International vs Domestic application to Harvard?

[shans99]

An undergrad I know at the University of Cape Town is in the US on a Mellon Foundation fellowship and has fallen in love with Harvard. How competitive is entrance to Harvard for international students (ie more/less/same as for domestic students)? Since it's need blind, presumably the financial barriers that keep some schools from accepting international students wouldn't be there. Elements I see as working in her favor: she's from Africa, an underrepresented continent; English is her first language; she's applying in the humanities. Cons: her grades, while consistently good (the equivalent of a US A or A-), are not flawless; she's had no internships or research experience; UCT, while a decent school, is not as strong in the humanities as it is in commerce or engineering.

Thoughts? She's wondering about applying for grad school and asked me what her chances are and I have no idea. I know it's insanely hard to get in to Harvard grad programs as a domestic student (I did a masters there and a classmate of mine with a near-perfect GPA, a couple of prestigious fellowships, and a lot of research experience didn't get accepted for her PhD) but have no idea what the stats are for international students.

Edited June 27, 2011 by shans99