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<p>I recall from earlier years when the text of the letter that Harvard sends to applicants who were not offered admission has been posted that Harvard graciously says something along those lines. The Harvard admission committee does its best, based on all the information in all the admission files, to choose a great class for Harvard for that year. It offers admission to more students than accept admission. But it doesn’t offer admission to a lot of students who, in the committee’s own view, are fine students who will surely be very successful in life. </p>
<p>So the moral of the story is: apply to Harvard if you are interested in attending Harvard. Apply somewhere else (a “safety college”) if you are applying to highly selective colleges that people might think are comparable to Harvard. There are lots of applicants for few spaces in the entering class, but every year those spaces do get filled by somebody, and you might be included in the entering class if you submit an application. Just be sure to apply elsewhere too if you are applying to Harvard.</p>