Harvard Interview

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck! Based on who H admitted in our school, H seems really like the ones with big spikes in music. Another type is the biggest leadership. Other kids, even in prestigious math competitions or publishing in top journals, can’t beat. Not sure about other schools.

The big math spike kids are for MIT! HYP like well-rounded kids, which fit their liberal arts education.
https://blog.tanyakhovanova.com/2009/07/what-does-it-take-to-get-accepted-by-harvard-or-princeton/

Just curious: What are those big music and leadership spikes?

You are quoting a blog from 2009. H has a huge number of STEM majors now and many are cross registered with MIT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck! Based on who H admitted in our school, H seems really like the ones with big spikes in music. Another type is the biggest leadership. Other kids, even in prestigious math competitions or publishing in top journals, can’t beat. Not sure about other schools.

WTF is "spikes in music" or "big leadership?"

I think they are referring to the "spikey" kid who is the opposite of the "well-rounded" kid. We have a kid who is spikey in music and will still not be trying for Harvard!

[Anonymous]

Yes. My child got one too.

They try to interview everyone.

My older child had one that went really well. Still rejected

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. My child got one too.

They try to interview everyone.

My older child had one that went really well. Still rejected

Oh and Princeton and Georgetown also interview everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck! Based on who H admitted in our school, H seems really like the ones with big spikes in music. Another type is the biggest leadership. Other kids, even in prestigious math competitions or publishing in top journals, can’t beat. Not sure about other schools.

The big math spike kids are for MIT! HYP like well-rounded kids, which fit their liberal arts education.
https://blog.tanyakhovanova.com/2009/07/what-does-it-take-to-get-accepted-by-harvard-or-princeton/

Just curious: What are those big music and leadership spikes?

You are quoting a blog from 2009. H has a huge number of STEM majors now and many are cross registered with MIT.

You misunderstood me. HYP still prefer STEM majors who are also good at other stuff. These schools emphasize an interdisciplinary approach. MIT is stricter in scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck! Based on who H admitted in our school, H seems really like the ones with big spikes in music. Another type is the biggest leadership. Other kids, even in prestigious math competitions or publishing in top journals, can’t beat. Not sure about other schools.

WTF is "spikes in music" or "big leadership?"

Examples of spikes in music: prestigious international competition awards, first chair in NYO, young arts winner…

Big leadership: Senator Youth Program (2 for each state)…

[Anonymous]

Yes, they interview the vast majority of applicants. Only the Yale interview is given to a selected group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck! DC just finished theirs last week and it went ok but a bit stilted. Interviewer said he does evaluate on how quickly the student replies to email to schedule. Which I didn’t think was fair. But just don’t drag out the response or scheduling.

Do these interviews usually happen during the weekends? Back in the days, I did my HYPSM interview on a Saturday. I had to travel all the way to his office and we met in the conference room

We aimed for a weekend because DC tried to prioritize meeting in person. And DC offered a weeknight option as well (all according the windows the interviewer offered). But scheduling can quickly get tricky and pushed further out with these seniors having so many important things going on. Practices or other things are skippable, but Senior night at their sport isn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck! DC just finished theirs last week and it went ok but a bit stilted. Interviewer said he does evaluate on how quickly the student replies to email to schedule. Which I didn’t think was fair. But just don’t drag out the response or scheduling.

Do these interviews usually happen during the weekends? Back in the days, I did my HYPSM interview on a Saturday. I had to travel all the way to his office and we met in the conference room

We aimed for a weekend because DC tried to prioritize meeting in person. And DC offered a weeknight option as well (all according the windows the interviewer offered). But scheduling can quickly get tricky and pushed further out with these seniors having so many important things going on. Practices or other things are skippable, but Senior night at their sport isn't.

I also think meeting in person is better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every kid that they can schedule one for, they do. It's not evaluative. So tell your kid to practice good interview habits, but also ask real questions they have. it won't hurt them.

Yale is the only interview to get nervous about

These alumni interviews count for big fat "0" in the admission process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck! DC just finished theirs last week and it went ok but a bit stilted. Interviewer said he does evaluate on how quickly the student replies to email to schedule. Which I didn’t think was fair. But just don’t drag out the response or scheduling.

Do these interviews usually happen during the weekends? Back in the days, I did my HYPSM interview on a Saturday. I had to travel all the way to his office and we met in the conference room

We aimed for a weekend because DC tried to prioritize meeting in person. And DC offered a weeknight option as well (all according the windows the interviewer offered). But scheduling can quickly get tricky and pushed further out with these seniors having so many important things going on. Practices or other things are skippable, but Senior night at their sport isn't.

I also think meeting in person is better.

It really doesn't matter, unless your DC is uncomfortable with a virtual format. In my experience, kids are fine with it these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every kid that they can schedule one for, they do. It's not evaluative. So tell your kid to practice good interview habits, but also ask real questions they have. it won't hurt them.

Yale is the only interview to get nervous about

These alumni interviews count for big fat "0" in the admission process.

Keep telling yourself that. They are by no means determinative but can help (or hurt) with borderline cases. There are SO many applicants that look nearly identical on paper and have similar qualities praised in LORs. Anything that helps positively differentiate a given kid is a good thing.

[Anonymous]

Does Harvard really conduct 55,000 interviews each admissions cycle?

My kid goes to Harvard and doesn’t know anyone that didn’t have an interview in high school. But I’m sure there are kids that didn’t interview and were accepted.

[Anonymous]

They want to see if the person matches the application. Not a fraud, and can talk about what they claim to be interested in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck! Based on who H admitted in our school, H seems really like the ones with big spikes in music. Another type is the biggest leadership. Other kids, even in prestigious math competitions or publishing in top journals, can’t beat. Not sure about other schools.

The big math spike kids are for MIT! HYP like well-rounded kids, which fit their liberal arts education.
https://blog.tanyakhovanova.com/2009/07/what-does-it-take-to-get-accepted-by-harvard-or-princeton/

Just curious: What are those big music and leadership spikes?

"I insisted that Sergei also apply to Princeton and Harvard, as I had heard they give generous financial packages."

"His application forms to Harvard and Princeton were different from MIT. Yes, MIT was his first choice and he wrote a customized essay for MIT. For other places he had a common essay. But as he was supposed to be flagged as a top math student, his essay should have been irrelevant, in my opinion."

Telegraphing that you don't want to be there, and presenting as someone who does only math and only the math that is handed to you as homework (not independent research), isn't going to impress Harvard or Princeton. Which is fine! College is about fit, not ranking. Math,math,math,only-math people don't like Harvard, despite Harvard having many top mathematicians *who are also interested in other things*.