<p>mine was nonexistent.
the interview stood me up and thus, i sat alone for an hour, waiting.</p>
<p>dont worry i rescheduled another one.</p>
<p>ah I feel much better about my Harvard interview than my lousy Princeton one T_T</p>
<p>I just had my interview at my local harvard club and it wasn’t too bad. Though, I thought my Stanford interview was better. I was a bit surprised to see that each applicant at the club had two interviewers. Either way, it was pretty smooth, except that I couldn’t tell them everything I wanted to and it was harder to connect with two people on a more personal level than with one. Apparently they had schedules to follow so basically everyone had only around 45 minutes. And they actually asked for my SAT scores as well as my junior and senior year classes. They gave some good advice and learned quite a bit about Harvard that I wouldn’t be able to if I had not taken the interview. The only thing I regret is not asking for their emails so that I could send them a thank you note and possibly ask them some questions. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone whose interviews are coming up. And just remember to be yourself.</p>
<p>Mine was really good, he bought me lunch, so at least if I get rejected I got food out of it! He said that in the past 20 years he’s been interviewing, only one of his interviewees has gotten in. 
We talked about ECs and school, and there was a space on the form for SATs, so he asked me those. He said he liked my spirit and said he would try to help me get in. And, of course, he asked the infamous “Why, Hahvahd?” question (yes, exactly like that!) It was about an hour and a half.</p>
<p>Woohoo, my interview got rescheduled for Monday! My application will no longer be interview-less!!</p>
<p>Mine was a week ago but I just saw this thread.
Of the interviews I’ve been on, this one was the most personable. (Don’t know if that’s the right word.)
Every other interview, I’ve had to explain my school to the interviewer, and I end up sounding ungrateful and whiny. This one was well aware of what was going on. “You go to _____ ____ High school? Wow. Yeah, I’ve heard about it.”
My school is in a huge financial crisis. It is basically the Wall Street of school districts with no bailout in sight. It is also known for it’s diversity (not only ethnically, but grade wise. It’s an upside-down bell curve with most of the lower end making the reputation horrible.)
So that was good. She wasn’t in the field I’m planning on going into, but we still managed to connect. She even ended up telling me a few personal stories. She seemed impressed with me, and very interested with what I do. I do think I went a bit overboard at one point and she started to think I was exaggerating. (I’m wasn’t.)
My biggest regret was that she was so thorough in addressing all my interests as I mentioned them, there was nothing very insightful for me to ask about. I did ask questions, but only about three and then I couldn’t think of anything. Also she asked me if there was anything else I wanted to say and I blanked. There really wasn’t anything else because she had been so thorough.</p>
<p>The interview was very short compared to everyone else’s, about 45 minutes, which was how long she said it would take. I’m also going to factor in that someone born in Queens and someone born in Yonkers speak faster than most people would in conversation. But I think the main reason for the shortness of it was that we both kept glancing out the window, and the snow was getting harder and harder. By then she had a good enough idea of where I lived that she realized I would have to drive over the mountain road which is rarely plowed and has no cell reception. Her ride home wasn’t going to be easy either, so I’m assuming that’s why we ended early.</p>
<p>I interview students for several schools and they usually last no more than 45 minutes-30 minute interviews are just fine and don’t mean that things are not going well. I guess I interview people in my other job all day long so “speed interviewing” is second nature. Don’t worry about a short interview-but do have enough questions and ideas prepared in your head to make good conversation.</p>
<p>Had my interview yesterday at the interviewer’s house, lasted only30 minutes. He took a bunch of notes, very business like. Wanted me to bring my transcript and copy of my application. He has asked me to drop off copies of my teacher recs by Monday.
Anybody else get asked for their teacher recs? Thought this was a bit different. Very nice guy, I believe it went well.</p>
<p>How would you be expected to drop off teacher rec’s? D never even had them in her hands. They were mailed directly by the teachers w/o ever being seen by her. The teachers giving them to you mean they they would be willing to hand them over to you and risk your looking at them. This was on odd request.</p>
<p>I thought it odd too. As it happens I do have copies of my teacher recs. My GC gave them to me at the beginning of the year. It seems everyone in my school gets to see their recs and for some reason I was given copies. My school sends out hs transcript, hs profile, teacher recs and gc rec in one package to all schools we apply to. This is how they have done it for years.</p>
<p>So, did the interviewer know that you had access to the recommendations before he requested them?</p>
<p>Maybe, He has interviewed a number of kids from our hs - he lives in the same town so perhaps he knows of this policy. Still, I always thought of the interviews as an opportunity to see the applicant outside of what admissions is already looking at - he seems to be taking on the role of an admissions rep more than an interviewer. But perhaps he is just very diligent and leaves no stone unturned. It would also be interesting as an interviewer to see the whole package and understand more of what it is that gets Harvard to accept one student over another. I know if I was an interviewer I would be very curious - well, I guess there are thousands of us who are very interested in that answer!</p>
<p>Well, I’ll tell you that the sense D got from her Harvard interviewer was that she was out to act as an advocate for her admission and to know as much about her strengths as possible. MB D was misled or misunderstood but for certain D’s interviewer accepted information that D did not provide to any other school’s interviewers (it was kind of a quirky accident).</p>
<p>Also, I am guessing that the interviewer must have known your school’s policy to have made the request for your recs.</p>
<p>I think this is why it is so hard to give much weight to interviews - each one is so different, so much depending on the interviewer. I think it is right to assume that a bad interview can set your application back but a good one can only support your application and not really give it much of a boost.</p>
<p>I agree with your statement about the weight of interviews. I am guessing it is more of a fact finding mission to make sure that you are not a complete social misfit and a means of verifying claims made on the ap.</p>
<p>BTW I noticed your location. We are also “near Boston”.</p>
<p>Just had my interview. Was great…she was a really natural and quirky mom and she had just finished her seven-year-old’s party and balloons and streamers everywhere.</p>
<p>We were supposed to have a 45-min interview but eventually had a 1hr and 15 minute interview that ran into her next interviewee by mistake. I somehow recognized the last guy (and knew his first and last name I think) but I’ve never met him in my life. I assume I have facebook to blame for that. </p>
<p>But it went really well. Seemed like mandatory Qs for Harvard were GPA and SAT scores, but everything was up for grabs.</p>
<p>I had my interview yesterday. He asked for a resume, in which i included things like test scores, GPA, class ranks and interests. He based his questions strictly on my resume, and asked about my interests. </p>
<p>He’s an old and experienced alumni interviewer. The first question was “Do you have any questions for me?” so that was quite surprising. Then he proceeded to ask which other colleges I applied to (i think it’s mostly out of interest, but he did write them down). I named all of them, after which he was like “No safeties? <em>laugh</em>” and I didn’t want to look like an overconfident prick so i had to tell him about my EA acceptance to Y.</p>
<p>No “Why Harvard” question, probably because my answer would be generic: the resources, the prestige etc. And because quite frankly, the only question that counts is “Why YOU”, not “Why Harvard.”</p>
<p>He’s a nice guy, so he ended the interview saying that he hopes i’ll get in, also because H hasn’t accepted anyone from my country in the past two years or so. But he also says that he doesn’t know how decisions are made. I told him that Harvard got 29,000 apps this year and he was surprised. We got a good laugh after that. Overall okay i guess. Some cringe worthy moments, but overall nothing to write home about.</p>
<p>Does Harvard College require interviews with all undergraduate applicants? I have searched on the Harvard website; however, nothing clearly states whether it is required. Thanks!</p>
<p>NO. Interviews are based on alumni availability.</p>
<p>And what if there is alumni availability, but you don’t do the interview? Is it optional even if you are asked? Just hypothetically speaking.</p>