Harvard Interview

[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*.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child got a Harvard interview invite? Does every applicant get it or does it mean child is in the shortlist? What are they looking for in these interviews?

Just about everyone gets it. Forget Harvard, it is declining rapidly.

This is incorrect.

- Harvard parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1

[Anonymous]

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

No, the practice of asking alumni to volunteer time to run these interviews exists ONLY to keep the alumni engaged so that the alums feel involved in the school and give more money = the largest endowment in America. - Harvard alum.

[Anonymous]

So, parent of current Harvard student here.

Contrary to what people have said, not everyone gets an interview. Usually Harvard liked to interview kids they admit. Yale only interviews kids they have questions about — they admire kids without interviewing them.

DC has reviewed admissions file and the interview was the deciding factor. The AOs had a question and if the interviewer addressed that in their answers, DC would move on to Committee. All of DC’s friends have seen their admissions file and have said the interview was extremely important.

Harvard alumni interviewers love to ask about favorite books. I’m not sure why but everyone got that question. Some had long interviews and some had 30 minute ones. Length says nothing about admissions possibility.

DC’s interview write-up (these are quite lengthy!) spoke about DC’s personality that came across during the interview. Really that was the same as what teachers/counselor had described. I guess they just wanted an alum to verify that before sending to committee.

DC’s big leadership was a self-initiated community service project, but DC also had excellent stats. No research. Interdisciplinary interests.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, parent of current Harvard student here.

Contrary to what people have said, not everyone gets an interview. Usually Harvard liked to interview kids they admit. Yale only interviews kids they have questions about — they admire kids without interviewing them.

DC has reviewed admissions file and the interview was the deciding factor. The AOs had a question and if the interviewer addressed that in their answers, DC would move on to Committee. All of DC’s friends have seen their admissions file and have said the interview was extremely important.

Harvard alumni interviewers love to ask about favorite books. I’m not sure why but everyone got that question. Some had long interviews and some had 30 minute ones. Length says nothing about admissions possibility.

DC’s interview write-up (these are quite lengthy!) spoke about DC’s personality that came across during the interview. Really that was the same as what teachers/counselor had described. I guess they just wanted an alum to verify that before sending to committee.

DC’s big leadership was a self-initiated community service project, but DC also had excellent stats. No research. Interdisciplinary interests.

Good luck!

Sorry for the typos. Yale admits (not admires) students without interviews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, parent of current Harvard student here.

Contrary to what people have said, not everyone gets an interview. Usually Harvard liked to interview kids they admit. Yale only interviews kids they have questions about — they admire kids without interviewing them.

DC has reviewed admissions file and the interview was the deciding factor. The AOs had a question and if the interviewer addressed that in their answers, DC would move on to Committee. All of DC’s friends have seen their admissions file and have said the interview was extremely important.

Harvard alumni interviewers love to ask about favorite books. I’m not sure why but everyone got that question. Some had long interviews and some had 30 minute ones. Length says nothing about admissions possibility.

DC’s interview write-up (these are quite lengthy!) spoke about DC’s personality that came across during the interview. Really that was the same as what teachers/counselor had described. I guess they just wanted an alum to verify that before sending to committee.

DC’s big leadership was a self-initiated community service project, but DC also had excellent stats. No research. Interdisciplinary interests.

Good luck!

This might be true where you lived that only kids they were interested in were interviewed, but in my local area the alumni club has the goal of interviewing everyone who applies within our area. There are enough alumni volunteers to make it happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

No, the practice of asking alumni to volunteer time to run these interviews exists ONLY to keep the alumni engaged so that the alums feel involved in the school and give more money = the largest endowment in America. - Harvard alum.

Sad that you don’t realize just how much your report matters. My kid’s interviewer said none of his interviewees had ever been admitted. He was dejected. Said H had started emailing interviewers if their interviewees were admitted. DC was his first admit! I hope he realizes his interview was a HUGE factor in DCs admission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, parent of current Harvard student here.

Contrary to what people have said, not everyone gets an interview. Usually Harvard liked to interview kids they admit. Yale only interviews kids they have questions about — they admire kids without interviewing them.

DC has reviewed admissions file and the interview was the deciding factor. The AOs had a question and if the interviewer addressed that in their answers, DC would move on to Committee. All of DC’s friends have seen their admissions file and have said the interview was extremely important.

Harvard alumni interviewers love to ask about favorite books. I’m not sure why but everyone got that question. Some had long interviews and some had 30 minute ones. Length says nothing about admissions possibility.

DC’s interview write-up (these are quite lengthy!) spoke about DC’s personality that came across during the interview. Really that was the same as what teachers/counselor had described. I guess they just wanted an alum to verify that before sending to committee.

DC’s big leadership was a self-initiated community service project, but DC also had excellent stats. No research. Interdisciplinary interests.

Good luck!

The interview is not a deciding factor, and in larger metro areas, they aim to interview everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

The interviews are conducted by the local alumni clubs. In the bigger metro areas with active clubs, they do try to reach out to every applicant and offer to schedule an interview. DC is one of these areas. If there is no Harvard club where you live, or the club is less active and doesn’t have enough member volunteers, you might not get offered one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, parent of current Harvard student here.

Contrary to what people have said, not everyone gets an interview. Usually Harvard liked to interview kids they admit. Yale only interviews kids they have questions about — they admire kids without interviewing them.

DC has reviewed admissions file and the interview was the deciding factor. The AOs had a question and if the interviewer addressed that in their answers, DC would move on to Committee. All of DC’s friends have seen their admissions file and have said the interview was extremely important.

Harvard alumni interviewers love to ask about favorite books. I’m not sure why but everyone got that question. Some had long interviews and some had 30 minute ones. Length says nothing about admissions possibility.

DC’s interview write-up (these are quite lengthy!) spoke about DC’s personality that came across during the interview. Really that was the same as what teachers/counselor had described. I guess they just wanted an alum to verify that before sending to committee.

DC’s big leadership was a self-initiated community service project, but DC also had excellent stats. No research. Interdisciplinary interests.

Good luck!

This is incorrect. Spouse has interviewed for Harvard for nearly two decades. They give everyone an interview unless the applicant lives somewhere with no local
alumni.