Harvard does not publish a minimum GPA, so there is no official answer to this question. Harvard College reviews applications as a whole, weighing grades alongside essays, recommendations, activities, and test scores. A 2.9 GPA is well below the grades most admitted students report. It makes admission unlikely, but the school has never set a hard cutoff.
For context on selectivity, the overall acceptance rate for the Harvard Class of 2026 was 3.19 percent, with 1,954 students admitted from 61,220 applicants. Most of those students had outstanding academic records. A small number of students are admitted each year with unusual circumstances or exceptional talent in one area, but a low GPA still needs explaining.
If your GPA is 2.9, strengthen every other part of your application. Show an upward trend in your grades if you have one. Write essays that show genuine thinking. Get recommendations from teachers who know your work well. And be realistic about your list of schools: apply to places where your record fits, not only to the most selective colleges.
Related reading: What GPA is required for Harvard?, Is 3.5 GPA enough for MIT?, Can I do a master’s with a 2.7 GPA?, and Master degree with low GPA

