15 things that are harder to get into than Harvard

The prestigious university accepted just 5.3% of roughly 37,000 applications for its class of 2019

Harvard is one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts, school accepted just 5.3% of roughly 37,000 applications for its class of 2019. As Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust said last year, "We could fill our class twice over with valedictorians."

The school seeks out students who not only have high grades, but also have outstanding achievements under their belts — from overcoming homelessness to starting their own nonprofits. The students who manage to catch the attention of admissions officers overcome exceptional odds, but they should maintain some perspective.

Many things in life — like landing a job at some Wal-Mart locations — are harder to achieve than getting into that prestigious university.

Ben Winsor contributed to the original reporting of this story.

1. A job at some Walmart locations

Not exactly your usual weekly shop-up (Getty Images)

Met with both merriment and protest, Walmart came to Washington, D.C., at the end of 2013.

The store received more than 23,000 applications but hired just 600 associates, NBC Washington reported. That's a 2.6% acceptance rate — almost twice as selective as Harvard.

While many Harvard graduates can expect a six-figure income, Walmart employees pocket an average of $11.83 an hour or nearly $25,000 annually, according to the company.

2. A job at this hedge fund

Landing a job on Wall Street is notoriously hard.

But gaining employment at hedge fund giant Citadel seems to be nearly impossible.

Founder and CEO Ken Griffin — who's also a Harvard alum — noted on CNBC that the hedge fund planned to interview 10,000 candidates to fill 300 job openings.

That's equates to a mere 3% acceptance rate.

3. The top 50 posts on a friend's Newsfeed

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When Facebook compiles your Newsfeed, it chooses from roughly 1,500 different posts.

The company uses an algorithm based on the popularity and relevance of posts, along with other factors, to decide what goes where.

As a result, there's a 3.3% chance a certain post finds its way into the top 50 stories on someone's Newsfeed.

If you want to boost your chances, posts with photos do far better than links or text-based posts.

4. The American dream

A recent report from researchers at Harvard and Berkeley Universities shows that in many major US cities, it's very hard to achieve a rags-to-riches success story.

The report analyzes the number of people who were born into the lowest income quintile but ended up in the highest income quintile. The results don't bode well for upward socioeconomic mobility.

The chances were below 5% in Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; Columbus, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Indianapolis, Indiana.

Even at the top of the list, people in San Jose, California, showed just a 12.9% chance of living the American dream.

5. A job at Goldman Sachs

In 2013, Goldman Sachs received more than43,000 applications for 1,900 analyst positions, making the company's hiring rate about 4.4%.

It's no surprise so many people want to work there, as Fortune magazine named Goldmanone of the 100 best places to work in 2014. Since the ranking began in 1984, Goldman is one of just five companies that made the list every year.

According to Glassdoor, an analyst there makes about $70,000 a year on average.

6. The Secret Service

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Protecting the president of the US isn't a job for any run-of-the-mill bodyguard or security detail.

The full responsibilities of the Secret Service are, well, secret, but agents remain with the president and his family 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Other important government officials, like the vice president and his or her family, also receive protection, usually even after they leave their positions.

For these reasons, the Secret Service acceptedless than 1% of its 15,600 special-agent applications in 2011, Bloomberg reported.

7. A boot camp for data scientists

Foursquare's Michael Li began work on another startup in 2014: The Data Incubator.

It's essentially a boot camp for data scientists. While many programming Ph.D.s have solid research skills, few can meet the pace of a startup. They need training.

Li hasn't picked the first class of attendees from a batch of more than 1,000 applicants, representing more than 80 universities. But, he told VentureBeat, "We cannot accept 5.8%," referring to Harvard's rate. "It's just not possible."

8. Some prestigious New York City public high schools

Some of New York's most in-demand public high schools are actually harder to get into than Harvard, as Brooklyn Magazine has noted.

For their September 2014 admission, 16,675 students listed the Brooklyn Latin School as a choice on their application, according to the New York City Department of Education. However, less than 3% were accepted.

Meanwhile, the High School of American Studies in the Bronx has an acceptance rate of around 1%, as does the Queens High School for the Sciences at York College.

Getting into a good school in the city of New York is particularly important. While the citywide four-year graduation rate is roughly 65%, results differ wildly between public high schools.

9. A job at McDonald's (sometimes)

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McDonald's hasn't gone on a national hiring spree this year, but at one point, it was more difficult to land a job there than a spot at Harvard.

In 2011, McDonald's held a gigantic job fair. It advertised 50,000 jobs and ended up hiring 24% more than that — 62,000.

One million people applied for positions, which made the odds of getting hired 6.2%.

While Harvard has gotten even more selective, the school accepted about 7% of applicants in 2011.

10. A job at the Apple store

In 2009, Apple's much-anticipated Upper West Side store opened its doors, Gizmodo reported at the time.

Out of 10,000 applications, only about 200 people got jobs: a 2% acceptance rate.

Harvard may be known for producing geniuses, but Apple's "Genius Bar" is much more selective.

11. A green card

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Up to 15 million people apply to the US green card lottery every year, all hoping for a chance at a life in America, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

But only about 50,000 green cards are available.

The odds of obtaining a green card (known officially a Diversity Visa) vary depending on the applicant's region. If you're not from Australia, New Zealand, or a Pacific island, however, the odds aren't good.

Fewer than 2% of applicants around the world end up getting a visa. The rate is about 6% in Oceania (because of fewer applications and relatively higher quotas).

12. The Indian Institute of Management

While Harvard lets in about 5.9% of applicants, not even 1% get accepted to India's top business school, Bloomberg Businessweek reported in 2013.

The Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad (IIM-A) received 173,866 applications for its 2012-2014 class. The university has the luxury of being extra choosy because of India's large population and the vast number of students with outstanding grades and test scores.

13. Delta's Flight Attendant corps

You have less than a 1% chance becoming a Delta Flight Attendant, according to Bloomberg,

In 2010, Delta, the world's second-largest air carrier, received 100,000 applications for 1,000 jobs. In 2013, it received 44,000 applications for 400 jobs.

Foreign-language skills are highly valued by the company, with as many as 30% of hires speaking a second language.

14. The ranks of successful startups

Y Combinator is an exclusive startup program — sort of a startup school — founded by Paul Graham. Recently, the startup school raised a $700 million "Continuity" venture fund, and will invest in its alumni once they have graduated.

Despite being extraordinarily picky and only accepting 3% to 5% of applicants, Y Combinator considers only 10% of its "graduate" startups successful after a few years.

By putting those two statistics together, Business Insider's own Henry Blodget estimates the success rate of startup companies could be as low as 0.4%.

It's safe to say the smartest entrepreneurs are those with a backup plan.

15. A job at Google

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After leaving Microsoft in 2009, Don Dodge became a developer advocate for Google.

Within a year, he posted a lengthy explanation of the hiring process there on his personal blog, hinting at the company's level of exclusivity, The Next Web reported.

In his words, Google receives about 1 million applications every year — but hires only 1,000 to 4,000 people. Best-case scenario, that means only 0.4% of hopefuls land a job at Google.

They go through recruiter screening, two or three phone interviews, and then four or five in-person interviews on site, not to mention jumping through other professional hoops. It's safe to say Harvard doesn't screen nearly as thoroughly.

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