How hard is it to get into Harvard PhD (for CS)?

I second that idea – as it all depends on what you can do and if you have the skill-set to deliver!

Very long story, short: My son was on the computer science track at Yale and came home Spring break of his sophomore year and said “I can’t do it anymore; I just can’t sit in the basement and write code. What they are teaching us is so uncreative and boring and it has nothing to do with what I want to do in life.”

So, my son switched majors and ultimately graduated with honors in Psychology. But, he kept up his love for CS on the side, and when it came time to applying for jobs, he went after computer science and made it to the third interview for a bunch of tech companies such as Facebook, Google, Dropbox, Spotify, and Snapchat.

I don’t want to give away too much, but he’s currently working at one of the above companies as a data scientist; working right alongside PhD’s and making the SAME salary (low six figures, plus stock options, free healthcare, 4 weeks paid vacation, free membership to the gym of your choice, plus free breakfast and lunch). So, depending on your skill-set, you really don’t need to go to graduate school for CS.