<p>:-O the first one especially sounds shocking! wow… and it should be common sense not to lie!</p>
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Are you suggesting that if he didn’t slip up he could have gotten away with that claim?</p>
<p>He could have gotten away with it with me. I don’t know if he would have gotten away with it with Harvard. The application asks for parents’ occupation. If, for instance, his dad is an accountant or has another type of job that requires a college education, Harvard would know that his dad went to college even if the student marked that his dad did not.</p>
<p>so…</p>
<p>i have this letter that i sent to Harvard when i was 10 years old.
i also received a response letter from the president (at that time) Lawrence Summers.</p>
<p>it was a general letter that i sent: i asked “what should i do to get into Harvard?”
and Dr. Summers responded with “I cant tell you specifically how to get into Harvard, but you can study, talk to teachers” and so on.</p>
<p>would this be a good idea to show to my interviewer (today)?
when i was 10, i never really had any interest in college whatsoever. it was my Dad who originally suggested that i write this letter.</p>
<p>what do you think?</p>
<p>I think your inteviewer, Falconpawnch, will care far more about your high school achievements and activities than about a letter you wrote at age 10. Harvard doesn’t care about demonstrated interest. It knows it’s the first choice college of most of its applicants.</p>
<p>Also, Larry Summers has his share of detractors at Harvard. You run the risk of the alum not thinking particularly highly of Larry…and then it sounds like you’re just name-dropping. Most Harvard affiliates are not particularly impressed with name-dropping, for obvious reasons.</p>
<p>My interview was about 2 hours long and the interviwer never asked anything along the lines of “Why Harvard?” I guess mostly because Harvard is so ,I can’t think of a word that means “a bit arrogant with a right to be so”, that it because it’s Harvard.</p>
<p>My interview was just over 2 hours long. I think that it went quite well because we talked about everything from Greek philpsophy to Quantum Physics and Modern Music. Also talked about things that I’ve done that I didn’t emphasize in my application (i.e. activies listen on the activities list that I don’t talk about elsewhere in the app) as well as some achievements since I submitted my application. I don’t know if the interview plays much of a role in the selection process but I hope it does.</p>
<p>Yank, unfortunately it doesn’t, which sucks for me too, but eh whatever. I didn’t get asked Why Harvard either, but my guy seemed to try and sell Harvard to me (versus Princeton, where I got a likely letter). </p>
<p>Yeah, the letter from when you were 10? That’s dumb. What do 10 year olds know about what they want to do with their lives? That’ll just make you seem/reveal the part of your personality that just cares about the Harvard name. (come on, at 10, why else would you want to go to Harvard? because its called HARVARD)</p>
<p>Mine was unorthodox. My interviewer never once asked me a question. At the beginning I handed her my resume and then she briefly said, “I see you started a business…” and I took it from there. We just talked about many things. When things slowed down, I would ask a question. We had a great discussion about volunteer opportunities. She insinuated this was her first year interviewing. At the end, she said I had the “right attitude” for Harvard. So it was good but not what I expected.</p>
<p>My interview went fairly well, in my opinion. I brought a copy of some of my activities and we talked about what I had done as far as a few of the clubs he didn’t know much about. We had a common interest in both being percussionists and we talked a little bit about how our parents felt about traveling a distance away to Harvard. He asked me why and then at the end I asked him quite a few questions regarding the general feeling of Harvard and the city. He said “if you end up going to Harvard” so I’m not sure if I should take that in the mentality that he thinks I’d be able to get accepted or that if I’m lucky enough to get accepted, etc.</p>
<p>I also don’t know if I’d be able to make him into a contact or not. I’m going to send him a thank you note via e-mail soon, so I hope he gives me the option to contact him if I get a chance.</p>
<p>My interview took about 1 hour and 15 minutes. He did ask me why I wanted to go to Harvard, but not how I’d fit in (not out-right at least).</p>
<p>Raquinator, do let him know if you’re accepted. Otherwise, he may never hear about your acceptance.</p>
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</p>
<p>Yes, I completely agree and it truly is the best question an interviewer can ask. However, I believe that it is also the most difficult question to answer without resorting to listing any vague personal qualities or reiterating where one’s academic or cocurricular interest lie. My Yale interviewer asked me a variation of this questions today and I did not respond as well as I should have.</p>
<p>Also, northstarmom, in such instances of poor students interviews, do you supply less-than-stellar write-ups to Harvard? If so, do you believe that your input may influence the admission’s committee?</p>
<p>^I’m not northstarmom, but I’ll try to answer your question. Interviewers submit a report for everyone interviewed–if an interview went poorly AND it was clear that a certain applicant may not (in the interviewer’s opinion) be particularly well suited to Harvard, we’ll indicate that in the report. </p>
<p>Does it influence the adcom’s decisions? I presume in most cases, the report only serves as a confirmation of the adcom’s first impressions of an applicant. For the few cases where there is a serious/major incongruence between the application and the interview report, I can imagine the adcom taking a second look at the app, or having another member re-read the application. (I imagine these instances are rare.) Nonetheless, an indifferent or mildly negative probably can’t do much harm if the rest is really strong. A super-positive interview with a middling app probably won’t do much either. </p>
<p>Think of it as a tipper for close-calls rather than the key ingredient.</p>
<p>" the few cases where there is a serious/major incongruence between the application and the interview report, I can imagine the adcom taking a second look at the app, or having another member re-read the application."</p>
<p>I think, too, if admissions has been very impressed by an applicant and there’s a negative interview report, admissions will call or e-mail the interviewer to ask follow-up questions. Admissions also may arrange for the applicant to be interviewed by another interviewer.</p>
<p>As Harvard’s admissions dean has said, good interviews can wake the living but can’t raise the dead.</p>
<p>“Also, northstarmom, in such instances of poor students interviews, do you supply less-than-stellar write-ups to Harvard? If so, do you believe that your input may influence the admission’s committee?”</p>
<p>My job isn’t to be an advocate for the student but to let Harvard know whether I think the student would enrich Harvard’s student body. Sometimes I’ve read here that interviewers tell students that they are supposed to be advocating for the students. That is not true. Harvard asks interviewers to assess applicants on a variety of factors and to cite specifics from the interview supporting those ratings. The interviewer also is supposed to be considering whether the student would have been someone the interviewer would have enjoyed rooming with at Harvard.</p>
<p>And yes, I do believe that my input has influenced admissions decisions. I have been contacted by admissions with specific questions about students whom I’d interviewed. No reason to do that if interviews don’t count.</p>
<p>I also have seen evidence that it appeared that my interview report made a difference. For instance, the student whom I caught in several lies including about a book he claimed to have read was rejected by Harvard but accepted by a top school that didn’t interview. </p>
<p>Back when Harvard still had EA, I believe that my favorable interview report helped a student get an EA acceptance. The student had done some things in my city that I knew would have seemed ordinary in Boston, but were very unusual where I live, and required more assertiveness here than would have been necessary in a place like Boston. </p>
<p>The student also hadn’t explained in her application what she had done. I only knew because I was very involved with the organization that the student had accomplished those things with. I put the students’ accomplishments into context, and I believe that helped her get an EA acceptance.</p>
<p>1 is the only one that is likely to be true. I think your optometrist was exaggerating or was referring to his or her own interviewees (except for 5). I wouldn’t put too much hope on 5, if things don’t go your way it will hurt all the more.</p>
<p>■■■■■.</p>
<p>please go away</p>
<p>I was asked my SAT scores, class schedule, GPA etc. and I gave my resume.</p>
<p>It was the best interview I’ve had out of all of mine so far (including Gtown, Brown, etc.)
She really loved me and said Harvard wasn’t right for her nephew but would be perfect for me lol</p>
<p>Actually, I believe Naruto is what 13 year olds watch right now. Now, 14 year olds… ;)</p>
<p>I’m completely intimidated by my upcoming interview! This guy is like a multimillion dollar lawsuit-type litigator with an LLM from Harvard. His picture on his website looks intimidating!
Is it standard for him to ask for my transcript? Should I also bring my resume?</p>