Because of tuition fees and the extremely generous financial aid offered by American universities, a lot of students at my son's private school are interested in applying to Harvard, Yale, Princeton etc. Does anyone know how realistic this is? I read today that Harvard just received 36,000 applications for 1,600 spaces, which means it is at least 4-5 times as hard to get into Harvard than Cambridge. My son was also told that last year, 700+ students applied to Harvard from the UK, and only 24 were accepted. I'd love my son to apply but don't want him to bother if he hasn't a real chance. He's predicted to get four As.