Interviewer is asking for more information

[Anonymous]

You should definitely let the Admissions office know. The fact that she is a recent graduate makes it sound like she has an inflated sense of her importance in this process. Quite honestly, having alumni conduct interviews is as much about Alumni Relations as it is about Admissions.

Let the Admissions Office know and they will set her straight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alumni interviewer for Dartmouth here - seems totally out of line and not at all what we're told to do.

It actually seems really obnoxious because that's creating a lot of extra work for your son. I echo the pp's suggestion to reach out to admission or the area coordinator.

My main concerns are that you don't want to decline the interview after initially accepting because they might write something snippy in the "did student interview - why or why not?" section. I also wouldn't want to have that interviewer at all because if he/she gets chastised I'd worry it would affect the write up. It really shouldn't, but also no one should be so douchey in their approach to interviewing either...

+1 for all of this.

I never ask and we have been instructed not to ask for grades and SATs. Many kids offer them up without you ever saying a thing though.

[Anonymous]

My DC did about 8 alumni interviews last year (including a couple of Ivies, but not Harvard) and was never asked for this. DC did provide a resume to each interviewer and in many cases they commented that the resume was helpful and that most kids had not provided one. So asking for all that detail is definitely outside of the norm.

[Anonymous]

Harvard interviewer here. The local club tells interviewers to ask these questions of every interviewee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard interviewer here. The local club tells interviewers to ask these questions of every interviewee.

Quite seriously, if the point of the interview is to round out the picture of the applicant and get at things that might not be reflected in the file, why in the world would the interviewer be asking for factual information that the university already has in the file and will not accept unless it is independently reported (by the College Board in the case of SAT scores and by the school in the case of grades)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard interviewer here. The local club tells interviewers to ask these questions of every interviewee.

I can't for the life of me figure out why the interviewer is asking where the parents went to school. I guess its relevant to see if they are a legacy or first generation college, but it seems like the school will have that information. I thought the purpose of the interview was (1) to answer questions, present a face for the school, and (2) get a general sense of the applicant that you can't get on paper. Why would it be to obtain factual information when the school already has that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard interviewer here. The local club tells interviewers to ask these questions of every interviewee.

I can't for the life of me figure out why the interviewer is asking where the parents went to school. I guess its relevant to see if they are a legacy or first generation college, but it seems like the school will have that information. I thought the purpose of the interview was (1) to answer questions, present a face for the school, and (2) get a general sense of the applicant that you can't get on paper. Why would it be to obtain factual information when the school already has that?

Alum interviewer, but not for Harvard here. I always ask for a copy of the resume. It tells me what areas to ask about and to focus on.

I do ask about family life as well -- it does give you a sense of the applicant. For example, at an interview last week, the student was from Asia and has lived here 3 years for high school with a host family -- his parents are at home working hard to pay for his (private) school. I mentioned that in my report as I think it's relevant -- it shows he's willing to work hard under tough conditions; how he has adjusted well to his school and his English skills; and also that I felt it was big achievement to only get to see your parents once a year (every summer) and still do well in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard interviewer here. The local club tells interviewers to ask these questions of every interviewee.

So is it really a way to make sure Harvard is getting the right sort of people? You know, those whose parents and brothers and sisters went to Harvard? If not I can't image what relevance those questions have on an alumni interview. Apparently Harvard has more of a stick up its butt than I even thought possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard

That's standard for Harvard. All the interviewees are asked to fill in that form.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard

That's standard for Harvard. All the interviewees are asked to fill in that form.

I assume you have good grades and SATs scores since you applied to Harvard. There is nothing to hide. Provide them, impress them, etc ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard interviewer here. The local club tells interviewers to ask these questions of every interviewee.

So is it really a way to make sure Harvard is getting the right sort of people? You know, those whose parents and brothers and sisters went to Harvard? If not I can't image what relevance those questions have on an alumni interview. Apparently Harvard has more of a stick up its butt than I even thought possible.

As previous responders have noted, the Admissions Office already has that info, as does the admissions office of just about every private university in this country. This info gives an interviewer some context about the applicant. If kids are getting decent scores, but come from a non college home, that is something to highlight. If the kid seems more academic/intellectually curious than the scores suggest, that also tells the interviewer what to highlight.

Since half of the kids present resumes anyway, they might as well be on an even footing.

Harvard also gets a lot of "what the hell" applications. Those aren't a majority of the applicant pool, but they are a significant enough percentage that the average interviewer would see one at least every other year. If the student has grades and scores that indicate that they can't handle the work, that is good to know.

It sounds as though many other universities want a sort of double blind impression of the applicant from their interviewers. I can understand that perspective, but in the end, I wonder if that really alters the results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard interviewer here. The local club tells interviewers to ask these questions of every interviewee.

So is it really a way to make sure Harvard is getting the right sort of people? You know, those whose parents and brothers and sisters went to Harvard? If not I can't image what relevance those questions have on an alumni interview. Apparently Harvard has more of a stick up its butt than I even thought possible.

As previous responders have noted, the Admissions Office already has that info, as does the admissions office of just about every private university in this country. This info gives an interviewer some context about the applicant. If kids are getting decent scores, but come from a non college home, that is something to highlight. If the kid seems more academic/intellectually curious than the scores suggest, that also tells the interviewer what to highlight.

Since half of the kids present resumes anyway, they might as well be on an even footing.

Harvard also gets a lot of "what the hell" applications. Those aren't a majority of the applicant pool, but they are a significant enough percentage that the average interviewer would see one at least every other year. If the student has grades and scores that indicate that they can't handle the work, that is good to know.

It sounds as though many other universities want a sort of double blind impression of the applicant from their interviewers. I can understand that perspective, but in the end, I wonder if that really alters the results.

Alright. Sounds pretty reasonable. If Harvard wants to approach their interviews this way, it's fine. If Harvard doesn't want to approach their interviewers this way and it's just one interviewer being overly-zealous, it's not so fine. My son asked his friends who were applying. Even those with other interviewers were asked to send in the resume. It turns out it IS a Harvard thing.

He sent in the resume without fussing.

Thanks everyone!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard interviewer here. The local club tells interviewers to ask these questions of every interviewee.

So is it really a way to make sure Harvard is getting the right sort of people? You know, those whose parents and brothers and sisters went to Harvard? If not I can't image what relevance those questions have on an alumni interview. Apparently Harvard has more of a stick up its butt than I even thought possible.

As previous responders have noted, the Admissions Office already has that info, as does the admissions office of just about every private university in this country. This info gives an interviewer some context about the applicant. If kids are getting decent scores, but come from a non college home, that is something to highlight. If the kid seems more academic/intellectually curious than the scores suggest, that also tells the interviewer what to highlight.

Since half of the kids present resumes anyway, they might as well be on an even footing.

Harvard also gets a lot of "what the hell" applications. Those aren't a majority of the applicant pool, but they are a significant enough percentage that the average interviewer would see one at least every other year. If the student has grades and scores that indicate that they can't handle the work, that is good to know.

It sounds as though many other universities want a sort of double blind impression of the applicant from their interviewers. I can understand that perspective, but in the end, I wonder if that really alters the results.

Alright. Sounds pretty reasonable. If Harvard wants to approach their interviews this way, it's fine. If Harvard doesn't want to approach their interviewers this way and it's just one interviewer being overly-zealous, it's not so fine. My son asked his friends who were applying. Even those with other interviewers were asked to send in the resume. It turns out it IS a Harvard thing.

He sent in the resume without fussing.

Thanks everyone!

Another Harvard grad (law) who does not do interviewing. If your son is serious about getting in, I would do whatever the interviewer asks. Why rock the boat? Why post it on DCUM where the Harvard interviewer might see it? Your son's chance of getting in is now 3% of 37,000 applications if he did not apply EA/ED, is an athelete, legacy or URM, so why make waves? Generally, these interviews are a way for schools to keep recent grads and alums involved in the school by making them think they actually have some clout and are helping in the interview process. But if you go back and read the archives and other sources you will see people that have done this for, say, Cornell or Duke "for 30 years and they've never once taken a student I've recommended". So I think the entire exercise is more of a way to keep the alums involved in the school. Nevertheless, I would do whatever she wants if she is conducting the interview. Maybe she is young and full of herself. Or maybe this is the undergraduate school's way of doing things. But you are in a seller's market so I wouldn't rock the boat and I certainly wouldn't call admissions to rat on this person if you seriously want your kid to get in.

[Anonymous]

agree with pp.. If you rock the boat you will diminish your chances even further than the 3% admit rate for Harvard.

It is unusual though for the person to ask. My kid is a recent Princeton grad and doesn't get any of the information on the applicants. When conducting alumni interviews, kid mentioned that most applicants want to share their grades and scores when they are perfect.

[Anonymous]

I am an alumni interviewer for a school that is just as selective as Harvard. My son had gotten interviews from other schools just as selective. My school explicitly says they want interviews to be SEPARATE from academics, and every other school didn't ask for a resume.

I made a post because I didn't know it was normal procedures for Harvard. For all I knew, Harvard was like my school (and the schools that other alumni interviewers posted in this thread), and they didn't give out that information because they didn't want the interviewers to know that information.

Frankly, I'd rather piss off one alumni than have an interview that goes against how the school expects it to be. I also don't really care if the alumni interviewer sees it here (though I find it hard to believe that a young 20something recent Harvard grad living in a hip neighborhood in DC is reading DCUM).

My son has probably already compromised his change of getting into Harvard with some minor wording in his essays. That's just how it works! He's not stressing about getting in.