<p>The interview is a part of your admissions profile only in that it’s impossible for the admissions office to meet 30,000 kids personally. I have interviewed about a dozen kids in the past few years for Harvard. I have really liked them all. I guess if there were any one applicant who ridiculously offended me, I might treat it differently, but I don’t view my role as one of gatekeeping. I view my role as trying to do my best for the student I am interviewing. To be admitted to Harvard is difficult enough as it is. I try to compliment my interviewees and emphasize their strong points. Like I said, if there was something that shouted out to me that some kid was not a good egg, I might tell a different story, but so far that hasn’t happened. I believe that most (though probably not all) kids who end up applying to Harvard have a good attitude about their future and have done some hard work. I word all my interview reports with an eye towards helping them achieve their goal of acceptance.</p>
<p>Do I believe it makes a serious difference? No. If the student’s application is not there, it is not there, and I can’t do anything about that. I routinely give excellent recommendations in my interviews, as positive as I can make them, and only three of my interviewees had been admitted. All of them, however, have still gone on to great colleges.</p>