<p>^ the prophet</p>
<p>it’s not your friend’s fault… there is nothing wrong dreaming to be a president</p>
<p>Word to your mom: I would call the admissions office at Harvard and tell them that you haven’t been contacted about an interview. The alumnae interviews are generally done by local groups (e.g. local Harvard clubs). Some areas have less alumnae and it’s harder to schedule all the interviews. I think the admissions office can give you advice. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>smalllab – this is true. i guess my comment came off in the wrong way; my friend was saying that because he thought it would look stupid, but in today’s day and age, anyone can truly achieve anything if they really put their minds to it.</p>
<p>obviously, getting into harvard will be difficult though because everyone’s putting their minds to it.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>haha I guess Obama didn’t attend Harvard because he said he wanted to be the president in the interview…LOL</p>
<p>I really wonder if Obama applied to Harvard</p>
<p>obama went to harvard law. he went to columbia for undergrad though.</p>
<p>ahhhh! I have my interview on sunday…I’m so nervous!</p>
<p>Don’t be nervous. I had my interview about 2 weeks ago. It was scheduled for 4 p.m. and it was all I could think about until the time arrived. The only advice I have is just to be yourself. Don’t think of the alum as someone who is out to get you. My interviewer explained that she just wanted to get to know me and that I should consider her my advocate. I ended up really enjoying my time with the alum. We spent over 2 hours together and had a nice conversation. It felt like a human element in what is otherwise an electronic application. 
Just be yourself–be natural–and you’ll do fine!</p>
<p>yeah I had one for MIT already which went great…idk I think it’s just cause it’s Harvard, although that’s not a good way to feel considering I want to go there
THANKS</p>
<p>I had to cancel my interview because my mom got stuck at work due to the weather. I asked him if I could reschedule and he said he didn’t have any other available dates right now.</p>
<p>Boo.</p>
<p>oooh that sucks goldenratiophi</p>
<p>my interview lasted 15 minutes…they guy had nothing to say when i asked him questions…and he was being kinda arrogant and concentrating on my numbers (gpa, sat scores) and he asked two questions which i tried to go in-depth about and then the interview ended. omg. i felt like i did something terribly wrong.
is and interview like that short normal, bad? i feel like i should write a letter to harvard writing out my concern.</p>
<p>My interview rocked. It lasted 2 hours and we had a blast. He majored in exactly the area that I wanted to study, and we were pretty much interested in exactly the same things. Our conversation covered the existence of wormholes and theoretical physics, the role of religion in society, the pro’s and con’s of universal health care, the current economic situation, and Obama’s chances of success as President among other topics. I’m sorry to hear that you guys had such a crappy time. To be honest, I think alot of it depends on the interviewer. I just talked about myself, went off on tangets, and asked him some questions that I had written down before hand.</p>
<p>I just got my email. I love how my first interview is with Harvard… :P</p>
<p>I was really mad at my interviewer for telling me TODAY that our interview is to be this Sunday. He basically called my house and my mother said that he just SCHEDULED it to like 11am on Sunday WITHOUT even asking us if it was okay. I hate how Harvard just automatically assumes everybody else must make their schedules to fit THEIR schedules.</p>
<p>Anyway. The guy seems pretty rigid – he basically scheduled interviews for every hour, so I can’t even have a two-hour conversation with the person, even if i wanted to.</p>
<p>“Dude, I was really mad at my interviewer for telling me TODAY that our interview is to be this Sunday. He basically called my house and my mother said that he just SCHEDULED it to like 11am on Sunday WITHOUT even asking us if it was okay. I hate how Harvard just automatically assumes everybody else must make their schedules to fit THEIR schedules.”</p>
<p>You really are generalizing. Just because one interviewer was inconsiderate, you are assuming that all interviewers are.</p>
<p>You also are assuming that your mom gave you a word for word description of what the interviewer said. My experience as a Harvard alum interviewer is that typically whoever answers the phone when I make appointments is so surprised and intimidated at the thought that HARVARD is calling that I may have to repeat myself a few times to make sure that they get the time and date correctly that I’m proposing.</p>
<p>You also are assuming that the interviewer could have called at a different time. Maybe he just got the list of his interviewees, and Sun. is the only time he can interview.</p>
<p>“Anyway. The guy seems pretty rigid – he basically scheduled interviews for every hour, so I can’t even have a two-hour conversation with the person, even if i wanted to.”</p>
<p>Some might consider you to be ungrateful and egocentric to not be appreciative of the fact that someone is volunteering their free time to interview you and other applicants. I can’t think of any reason why anyone would need two hours for a Harvard interview. Most people get far less --45 mins. to an hour is probably typical. It’s unlikely, too, that you’ll get a full hour since the interviewer probably will probably take a break between interviews so as to take notes, etc.</p>
<p>You also seem very judgmental. So, you think the guy is “rigid” because he schedules interviews every hour. You really jumped to conclusions. </p>
<p>I hope you’ll take the time to write the interviewer a courteous thank-you note after the interview.</p>
<p>Usually interviews last longer than 15 minutes. However but due to the fact that more than 20,000 people apply to Harvard, and Harvard attempts to interview all U.S. applicants, it’s possible that some applicants may get shorter interviews due to there being a shortage of alum interviewers.</p>
<p>The lesson is to jump right into your interview because it may not be very long.</p>
<p>Consequently, if you get into Harvard, I hope that after you graduate, you’ll volunteer as an interviewer.</p>
<p>No, it’s just that all my other interviewers at least bothered to ask me what time is best for me to do this, before just merely giving me a timeframe and expect me to clear time for them. I wasn’t assuming that he could have called at another time, I just wanted him to at least realize that other people may be busy too.</p>
<p>I’m sorry for the rudeness, it’s just I’ve heard some pretty bad things about Harvard and this just seemed to confirm it, that’s all. </p>
<p>All I am saying is that he won’t even LET himself get carried away with casual conversation—who knows, maybe we’ll talk about some book for a half hour, or something. He’s rigid in the sense that he won’t even allow spontaneous things like that.</p>
<p>Sorry, i guess i’ve been spoiled by my previous two interviewers…</p>
<p>"
yeah I don’t get it… why does Harvard consider career goals so important?“”</p>
<p>They are just trying to find out about you – your values, goals, interests, and way of thinking. Since Harvard knows most students’ goals will change, Harvard isn’t likely to accept you based on your career goals.</p>
<p>D’s interviewer was very accommodating. Contacted weeks in advance with a list of options for timing and let D select. Confirmed the day before so that there was no mix ups. She was a lawyer (as is her harvard husband) but made it clear that her goal was to be D’s advocate. No intimidation all positive, helpful and D left feeling very positively and excited about Harvard (Prior campus visits had not been as positive). Time was approaching an hour but she had been told 45 - 1 before coming. So it was right in schedule. Interviewer mentioned that she had others to follow but she keeps a space so that one is not entering as the other is leaving.</p>
<p>“All I am saying is that he won’t even LET himself get carried away with casual conversation—who knows, maybe we’ll talk about some book for a half hour, or something. He’s rigid in the sense that he won’t even allow spontaneous things like that.”</p>
<p>How are you making these statements? What I understand is that your mother took the message and you have not spoked with the interviewer yet?</p>
<p>"I’m sorry for the rudeness, it’s just I’ve heard some pretty bad things about Harvard and this just seemed to confirm it, that’s all. "</p>
<p>If you are so against Harvard, you can always withdraw your application.</p>