Title! I know all the basic stuff already–dress presentably but not too formal, be conversational, be yourself (sigh), etc. I was wondering if anyone had some insight on some specific questions I should be prepared to answer? And how many questions is too much to ask the interviewer (I have a good amount but don’t want to pummel him)?
3-4 questions. Then you will get a feel if the interviewer seems ok with being asked more or not.
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Be prepared to offer your opinion on the Gaza–Israel conflict, your thoughts on the 2024 Presidential election, and your recommendations on the qualities the new Harvard president should possess.
Just kidding. There is no script. The interviewer will guide you to talk about yourself and your interest in Harvard. Good luck.
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They may ask you what books you have read recently, so be prepared to talk about a couple of books you’ve read.
Don’t be shy about touting your accomplishments. You don’t need to brag that you placed 13th runner up in a local competition, but if you do have unusual achievements, and they come up in the conversation, speak up, talk about them. This is not the time to be modest.
Be ready to explain what about Harvard specifically attracts you. If you have an idea of what you want to study, look up the relevant programs at Harvard beforehand, and be prepared to talk about them.
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I almost had a heart attack! Lol! My son has his interview coming up, he’s a bit nervous but has already gone through a few of these. I’m guessing be yourself, ask a few questions about the college.
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The first part of this genuinely scared me 
was about to open a google doc and start writing out my neutral but not too neutral but not too opinionated either response lol
Thank you so much!
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Thank you! Good luck to your son as well 
Deleting
You understand incorrectly. You may be confusing with Yale
Ok I was told by some moms and we know of kids who weren’t interviewed.
Two of my former co-workers were Harvard Alums and interview for Harvard.
What they shared with me are:
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They can’t get you in, no matter how much they like you. The committe has the final say. They can’t get you out, no matter how much they hate you, but that is rare.
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You are not going to impress them. Both having gone thru Harvard Undergrad, then Harvard Med and Harvard residencies. They have seen enough smart people to know. If you try too hard, it makes you look bad.
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Be humble, but confident. Being knowledgeable is not the same as being a know-it-all.
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They are looking for people with ambition to change the world. Both are subtle in how they ask, but they look for these qualities.
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I see from your other posts, you have extensive research background. I guarantee this will come up. Be prepared to answer any and every questions, but be able to do it as if you are explaining this in layman’s terms. Avoid technical jargons. These people do not appreciate being made to feel dumb.
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Lastly, do not ever ask for advice on what to do if you don’t get in. They both specifically told me they frown upon those types of questions and shows a lack of confidence and ambition.
Last lastly. Be nice to everyone you see before/during/and after the interview. How you treat people are being watched. A friend of mine wonder for years why he didn’t get into Stanford Med when his interview went well, committee really like him and hinted he would be accepted. Turned out he was screaming that the office secretary for not having coffee and breakfast ready for him… True story.
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These tips were so helpful! The thing you said about research was spot on—we ended up going pretty in depth into that and my interviewer actually works in the medical field, so we did get into some ‘jargon’ and such 
i think it overall went well, thank you so much for your advice and to everyone else for their advice!
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I am not 100% sure details of Harvard’s process but I volunteer as alum interviewer for different ivy. Interviewers are volunteers, the assigners are volunteers - it is set up regionally. Sometimes there are not enough volunteer availability as their are applicants. Often the regional rep is inquiring last minute to the group if we can do extra (we can pick how may we want to do each year).
None of us have access to full application. It is random. Harvard could be same, or not, but it is not always true at all schools that there are screening processes or that “no offer” is a bad sign. I have interviewed amazing candidates and some who clearly had little chance of getting in which reinforces this.
Moms seem to be guessing. The interviews are assigned based on interviewer availability.
What you describe is essentially the process Harvard used.
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Our kid has an interview later this week and received invite to interview with an alum 3 states away 2 days after submitting application.
Do not try to interpret or extrapolate based on how long it took to get an interview scheduled.
I’ve lived in different parts of the country and therefore interviewed with different “Alumni Leads”. Some were very on top of the candidate flow from admissions- detailed spreadsheets with deadlines and names and frequent phone call check-ins so that if an interviewer got backed up, he or she could reassign some of the applicants to another interviewer.
And some were… let’s just say, a little more casual in their approach. It all got done, but nobody called to remind (you could call it nagging!), cajole, insist that you schedule the meetings on a timely basis. But it got done.
So in most cases, it has nothing to do with your kid. It’s about where you live, how well organized the team is, how many alumni volunteers there are to how many applicants from your region there are. Zoom has both helped and hurt. Helped because you have far greater geographic reach since nobody has to travel/take the bus/uber. But hurt because expectations are that everything will be instantaneous- the interviewer is traveling for work? Why can’t he or she do the Zoom from the hotel room at 11 pm???
Agreed, we interview for our own colleges and while I do my best to reach out right away, I don’t always do so within 24 hours.
I am just not sure it matters where a kid lives matters to interview invites because these interviews are now mostly zooms.
I think tellingly, our kid was rejected from her “dream school” and was not invited to interview.
Kid has had five interviews and found them informative and talked about four of them right afterwards as in “I can see myself going there, they have great x department and wonderful faculty in xzy”
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