Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Does the alumni club have contacts for ALL applicants or only those applicants the admission committee wants to interview?

Anonymous wrote:

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 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.

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 wrote:My daughter is at Harvard and she was able to see her admissions committee summary (it's something any student can ask for).

The alumni interview gives the student a grade (I think it is 1-6). They are told not to give too many 1s so I've been told.

In the reader's notes field, both reference the 'AIV'--first said she wanted to see it and second said it didn't really add much but didn't really need to.

So it's part of the process, but I don't really think it is that important.