<p>I have my Harvard interview tomorrow and I was wondering if alumni interviewers ask you about you SAT scores???
My SAT score is really really low.... so I dont even know what I should answer if he does ask.
It's not even a 2000. Dont ask me why Im applying, I was feeling lucky at the time.
SO WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN MY POSITION?
IF I TELL HIM MY SAT SCORE WOULD IT RUIN MY ENTIRE INTERVIEW BECAUSE HE WILL BE MUCH MORE JUDGMENTAL?</p>
<p>Last year, my friend's interviewer asked her for her gpa and SAT scores....</p>
<p>Some interviewers ask and some don’t; it really just depends on who you get. And the interviewers WANT you to get into Harvard. Their goal is to help you out. The only way you’ll hurt yourself is if you do something like dress inappropriately, make a rude or snide comment, forgetting every aspect of the school, or get overly nervous and clammy (even then I’ve heard a few testaments of interviewers overlooking nervousness). Relax and have fun! It’s just as much for you to learn about the school as for the admissions office to get a feeling of your personality (emphasis on personality; they already have your documentation). Unless your interviewer(s) have an overwhelming sense of self-superiority, they’re not gonna just jump on you for having whatever scores you do.</p>
<p>Ivy interviewers do ask this. My daughter was surprised when her Columbia interviewer asked and she honestly did not remember what her score was. (She told him that and I don’t know if he believed her or not). Her impression was that he wanted to know if she was qualified or not, she seemed to think he would not want to waste his time if she wasn’t.</p>
<p>No, you are not required to respond, but unless you get a real jerk as your interviewer, you will not be treated differently because of your scores. I never, ever, treat an applicant better or worse because of his/her scores.</p>
<p>Here’s the important thing: DO NOT LIE. We report those scores you report to us; so if you tell me you got a 2300, and I submit that to the admissions folks, and your College Board report says you got a 1950, your odds just went from 3% to 0%. I see a poster’s daughter said she could not recall hers; I don’t doubt that poster, but to be frank I have a very hard time believing an applicant who says s/he cannot remember those SAT scores.</p>
<p>^ I know some of them really do not remember. For example, my son asked me what his SAT scores were when filling out his common ap. I asked him what he thought they were and he was clueless. He knew they were in the 700s, but nothing more than that. He would not have known the composite, since SAT does not report that number anymore. He would probably memorize these figures for an interview, but they are not something he would naturally remember or think were important to remember.</p>
<p>Mine didn’t ask me for them at the actual interview, but she emailed me a few days later for them. She said it was something Harvard required them to ask, although she didn’t know why.</p>
<p>Before an interview an applicant should familiarize himself with his resume so that he knows his test scores, the names of awards he has won, what the awards were recognizing, how old he was when he started playing oboe, and so on. There is no excuse for not being thus prepared for an interview.</p>
<p>I’ve asked in the past several years, but this year, I decided not to ask. It’s optional for Harvard interviewers, and different people have different philosophies on whether it’s useful, or appropriate to ask. Some schools–MIT for example–explicitly ask interviewers to avoid inquiring about quantitative stats. </p>
<p>Will certain interviewers consider your perhaps slightly lower scores as a negative? Perhaps. For me, it really depended on whether or not your interview performance re-enforces my perception of you via the scores.</p>
<p>When my son was contacted by his Harvard interviewer, he was specifically asked to bring his SAT scores and subject test scores to the interview. My son said they were never came up during the conversation though.</p>
<p>My Ds had his Harvard interview last week. The interviewer asked for him to email the following to him BEFORE the interview. Transcript, All test scores, Resume and any other brag sheet information that my DS might want him to know.</p>
<p>Ridethewave. If I asked my DS what all his test scores were the only ones I know for sure that he would know were his AP scores, because those are the scores that he studied for so those are the ones he cares about. True he’s not likely to get in Harvard with his 34 ACT or the 800 he got on the math part of the SAT.Perhaps most of the kids trying to get into Harvard know their scores. But I bet a lot of non-harvard kids don’t know the breakdown of their test scores.To him the most important thing is that he learns something in the classes he takes. The ACT/SAT is just another test he had to take to get into college.</p>
<p>Well, honestly, my kid doesn’t know his, either. I had to write up a list of scores and send them along with him when he was visiting schools, because some schools asked for test scores along with contact info. But he is not your “typical” student and his attitude differs markedly from that of many posters on CC. </p>
<p>I still would find it very difficult to believe an applicant who told me s/he could not remember any test scores. Not remembering the breakdown of SAT scores I can believe, but not remembering a single score is hard to accept. I did in fact have an applicant tell me they could not recall any scores; had they presented as the “absent-minded professor” sort, I would have found that explanation easier to believe.</p>
<p>D was grilled for 3 1/2 hours on her resume by the H alumni interviewer. Really got the impression he was looking to see if she had exaggerated her accomplishments. She hadn’t. Yale interview was an hour of lively wide ranging discussion where she felt she had met a new interesting friend. You never know what approach will be taken. Prepare for either.</p>
<p>I had my interview a week ago and my interviewer asked me for my scores. And once I examined how I felt about them (they’re pretty low) he said “damn tests, tell me more about yourself”. And he didn’t bring them back up. He did take a copy of all of my scores with him though</p>
<p>@texaspg: I have a feeling that there’s a lot of variation from region to region. Admissions doesn’t provide a form, and I’m pretty sure there’s no explicit instructions on resumes/CVs. Some area clubs apparently have a standard form for interviewees to fill out; in my area, we don’t use one, and I don’t ask for resumes. I don’t think resumes from HS students are all that interesting, and anything useful will be in the application, which I don’t see (and don’t really want to see).</p>