<p>What does a second interview mean? I had an alumni interview mid-February, but now another interviewer called because apparently, I need a second one. I wonder why this is necessary...</p>
<p>Okay, I'm going to try to answer my own question:
[quote]
Byerly said on 10-18-2004 at 09:49 AM:
The importance of alumni interviews cannot be overstated. Harvard may still be the only school where each and every applicant in the early and regular rounds has an alumni interview. In many regions, candidates are discussed again at the regional level by Schools & Scholarships Committee members, and in a few cases, ranked for the benefit of the Admissions Office.</p>
<p>In some cases, the regional alumni review the docket at later points, and have a substantial degree of input.</p>
<p>On occasion, where there is a disconnect between the ranking given by the interviewer and the impression of an admissions officer in Cambridge, a second interview may be called for.</p>
<p>While there are never any guarantees, it should be born in mind that many interviewers have been doing this work for years. Their opinions are well respected in Cambridge. Interviewers do not gain this respect by raving about every local candidate, but by understanding what Cambridge is looking for, and reserving the greatest accolades for the exceptional cases.</p>
<p>It is not at all unusual for interviewers and regional representatives to go to bat for kids they feel strongly about, following up to reinforce initial recommendations.</p>
<p>In short, alumni interviews can be critical - particularly for applicants who are neither "auto-rejects" nor "auto-admits." </p>
<p>Increasingly, the Admissions Office has looked to the interviewer reports - frequently the only opinion based on face-to-face contact - to help differentiate hundreds.. thousands .. of applications which are all similarly impressive. </p>
<p>Grade inflation on the one hand, and the refusal of high schools to rank graduates on the other, have made it harder to compare candidates on the basis of class standing or grade-point average.</p>
<p>Similar "grade inflation" and the flattening of rankings when it comes to SAT scores has undermined this measure as well. Harvard will tell you that there seems to be relatively little difference - performance-wise - between the 1,450 scorer and the 1,550 scorer.</p>
<p>Finally, teacher recommendations and guidance counsellor reports are less useful than they used to be, as the writers often have little direct knowledge of the candidates, and simply parrot a list of EC's and other information contained in the transcript.</p>
<p>Moral: don't underestimate the potential significance of the alumni interview.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Byerly or anyone else, can you clarify what is meant by "On occasion, where there is a disconnect between the ranking given by the interviewer and the impression of an admissions officer in Cambridge, a second interview may be called for"?</p>
<p>Here is some information that may be helpful:</p>
<ol>
<li>My interviewer told me that just the fact that I got an interview meant my application was good. </li>
<li>For 30 minutes, we did normal interview questions and answers. For the next 15 minutes, we talked about other colleges and interviews for those colleges. </li>
<li>I definitely didn't speak in as much detail as I did for other colleges. I felt like the interviewer got a little bit of a sense that I was a nice person, etc, but still didn't know me too well after the interview. It seemed like that the interviewer seemed to like me. </li>
<li>Interviewer said on multiple occasions how hard it is to get into Harvard. </li>
<li>Interview was very,very casual. </li>
<li>My interviewer is assigned about 10 kids a year, and usually 1 gets in, had been doing this for 10 or so years. </li>
<li>The second person who called me said something about Harvard... scholarship, so I'm assuming she is part of the "schools and scholarship committee"? </li>
</ol>
<p>Maybe the interview report was positive but was not substantiated by examples of what I said and how I seemed? But does this really call for a second interview? </p>
<p>Can someone explain what the "schools and scholarship committee" is?</p>
<p>Oh, I see that stanmaster put up a similar thread yesterday; I didn't see it. Still confused, though...</p>