Spike for Computer Science

Answered

Some outstanding computer science achievements that would definitely impress Harvard admissions officers include creating an app with a substantial number of downloads on the app store, coding a website with a substantial number of unique users, winning competitions (like competitive coding competitions, Cyberpatriot competitions, hackathons, etc.), and organizing large CS-related events or clubs (starting a large coding a club at your school or creating a computer science tutoring network, for example).

For some more ideas, you can check out our blog post on the subject here: https://blog.collegevine.com/extracurriculars-to-consider-if-you-plan-to-study-computer-science/.

Also, just as a general note, you don't apply to Harvard specifically for one concentration. Of course, you can indicate that you intend to pursue CS once you arrive, but you don't actually need to follow through. Similarly, you could say that you intend to concentrate in classics or history but decide to study CS instead. You could also just apply 'undecided.' Building a spike in CS and putting it as your intended concentration is definitely an effective way to apply, though!