<p>I’ve given a good 10 college interviews this year, and I can say that 9 of them were excellent. The exception is Harvard. I was very sick, and he had me come to his house in downtown Philadelphia at 11 am on Sunday. He didn’t seem like a mean guy at all, in fact he was probably a good guy, but me and him just didn’t click. You know what I mean, like when ur talking to someone, and u can just tell ur not on the same page. I rarely understood what he was trying to tell me, and I’m sure he felt the same way about me. He gave me a 5 minute background on Harvard, then asked: So what questions do u have for me? The interview lasted 45 minutes in a dark, quiet, awkward room and my voice was incredibly muffled by my illness.</p>
<p>My interviewer was lovely and we shared many interests, but he just seemed poorly trained. Admissions could have easily found 90% of the information he requested on my application. When my responses were more in depth/personal, he’d interrupt to continue with his predetermined list of questions (“what are your favorite extracurriculars” and the like). I understand that Harvard wants to give all volunteers a chance to interview, but it didn’t seem like a useful exercise for any of the involved parties (me, the interviewer, or admissions officers).</p>
<p>I think my interview went well. My interviewer was a science teacher which made it easier for me since I am planning on majoring in a science field.
He said that he didn’t get my application so he knew nothing about me other than my name and school. He asked for my scores/gpa/rank at the end but we didn’t really talk about those. It lasted for about an hour and a half.</p>
<p>My D had her interview on Dec 15th, the day after she got the rejected e-mail from Stanford. I felt really bad for her.<br>
However, she said it was a very good interview, and half of the time interviewer had talked about his experience at Harvard.</p>
<p>I had an excellent interview experience yesterday. I had been fretting about it for the entire day (because, really what CAN you say at a Harvard interview??), but i was pleasantly surprised. She did have a few unexpected questions (“tell me about your best friend”), but the conversation flowed quite well for about an hour and forty five minutes. though she said she couldnt comment on my actual chances of getting in, she did say that i was definately the most qualified/impressive of her interviewees. Too bad the interview doesnt count for much (as was proved at my Early school).</p>
<p>" I understand that Harvard wants to give all volunteers a chance to interview, but it didn’t seem like a useful exercise for any of the involved parties (me, the interviewer, or admissions officers)."</p>
<p>With something like 24,000 applicants, Harvard has a hard time finding alum volunteers who’ll contribute the approximately minimum of 2 hours of time that each interview takes when one considers the time of the interview and the time it takes to produce a narrative report.</p>
<p>Trust me: The problem isn’t that Harvard wants to give all volunteers a chance. The problem is finding enough alum to volunteer.</p>
<p>As for training: Harvard sends each interviewer a comprehensive handbook, but, understandably, it’s not feasible to provide extensive training to those volunteers.</p>
<p>Consequently, students who interview should do whatever they can to learn beforehand interviewing techniques that will allow them ways of gracefully conveying the information that they wish to highlight about themselves.</p>
<p>To whoever said the interviews aren’t a useful exercise: I vehemently disagree. I’ve had two interviews so far and even though I knew these schools very well (as in, I did the research and also lived at one of them), I learned so much from talking to an alum. Both of them gave me some great advice about college in general, and one of them introduced me to a certificate program I never would have been interested in because of the name and nature of the program (but now I realize that it’s probably what I want to be involved with in the future). So yes, I do think the interview is extremely valuable for applicants…just have a great conversation and learn as much as you can from that equally interesting person who is interviewing you…</p>
<p>And to caliboi: why did you ditch your interview? Did you tell your interviewer you were not going to show up or did you just completely blow it off?</p>
<p>I had my interview with Harvard just a week ago and after the initial questioning process he asked if I had any questions. Of course I did and most of them were about HIS experience at Harvard, but his response to every, single one was that the college experience depended on the individual…I understood that but he never really answered my questions about his experience!!! But, at the end of the interview he said that any college would be lucky to have me as a student…</p>
<p>He just seemed to be sending mixed messages…lol</p>
<p>I know that it doesn’t play a HUGE role but how does everyone think it went.???..because we did end up talking for a while…</p>
<p>You refused to be interviewed? If that’s the case, yes, I imagine it will hurt you. Not being able to be interviewed due to a lack of interviewers or major scheduling problems won’t hurt you. Refusing to be interviewed, however, would raise red flags as that would indicate you have something to hide such as paralyzing shyness or an inability to carry on a coherent conversation.</p>
<p>I just got back from my interview half an hour ago! It was a bit intimidating talking to a lot of people who go to the rival high school in town and had all been deferred from Yale or Columbia and had applied to almost, if not all the other Ivies. However, it went well and I felt that it was great.</p>
<p>I had to submit an interview form before the interview and my two interviewers had copies of it. I gave them another copy of the pre-interview form, my resume, and a copy of my science abstract. The interviewers just asked questions off of the interview form and what I had provided. Then I asked questions; it was less than an hour and I thought that it went well nonetheless. They were quite friendly and I didn’t mess up or anything. </p>
<p>I’m just amazed that it was shorter than my USC interview, which was an hour.</p>
<p>I agree w/ you, I had the same sort of interview where we a bunch of interviewees went in at once and then got dumped out an hour later. In those cases, I think they just want to make sure you don’t have some sort of severe social deficiency. The questions they ask are pretty typical, no surprises, and I have a feeling they’re not all that important.</p>
<p>Mainly because my interviewer said they’re not all that important, and that he liked me, but that I probably wouldn’t get in.</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s what my interviewers said to me too at the end. “I’ve been doing these interviews for a while and it really impresses me with all these applicants. Even though you may not be attending Harvard, I am confident that you will do well anywhere you go, as well as those that I have applied. Harvard just keeps on breaking the records these days. Last year there was about 22,000 and now it’s 27,000. Of those 27,000, 2,500 will probably be accepted and 2,000 will show up come fall. You guys are very impressive.” (Paraphrased but yes.)</p>
<p>i had an incredible interview…it was supposed to be half and hour in length because that is what harvard usually guarantees, but mine ended up being 2 full hours long. i plan on majoring in chinese / east asian studies, which is somewhat specialized and obscure, and it just so happened that the woman who interviewed me was also an east asian studies major so we bonded like no other!</p>
<p>braap me too! I’ve still heard nothing about interviews! I don’t exactly live in a big city, so it wouldn’t surprise me too much if there aren’t interviews available.
should I contact Harvard and ask about interview?
does Harvard tell its applicants that an interview is not possible, or are some of us just left hanging?</p>
<p>also, I submitted my supplement mid December… so I know that is after the preferred Dec 1 deadline for supplement. is that why?</p>