Just wondering - does anyone know if all input from Harvard interviewers is weighed equally? Are some interviewers better known to the admissions officers and do they carry more weight than others?
It only matters if the interviewer is an admission officer. As for alumni interviewers, I can’t say much.
Thanks @hola1997. My son’s H interview seemed a little unorthodox. The interviewer asked him what his SAT scores were and what other colleges he was applying to. At the end of (an apparently) very successful interview in terms of rapport the interviewer told him he was an ideal fit for Harvard and to “let him know when he got the letter.” I don’t see anything that would indicate that this man was anything more than alumni (albeit a very successful one - president of a major company.) Since he does not appear to be an admission’s officer I’m wondering if he has any grounds for being so confident in my son’s acceptance, if it was inappropriate for him to suggest it, or if he was just teasing. My son is a strong candidate, but not “unusually” strong. Hence my wondering if some alumni know they have more sway with admissions than others, etc.
Has anyone else heard anything about this? None of my son’s other interviewers asked him the SAT and other colleges question and none hinted at an ‘ideal fit’ even though the other interviews went very well.
It was inappropriate for him to suggest your son’s acceptance unless the alum knew your son had a Likely Letter or was a coveted athletic recruit. Not teasing per se – probably some puffery as in “I have insider knowledge”. He doesn’t but wanted to appear so.
Harvard is strange in that it allows alumni interviewers to know SAT/ACTs of applicants. I’m not aware of any others that do so. Personally, I think it creates confirmation bias and weakens the overall utility of Harvard alumni reports.
Of course some people’s opinion matters more than other’s. Where in ANYTHING in life has that not been the case?
Here’s how it can REALLY matter – does the interviewer write well and convincingly? Otherwise, my experience is the home offices know what to filter. I stand by my assertion that the interviewer in this case had no business implying a better chance of being admitted.
The same issue exists w Rec Letters. How well the recommender writes matters.
…it does. But admissions officers know that not all rec letter writers (nor alumni) are equally gifted. Thus they’ll overlook a one that’s supportive but otherwise poorly written or substantiated. They’ll have to rely on other areas of the app and weigh them more heavily.
I recruit for a large urban school district and the rec letters from those HS teachers only sometimes contain the info that super-selective schools want. The fact is those teachers mostly aren’t writing rec letters to Harvard or MIT or Yale. They’ll include platitudes like “great character, honest, strong work ethic” – but fail to inject the anecdotes one might see here: http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/writingrecs
This requires deftness on the part of the admissions officers.