^^ Four years ago, my son’s Dartmouth interviewer asked him the same question. Upon hearing his list, which included HYP, the Dartmouth alum said “Well, here’s why you should go to Dartmouth if you’re lucky to have the choice” and then went on to innumerate the reasons – which I thought made what might have been an awkward question into a very positive talk about the college. Bottom line: I suppose it all depends upon the spirit the question is asked in, and what the interviewer said upon hearing the list.
My S interviewer scheduled the interview time during the school hours at 2 PM. Is it normal? Other interviews he had never asked during the school hours.
@2562ivy if it’s not a good time, your S should ask for a more mutually beneficial time. There’s nothing wrong with that.
My interview was on a Saturday at an interview conducting session at a school near my house. I think it went really well. It was 30 minutes at the most, but I think my interviewer and I clicked pretty well. He didn’t ask me a list of questions, but rather, he asked me to talk about myself and my interests (which I think makes for a better-flowing conversation).
@T26E4
Thank you.
But I feel like we should accommodate their valuable time. His school is ok if he needs to take time off for an interview.
Hello! My interview was way back in November, but I thought I’d post here now because my interviewer contacted me last night to touch base with me and make sure nothing had changed before she went to her regional meeting. I thought that was super classy on her part so I felt like sharing.
I come from an extremely rural area with no alumni nearby so I met my interviewer in a town about two hours away in a coffee shop. She was super nice and wasn’t intimidating at all – she made it clear that she was just trying to get a better sense of who I am so that she could give Admissions a better idea of what I’m like. We talked for around an hour and a half (which is fairly long compared to other interviews people talk about on this thread but I don’t think that means anything.)
Basically she was just really cool and I don’t think I could have gotten a better person to interview me. 
I think I came across as a bit shy but she seemed to be really rooting for me which is reassuring even though I know the odds of me actually getting in are extremely slim. Regardless of whether I get in I’ll still be happy to have this experience because it’s just been so pleasant overall.
I had my interview this past Sunday with a professor… I’d say it went pretty good. It was about an hour, and the only “tough” question to answer was why harvard. Aside from that, he just asked me about my extracurriculars, what I’m interested in, etc. It was mostly about me and less about Harvard. I prepared a decent amount of questions, as well, which were pretty important in making sure my interview was smooth and less awkward.
I had my interview this past Sunday with a professor… I’d say it went pretty good. It was about an hour, and the only “tough” question to answer was why harvard. Aside from that, he just asked me about my extracurriculars, what I’m interested in, etc. It was mostly about me and less about Harvard. I prepared a decent amount of questions, as well, which were pretty important in making sure my interview was smooth and less awkward.
I HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT WENT. Mine was a little over 45 minutes, he was pretty friendly and took lots of notes on what I said, but we didn’t really bond over anything… We had nothing in common other than growing up in the same city.
I had mine a couple weeks ago, and I think it went very well! My interviewer looked strict but she was actually really cool. We met at her work and talked for about an hour and a half. We pretty much talked about history/ the problem with biases when examining other cultures and historical events for about 45 minutes, and then she asked me what I like to do, which morphed into a discussion about documentaries. She didn’t ask me any “why Harvard” or “what would you do for Harvard”, although she did ask me my favorite book at the end!
Overall I think we had an interesting, non-scripted conversation that was really informal (which I was surprised about), and although these interviews aren’t the deciding factor for admissions, I don’t think this meeting hurt me! My advice to interviewees is to relax, smile genuinely, sit/stand up straight, and have fun (it’s dorky but it’s true). And don’t forget the thank you letter/email!
just had my interview and it was fantastic, we had a similar cultural background and the interviewer had just graduated this year so the age gap wasn’t too big and we had lots to talk about and it was very comfortable.
Hi, would this count as reviving a thread since the last post was just two months ago, but it was from last year?
Either way, I’ve read through all 80 pages, and wanted to thank you all so much for your valuable input and suggestions! It really is a godsend to nervous applicants like me. Now I’m much more optimistic about my interview!
Here’s the problem, though: I was SUPPOSED to have my interview this Sunday, but I’m studying abroad and my interviewer thinks I’m in NY! After replying to his email politely explaining the situation and apologizing for the inconvenience, I never heard from him again…
Of course, I know that not getting an interview will not hurt my application, and that I should be more patient because my interviewer is probably very busy, but he would be expected to write up a report on me and send it to the admissions office at Harvard right? How would he write that report if he didn’t even get to interview me? Or will he inform the office and cancel my interview?..
What do you guys think? What would you do if you were in my situation? I had started another thread asking about this, but I wanted to hear more feedback from you guys.
Thanks so much! And good luck to everyone and their interviews! 
UPDATE*****
Yay! The alum replied! He said that this was a follow-up email and asked if I would be available sometime next week, because he won’t have time tomorrow (Jan. 10th, the original date he set for the interview). However, I suspect that he did not have time to read my previous reply, because he still didn’t mention anything about Skype…I guess I’ll just reply to him and explain my situation again…sorry for taking up space in this thread. I’ll follow up with an overview of my interview if I get one.
update* I ended up having my Harvard interview on the Lunar New Year. Turned out the alum never received my emails! Oh well.
The whole thing lasted about half an hour, a bit shorter than my expectations. He spent twenty minutes asking about my basic info such as homeschooling, courses taken, favorite activities, etc, but surprisingly he did not ask for my EC’s (when he finished asking though, he did offer me a chance to tell him about anything he hadn’t asked). He also took notes and asked some more specific questions based on my answers to the more generic questions.
The next ten minutes was devoted to my questions. I had done some research on specific things about Harvard that I wanted to learn more about, and his answers were detailed and highly informative. Even though our interests differed greatly, in that I wanted to major in the humanities and he was into finance, that didn’t stop us from having an enjoyable conversation. What touched me the most was his kindness and a genuine wish to help others: he offered to answer any follow-up questions I had (encouraging me to use his personal email), and even said he could help me contact an appropriate admissions officer to answer my questions if he didn’t know the answer! To make sure I understood that, he reiterated this point more than once.
Though it could’ve went better, I’m really glad to have finally received this chance after all, and am thankful for having such a nice interviewer. Fortunately, the firecrackers happened to tone down a little that night.