<p>Quick Questions!!! I need the answer ASAP!! So SATs and IIs do we need to send our interviewers the official report from College board or do we just self- report them ourselves, and email it to them?? I have to send them in tonight!!! Please respond!!</p>
<p>You just self-report and email them. Good luck with your interview.</p>
<p>My son had an interview with a Harvard Alum a few weeks ago and this was by far the most pleasant interview he had. It was totally conversational and casual. They chatted about classic music, comics and several books they both read. The interview lasted for about one hour. This Harvard alum earned my son’s respect to this great institution. </p>
<p>No worry and just be yourself at the interview. </p>
<p>I wish you good luck!</p>
<p>I had my Harvard interview last Friday and it was A-MAZING! My interviewer was so humble, down-to-earth, and friendly so much in fact that it didn’t feel like a college interview but two people getting to know each other. And at the end, we discussed “Avatar” and “Star Wars”. I think I can say that my interview went fairly well and I am more than satisifed :-).</p>
<p>Why, in the Harvard decisions thread, do some people say they’ve been interviewed twice? Are two interviews typical for Harvard applicants?</p>
<p>My interviewer was absolutely terrible. The interview itself went pretty decent, but he was every archetype of typical, pompous Ivy League grad from the 1970s as you can possibly imagine. He was very much out of touch with the Harvard of today I believe. He explained to me that his purpose was “to be the sole voice and advocate to the admissions committee”, as they know very little about me up in Cambridge (Uhh…aside from essays, letters of rec, and my application itself?) </p>
<p>His buzzword for that painful, painful hour seemed to be “someone of your background” (i.e. working-class, largely minority high school). For instance, when I explained the Peer College Counseling at my school, he simply stated “That’s unfortunate, that LA public school’s are so chronically underfunded that they have to resort to using you guys as essentially free labor to do what they should be paying adults for.” Then when I explained my urban interests and a few opportunities I’ve been researching in the Boston area, he explained that he “highly doubts that someone of my educational background would be able to spend much any time ‘marauding’ around the city, as I’ll have too much studying to do to keep up.” Hmm…one would think that someone interested in Urban/Environmental Studies would go to a large, urban university to gain experiential learning, no? We essentially spent 1/3 of the interview debating that, and I caught him in a big logic loop when I asked him “Well, if this is the case, then why should I go to study cities at Harvard? Why not just focus strictly on studies at a small LAC like Oberlin?” I sort of chuckled a bit when he said “Well yeah, Boston’s 20 minutes (actually 10) away on the T, and grad school placement.” Sort of a logic hole, no? </p>
<p>The best question was the last one, though. He asked me, “Pretend that I have a magic wand that automatically grants you admission into Harvard. Okay, now you’re in. What would you do?” Uhh, I would bend down and kiss your rings, all eight of them. Right. Now. Kidding. I simply said, “Well, I’d go visit the campus, see how I like it, and weigh my options.” That made him visibly annoyed. </p>
<p>But either way, I left with my dignity intact, for the most part. I think he expected his interviewees to worship the ground he walked on. I explained it to my counselor, and hopefully no one else has to suffer through that guy’s condescending rants ever. I’m glad you guys had pleasant interview experiences for the most part, but that interview largely turned me off from Harvard. Ehh, you win some you lose some. My Columbia one was absolutely stunning. Best conversation I’ve had by far.</p>
<p>@Obstinate. That sounds terrible. I’m sorry that your interview went badly. I’m not sure I’d like to have a conversation with this person either. </p>
<p>The only thing I can tell you is that the admissions office understands that the quality of interviewers will unfortunately vary quite a bit, and since they rely of volunteers, they can’t be too picky most of the time. So take whatever your interviewer said with a grain of salt. You sound like an intelligent and nice kid…don’t let some arrogant Harvard alum get to you!</p>
<p>In any case, good luck!</p>
<p>Why Harvard?
Harvard’s the best. </p>
<p>Only school I could say that in an interview while maintaing a serious face. I hope it went well. Wasn’t a super serious conversation, seemed pretty smooth. Got a little awkward at the end when the “So anything else you’d like to tell me?” question popped up and I was a little just “uhhhhh”. Won’t complain though. Got a really nice, sincere interviewer - pretty contrary to the lawyer stererotypes.</p>
<p>I JUST came from my interview! was super fun and short but was fine. a very nice interviewer!</p>
<p>I just finished my interview yesterday, and I was suprised not to get any questions about why I wanted to go to Harvard (though I had my answers ready). We ended up talking a lot about debate and paradigms and the crazy “opt in/opt out” debate they have all the time at Harvard. It was a lot of fun to just discuss, but I never felt like I got to display why I applied to Harvard. But my interviewer was a nice guy and extremely laid-back and interested in what I was saying. :)</p>
<p>“It was a lot of fun to just discuss, but I never felt like I got to display why I applied to Harvard.”</p>
<p>In general, interviewers and Harvard aren’t interested in “why Harvard” because the answer is obvious. :)</p>
<p>What they are interested in is, “Why you at Harvard?”</p>
<p>HAHA. I applied for the same reason.</p>
<p>my interviewer suggested starbucks too lol</p>
<p>I had my interview this morning. Met at Caribou nearby, and I thought it went extremely well. Interviewer was very welcoming and relaxed (which in turn made me relaxed which was definitely good). It was not so much an interview as a conversation, which I appreciated. It lasted an hour which was I think was a reasonable amount of time. No direct, “Why Harvard” or strengths question, I more touched on those things throughout the whole conversation. Overall, the interviewer made me want to go to Harvard even more and it was the best interview I think I could have had.</p>
<p>my interview was at his house and it took me 1 hour and 30 minutes to get there. he proceeded to ask me extremely difficult questions and kind of talked about harvard in a negative light. he said it was only good for saying “I went to Harvard”. haha</p>
<p>My son’s interview lasted a total of 10 minutes. He felt the man didn’t want to be there. My son emailed the head of the interviewers in our area and he told my son not to worry that he would give the Admission Committee everything they needed to know and might even have him interview a second time with someone else. Weird.</p>
<p>I had my interview about a week ago at a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. It only lasted about 45 mins, and he didn’t ask “Why Harvard,” but I made sure to kind of include it in my answers. One thing I would recommend to those who haven’t done their interviews yet is to definitely bring some sort of resume. My interviewer hadn’t told me to bring anything, but I brought my resume just to be on the safe side and had did end up asking for it at the beginning of the interview.</p>
<p>My interview was awesome! It was with a Harvard Econ major, so I got the inside dish about Harvard’s econ program. She was just really nice in general, and I was really relaxed the entire time. It was a great experience :)</p>
<p>It was great! He was so nice and outgoing and our conversation was filled with fun and laughter =) One of my best interviews. He made me really want to go to Harvard and more confident that I could get in ^_^</p>
<p>It was really fun!! I do regret asking him about what he thinks separates Harvard from other schools. I AM SO STUPID!!! He was probably thinking " why are you asking this?? Your the person who applied, you should know!!" He started talking about rankings and Yale and it went downhill from there since he went to grad school at Yale. </p>
<p>Anyways out of all the interviews I’ve had, I want to tell other students to NOT WORRY!! It really is a casual conversation( I’ve never been asked about current events, but that was the only thing I was worried about the entire time! Just imagine a question about the Kashmir conflict in pakistan and india! or your opinions on nuclear weapons!)</p>