion of its undergraduate financial aid budget to $275 million (£212 million), effective from the 2025-26 academic year.
Under this initiative, students from families with an annual income of $100,000 or less (£77,000 at current exchange rates) will benefit from a free Harvard education. The financial aid (which is given in the form of grants, not loans) will cover all billed expenses including tuition, food, housing, health insurance, and travel costs. Additionally, each of these students will receive a $2,000 start-up grant in their first year to set themselves up to start their degree, and a $2,000 launch grant during their penultimate year to help support the transition to work or further education beyond Harvard.
Students with family incomes of $200,000 (£154,000) per annum or less will receive free tuition and additional financial aid to cover billed expenses, depending on their financial circumstances. And many students with family incomes above $200,000 will also receive aid, depending on their circumstances. The enhanced financial aid structure will ensure that more undergraduates, especially from middle-income families, will receive the support they need. The aid is available to international students on the same basis as US citizens.
William R. Fitzsimmons, Harvard College’s Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, commented:
“We know the most talented students come from different socioeconomic backgrounds and experiences, from every state and around the globe. Our financial aid is critical to ensuring that these students know Harvard College is a place where they can be part of a vibrant learning community strengthened by their presence and participation.”
The expansion builds on more than two decades of investment in undergraduate financial aid at Harvard, beginning in 2004 with the launch of the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative, which completely covered tuition, food, and housing costs for students from families with annual incomes of $40,000 or less. This threshold has increased another three times since then — to $60,000 in 2006, $85,000 in 2023, and finally to $100,000 in 2025/26.
(Note that Harvard’s Net Price Calculator has been updated to reflect the expansion of financial aid).
Admissions decisions for Class of 2029 to be released on 27th March
For those of you who applied to Harvard College by the Regular Action deadline of 1st January, admissions decisions are due to be posted on Thursday 27th March 2025 (late evening UK time).
The Applicant Portal (see screenshot) is where you will be able to view your admissions decision. Most applicants receive an email reminding them to check their portal and view their decision about 15 minutes after decisions are released. When you log in, you will see a crimson-coloured banner saying “Status Update”. Click on that banner to view your letter.
If you applied during the Early Action cycle and your application was deferred to the Regular Action cycle, it will be fully reconsidered alongside other RA candidates, and you will receive a final decision on 27th March along with other applicants.
Generally, the national reply deadline for students admitted to American universities is Thursday 1st May 2025.
What should I do if I’m offered a place at Harvard or other US colleges?
- If you have more than one offer, choose the college that you feel is the overall best fit in terms of the academic curriculum, extracurricular opportunities, geographic location, and availability of finance for international applicants.
- Consider any offers of financial or merit-based aid carefully, as the level of financial aid offered may have a significant effect on your final choice. If you receive notice that your aid application is incomplete, quickly submit the missing information so that the aid decision can reach you during the month of April. If the aid offer is not sufficient to allow you to attend that college, contact the Financial Aid Office to discuss.
- If possible, contact recent UK graduates of the colleges that offer you admission, and chat to them about their experiences.
- ‘Visitas’ – Harvard’s annual welcome event for admitted students – will take place on campus on Sunday and Monday 27/28 April 2025. Many colleges offer virtual or in-person programming to accepted students, enabling them to continue to learn more about the school, meet future classmates, and help them make a more informed decision.
What should I do if I’m put on the waitlist?
- This means that you narrowly missed out on being offered a place, but could still be offered one depending on the level of acceptance from other students.
- Stay positive, and if you’re still interested in the school, be sure to let the Admissions Office know of any major achievements since you submitted your application, as these may increase your chances of success.
- Although they may not be your first choice, consider all other offers you have received from both US and UK universities.
- If you are offered a place at a US college that is not your first choice, you should still accept it by the deadline of 1st May. If you are subsequently admitted from the waitlist of your first-choice college, you can inform the college you accepted that you are changing your mind (and don’t worry – this happens all the time over the summer for all US colleges. It gives the first college a chance to admit someone from their waitlist to take the spot you have turned down). Or accept no places and plan to take a gap year, or enrol in the UK or elsewhere.
What should I do if I’m not offered a place?
- Explore other options.
- Consider taking a gap year and reapplying next year. (If you do this, it is better to apply to a different group of US colleges as it is very rare for the same college to offer a place to a student the second time around, unless he or she has achieved something very significant in the interim).
- If reapplying, identify an adviser who can review all aspects of your application and help with improvements and finding ‘good fit’ colleges for your particular needs and aspirations.
- If taking a gap year, use part of the year on activities that will enhance your application, such as community service, work experience, academic research, or further developing an extracurricular skill or activity (or any combination of the above).
Essential tasks if you wish to apply to American colleges in the future
If you are in one of the last four years of secondary school, it is never too early to start thinking about studying in the USA. In the table below, you can see the essential tasks you will need to do in each school year if your ambition is to study for an undergraduate degree at an American university in the next few years.
Timeline for US applications
School Year
Task List
Years 10 & 11 (England & Wales)
S3 & S4 (Scotland)
Years 11 & 12 (Northern Ireland)
Work hard to ensure you get excellent grades for your GCSEs or National 5s (Scotland). US Admissions Officers will be just as interested in these grades as they will be in your A Levels and Advanced Highers later on.
Develop interests and activities outside the classroom, as you will be expected to have a strong extracurricular profile as well as an excellent academic record by the time you apply.
Summer Holiday
Develop your extracurricular profile by undertaking work experience or community service activities for part of the summer holiday, if possible.
Year 12 (England & Wales)
S5 (Scotland)
Year 13 (Northern Ireland)
Research the US college system and develop a long list of possible colleges.
Find out if the SAT/ACT tests are optional or compulsory at your chosen colleges and register for one or other of the tests if necessary. The best way to get a good score is regular practice, so set yourself a weekly practice schedule so you are at peak performace by the time you take the test.
Research your funding options and finalise your selection of colleges.
Summer Holiday
Complete the Common Application Form (or alternative) including essays. Decide who you are going to nominate as your referees: your main character reference is normally written by your Head of Sixth Form or university adviser. For your two academic referees, choose whoever teaches your two strongest subjects at school.
Autumn Term
Year 13 (England & Wales)
S6 (Scotland)
Year 14 (Northern Ireland)
Compile all application materials and chase up your referees, ensuring you give them plenty of time to write their reports before the deadline. Show them the “Teachers’ Reports” section of this website (on the Assembling Your Application page) which contains links to useful information for teachers, including how to write effective letters of recommendation.
Submit your main application and funding applications at the same time by the relevant deadline. At Harvard, they are: Early Action 1st November; Regular Action 1st January. (See below for an explanation of the difference between EA and RA).
Spring Term
Year 13 (England & Wales)
S6 (Scotland)
Year 14 (Northern Ireland)
Receive admissions decisions at the end of March.
Accept/decline any offers by 1st May (admission can usually be deferred if you wish to take a gap year).
Summer Holiday
Liaise with the International Office of the college that has admitted you for instructions about applying for a visa, health insurance, travel etc.
Read the undergraduate pre-departure section of the Education USA website.
August / September
Begin study in the USA!
Guide to preparing for college
“While there is no single academic path we expect all students to follow, we want to help you make choices that will lead you to a successful college career.”
See Harvard’s Guide to Preparing for College
How to research the US college system
Read the article Researching US Colleges at the end of the January 2024 edition of this newsletter.
Financial Aid
Read the article Step by Step Process for International Applicants in the February 2025 edition of this newsletter.
Standardized Tests
Read the article Standardized tests – should I still take them? in the January 2025 edition of this newsletter.
Two main application platforms: Common Application and Coalition for College
There are currently two main application platforms – the Common Application and the Coalition for College. Harvard and many other colleges accept both application types – but some will only accept one or the other or have their own individual application forms. Read the article Applying to US colleges this autumn? in the July 2024 edition of this newsletter.
Early and regular application deadlines
Many American colleges provide an option called ‘Restrictive Early Action’ or just ‘Early Action’ which allows you to apply to one US college earlier than the others. Read the article What’s the difference between ‘Early Action’ and ‘Regular Action’ when applying to US colleges? in the October 2024 edition of this newsletter.
Information for parents and families
In the January 2024 edition of this newsletter, the main article was about parental support for students applying to university.
Parents will be delighted to know that the Harvard College website contains an information guide parents and families, which includes tips for students in the last four years of high school.
The Admissions Office has also created a web page for parents and families. The page contains sections of the following topics:
- Visiting Harvard
- Current Family Resources
- Family Weekend
- Admissions Information
- Financial Aid
- Academic Opportunities
- Residential Programs and Services
Harvard Housing Day 2025
Harvard is very keen on creating a vibrant campus community, and for this reason all students are guaranteed housing on campus for all four years. First year students are housed in dorms on Harvard Yard, right in the hub of the university. Then, in years 2, 3 and 4, they move into one of 12 Harvard Houses, each containing about 400 students. Each house has its own dining hall, library and gym, and organises its own social activities over and above the university wide clubs and societies.
On 13 March 2025, lists were released by the Dean’s office showing which first year students had been allocated to which houses for the following three years. In an annual ceremony completely unknown in the UK, students from the 12 Houses put on fancy dress and waited in Harvard Yard for the lists to be released. As soon as they knew which students who would be joining them in their House, they toured the first-year dorms to escort their new housemates to a big welcoming ceremony in each of the Houses.
Here are some photos from Housing Day 2025:
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