<p>Mine went great. '98 Business School graduate, super casual interview. Barely asked questions, it was mostly a conversation. Did the interview at his house nearby…very nice guy and really interesting questions/discussions.</p>
<p>Mine was really mellow. My interviewer was a pretty recent grad who seemed to be truly interested in what I had done so far with my life. I left the interview feeling happy and relaxed. Harvard seems to be very smart about who they put on the front lines to represent the school. I remember being really impressed by my tour guide during the campus visit as well.</p>
<p>My interview went well too. It was held in a lobby-area of a hospital. There were no questions that really stumped me. My Interviewer sold the school a little and asked a lot about my personal life, my family, and my goals. We talked about why harvard. We shared some common views and some jokes. I asked some good questions, sent a thank you email. It was fairy smooth. Of course, there is always that feeling that you could have done a little better. Ultimately, I’m happy I got the opportunity.</p>
<p>My interviewer gave me her number at the end. Does this mean I should call? I don’t want to be rude, but at the same time, I’m not really sure what I would say…</p>
<p>You should call her if you have questions about the College that you think she might be able to answer. But she doesn’t want you to call just for the sake of calling any more than you do.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC</p>
<p>poseidon007: I’m slightly being facetious here, but your question sounds like a promising premise for a Seinfeld episode. :)</p>
<p>If your interviewer has given you his/her contact information and told you to feel free to contact him/her with questions, it means exactly that. If you have no questions, no need to call. If you have questions, then follow up. If she did not want to make herself available, she would not have given you her contact information.</p>
<p>I still haven’t been contacted for an interview. Should I be worried?</p>
<p>No. You may yet be contacted, and you may not. If you are contacted for an interview, it will mean that your local Harvard Club was able to find a volunteer alumnus or alumna to interview you, and nothing else. Nobody screens applicants before assigning them for interviews, and no applicant is penalized because he or she did not have an interview.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC</p>
<p>So I hit it off really well with my interviewer - all of my responses were elaborate and well-thought out (I stumped her with every question I had xD), she told my parents at the end of the interviewer that I was very articulate and determined. However, she said that chances for admission are harder than ever, considering the fact that some students were already accepted early action from my school (won’t state the exact number). She also said that she wouldn’t have gotten into Harvard if she was applying today and that I would genuinely succeed wherever I went – is this simply a reality check all interviewers tell their interviewees? Or is this a sign that she doesn’t see me getting accepted?</p>
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<p>That’s standard post-interview banter for most interviewers. I’m very upfront about the fact that the acceptance rate is <6%. Sometimes I even mention it right off the bat. It probably has nothing to do with whether your interviewer thinks you’re getting in or not. </p>
<p>As a side note: all interviewees are given a rating between 1+ to 6-, with 1+ being the highest and 6- = ‘hopeless case.’ Were I interviewing my high school self, I probably wouldn’t have given myself higher than a 3 or so. I doubt I’d get in either if applying today.</p>
<p>MusicRodent, all of us who have interviewed for Harvard and its peers have met phenomenally smart, articulate, poised and competent young people who didn’t get in.</p>
<p>It would be wrong and misleading for this woman to have told you anything else about your chances, because even for phenomenally smart, articulate, poised and competent young people, the chances are, regrettably, not that good.</p>
<p>WindCloudUltra, you’re younger than I am. Can you even imagine how badly I measure up to the competition today?</p>
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<p>Do you mean, being a zero is really good?</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>Admissions is pretty explicit about this. Unless you play cello like Yo-Yo Ma, soccer like Mia Hamm, have discovered a cure for cancer AND have negotiated peace in the Middle East or created your own world-changing non-profit, you do not get a 1+. Given those expectations, an overall rating of 1+ should not be bestowed on any human.</p>
<p>If we interviewers give everyone ratings of 1 and 1+, our reports will be disregarded.</p>
<p>By the way, this is as good a time as any to remind everyone that the interview is a relatively small part of your application. A bad interview probably will count against you – not that the odds are all that great for anyone – a great interview will not earn you an offer of admission. At best, a great interview serves to confirm your teachers’ glowing recommendations.</p>
<p>Just came back from my interview and I would like to share my experience.</p>
<p>First of all I have to explain that I am international student from a country that probably doesn’t send a lot of kids to Harvard.
I knew the name of my interviewer beforehand so I googled her and found out she has a Harvard MBA but she didn’t study undergrad at Harvard. When I get to the ask-a-question part, she couldn’t really tell me much basically because she experienced graduate school at 30 years old.</p>
<p>Plus I want to major in biology so we had absolutely nothing in common. The conversation was boring (even for me…) but that was just because she has no idea what I want to do. She even asked me what a bioengineer does… repeatedly…
What I am trying to say is that she probably wrote an OK report but I don’t think she got me at all considering she studied business and did graduate work. Moreover, I got nothing from it because she didn’t have much to say about aspects like labs and research opportunities. She even got flustered when I asked.</p>
<p>Oh and she asked some extremely bizarre questions xD But that’s just a minor anecdote.
Let’s hope Harvard doesn’t take interviews to seriously xD</p>
<p>Well, for better or worse Harvard does not arrange for you to be interviewed by an alumnus/a from your field of interest. One year, all of the applicants assigned to me were singers, and I am devoid of singing ability and experience. :-)</p>
<p>I have to imagine that finding interviewers in foreign countries is a challenge. Back in the day, when I applied, I was abroad during interview season. I had an interview for another college with an alumnus who was not very comfortable speaking English, so we conducted the interview in his language, instead. In a less than optimal situation like that, I think you just need to do the best you can given the conditions facing you, and move on. Again, the interview is a very small part of your application.</p>
<p>Just had my Harvard interview today and I got to say it was one of the best ones I had so far.</p>
<p>The alumni was an orthopedic surgeon, so I went to his office for the interview. At first I was rather nervous since I got lost and didnt arrive till 6:02 instead of 6 (it seems funny how I make a big deal out of it now but I was flipping at the time). </p>
<p>Once I got there, I greeted him and introduced him to my mother and we got started on the interview in his office.</p>
<p>He told me about how the interview is meant to find out more about me, add any information to the application and ask him any questions I had about Harvard.
Then he asked me if had anything to give him such as a resume or something and I gave him my resume and he started to look over it. He asked me about my volunteer experience where I went into detail about what I did as a volunteer. Then he asked me what was my favorite thing to do, my favorite subject, my future plans for a career, where I traveled and what I like to read and why I wanted to apply.</p>
<p>Afterwards I got to ask him questions like how was his first year at Harvard, what was his favorite thing about Harvard, and how attending Harvard helped him in his medical career. It was interesting to hear him talk about his experience and I started to loosen up as we went along and even shared a couple of laughs. </p>
<p>At the end, he asked me about my SAT and ACT scores and then we just said goodbye and that was it. It was definitely a lot more personal and intriguing than my other interviews so far plus he was quite laid-back too and not so uptight which made it easy for me to feel comfortable. </p>
<p>Hopefully more of my future interviews are more like this cuz I honestly could of talked way longer than 30 mins if he let me :)</p>
<p>I had my interview in early December, and here is how it went:</p>
<p>My interviewer was a doctor, liver cancer I believe, and we had our interview at his office at the hospital on a Saturday morning. He was a…seasoned guy to say the least, as he went to Harvard in like the sixties I want to say, but he was a really laid back guy and greeted me with a warm smile and a handshake when I reached his office.</p>
<p>Once we started talking, it made itself very apparent that this was going to be a very relaxed, free-flowing conversation, greatly easing my tension. He noted me being pretty tall (6’5) and he asked if I played basketball and he told me about how he used to play for Harvard when he was there. Our conversation was basically a hoops talk from that point on. He asked me some typical questions like if i was a good student, what my test scores looked like, and what kind of person I described myself as, but the conversation would always revert back to basketball.</p>
<p>We had a great time and we really hit it off. He could tell as I could that this conversation could have lasted forever, so after probably 45 minutes of talking between what seemed like two old friends, he told me we should wrap it up and then, here’s the crazy part, he actually dropped me off back at my house in his Ferrari! Wild right? I made a joke about if everybody at Harvard gets one of those, he laughed and he told me to call him back to tell him what my most recent SAT scores were when they came out. I called like a week or two later once they were posted, and that was our last communication. But the best part might be that just this week, he actually called me back, out of the blue, and asked me to come speak with him again at his office! Hopefully it is some very good news!</p>
<p>^lol sounds like a pedophile to me…</p>
<p>uh yeah sounds like a pedophile a little… from your other thread, i would guess that this guy is now acting on his own accord, and the meeting is for some unclear personal reason of his rather than a sign that Harvard likes you. be careful.</p>