I was lucky enough to get an interview for Harvard SCEA and my interviewer asked for a writing sample when I come and meet him. Is it all right if I bring my college essay? He said I could bring anything I wanted (like a paper from school, something from outside of school, non-fiction, fiction etc.). The only thing is I'm not sure if he's already seen my college essay and wants this as a validity check or something or if he's never seen it. I really want to show him my college essay because I think it really describes who I am, and it will leave him with a strong statement about the kind of person I am after the interview.
Bottom line, is it fine to just give him my college essay?
Harvard interviewers do not have access to anything you submitted through the Common App or the Supplement. They are given your name, email and telephone number. Other than that, they are flying blind. So, you should show your interviewer what you consider your best work -- whatever that may be.
Hi there: it is certainly alright to bring along a copy of your personal essay from the Common App, if you feel it is a good reflection of your best writing; or you could bring along another example - a creative piece, an analytical essay or a research paper. Shorter is probably better, however, so the personal essay might be best.
As for what information interviewers have available, they know your contact info and address, the school you attend, and sometimes the info from the Harvard supplement about your intended concentration, career path and extra-curricular interests are made available to them from their interviewer chairperson. Your standardized test scores, your transcript, your courses, and your essays are not made available to them from Harvard. Good luck on your interview - and get it done asap.
I don't really see the point in taking your essay from the Common App.
Harvard tells us that they hope to accomplish two things through alumni interviews:
1. They want the alumni interview to leave applicants with a favorable impression of their application experience and of the College. For the overwhelming majority of applicants, the interview is, sadly, the only personal interaction with anything Harvard that they're ever going to get. Harvard would like that interaction to leave the applicants who will eventually be disappointed with as good a feeling about the College as possible.
2. They hope that the interviewer will be able to give them information about the applicant that the Admissions Committee wouldn't have gotten from the rest of the application. I don't see how reviewing your Common App. essay with the interviewer will accomplish that.
I see your point, but I think it can be useful to bring your common app essay. The essays are fairly short works, and if well-written, may very well spark interest in the reader, and a wish to know more, to delve more deeply.
My son's common app essay could easily have served as excellent jumping-off points for much more in-depth conversations that would have given much more insight into who my son is. He wrote his essays from his heart, his inspirations and aspirations, and a good interviewer could have quickly learned much about what motivates him, what is his worldview, how he goes about thinking about things, by starting with a discussion of that essay.
notjoe: I agree w/Sikorsky here. I wouldn't take up the student's time by reading his/her submitted essay. My conversation -- and where it travels, is much more salient than the contents of any person's essay. Might that topic be used? Sure. Nothing wrong with that --- but as a formal basis of discussion? Not for me.
It sounds like you wouldn't want a student to bring a writing sample. None of the folks who interviewed my son asked for one, and he didn't bring any to any of his interviews. But in this case, the interviewer has asked for a writing sample, and the poster is asking whether his/her common app essay would be acceptable.
Unless there is some objection to bringing the common app essay in particular, it doesn't seem like a bad idea to me.
The interviewer shouldn't be reviewing the app or any part of it for that interviewer's take on writing quality. She/he's an intervewer, not a reviewer.
Why on earth is the interviewer asking for a writing sample?
I mean, since he did, you probably ought to comply. But I completely agree with lookingforward (if I have correctly understood lookingforward's point) that the admissions committee is in a better position than the reviewer to assess the applicant's ability to write. And unless they have changed their tune in the last couple of years, the folks at 86 Brattle Street didn't ask him to do that.
^I'd be tempted to call the school and gently ask if any supp materials are expected. (And maybe, "Are there circumstances where I might be asked for a writing sample?") This sounds like too much authority for an interviewer to assume. What does he plan to do? Comment on writing skills? Same goes for other parts of the app.
Harvard interviewers do not have access to anything you submitted through the Common App or the Supplement. They are given your name, email and telephone number. Other than that, they are flying blind. So, you should show your interviewer what you consider your best work -- whatever that may be.
Hmm, are you sure? It says this at the bottom of the Common App supplement for Harvard.
Quote:
Please be aware that Harvard, like most schools, uses outside companies to help process, review and collect data for applications. For this purpose we share application materials and information with them. Examples of such outside companies include the Common Application and Universal College Application, transcript request services, and services that review materials for plagiarism. These companies in many cases will retain the application information in their databases. We also share application information with our alumni interviewers.
I would also be surprised if they had access to essays, but I remember seeing this earlier and was curious.
Challenged, I haven't interviewed in a couple of years, but when I did, all that Harvard shared with me was an applicant's name and contact information. Maybe also where he or she went to high school.
@lookingfwd post 9: I agree that I'd never ask for a writing sample -- who am I to think my judgment of that sample is worthy enough for me to comment on? I spend my time on other things.
