Harvard College's international application guidance separates academic testing, English proficiency and school-document translation. Start with those distinctions, then organize the first-year application around the current official checklist. This guide concerns undergraduate research, rather than Harvard's graduate or professional schools.

Which application instructions apply?

Harvard's first-year page directs first-year applicants to the Common Application and Harvard's required supplements. Use its current list for school reports, recommendations and subsequent reports. A transfer application is a separate route; completing school courses and applying after college enrollment are different circumstances to verify.

Build a worksheet with an item, who supplies it, its official instruction and its completion status. Your own application sections, a teacher's recommendation and a school's transcript can have different owners. Marking the application itself complete should not erase an unfinished supporting document.

SAT or ACT and English proficiency are different

The international guidance requires SAT or ACT, with specified alternatives for exceptional cases of inaccessible testing. English proficiency exams do not replace that requirement. Harvard does not require an English proficiency exam, although applicants may submit results.

Keep two separate worksheet lines: academic testing and English-language evidence. For each, record the applicable instructions and the result you intend to provide. A historical SAT percentile on a directory page does not decide whether the current application requires a test.

Arrange translated school documents carefully

Harvard says applicants should not translate their own credentials or recommendations. Its guidance permits a suitable translator such as an English teacher and calls for the translator's identity and relationship, together with the original document.

Work backward from your school's availability. Find out who holds the original transcript, who can prepare the translation, and how the school will supply the material. Preserve a checklist of documents and versions without posting transcripts or identity information on a public college-research site.

Use historical costs without treating them as a bill

The Harvard institution record provides labeled directory, charge and undergraduate admissions years. Those figures can help you decide what to investigate, but an older published charge is not the amount Harvard will invoice for your intended intake.

Use the budget worksheet to separate education charges, living expenses and confirmed grants. Replace prefilled historical amounts with the current price applicable to your situation. Track the covered period of any confirmed funding, rather than extending a single-year figure automatically.

Before you consider the application ready

Check the official page again for the intended cycle. Record each deadline's time zone, the status of documents supplied by others, and any separate financial-aid instructions. Use Harvard's own application portal to check receipt after submission; CollegeVerse does not receive or process applications.

If something is unclear, identify the exact rule and applicant route before asking the admissions office. A specific question about a document or testing circumstance is easier to resolve than an unlabeled list of scores.

Editorial source check: October 14, 2026. Policies can change; follow the linked official instructions when applying.