My daughter submitted 12/27 and has not received an interview request. From what it sounds like, it’s random so she isn’t worried.
Is the interview for international students studying in the US selective?
Has anyone done an on campus interview and then been asked to do an alumni interview? The alumni interviewer said the second interview was required.
@bwaygirl1 I had both interviews & im not sure if it is required but if you were emailed for the second interview, then i think you should take it!
Does Harvard accept December ACT scores… my scores just came in yesterday??
Send them now, they should take them.
I got a B+ in my Yale course and that’ll show up on my midyear report. That’s the only B I’ve ever had I’m so nervous 
Just had my interview. I think it went really well!
Mind me asking what your interviewer asked you?
Each interviewer will have their own style and questions they like to ask, but I think most experienced interviewers will try to make the interview more of a conversation than a series of Q’s and A’s. While I interview for Yale, my kids’ experience (including with Harvard) suggest the interview experience is pretty similar among the highly selective colleges that do alumni interviews. For Yale, suggested areas they want interviewers to look out for:
• Intellectual strengths and energy
• Academic interests
• Flexibility in thinking, openness
• Expressive abilities
• Nonacademic interests or talents
• Personal qualities
• Distinctive or unusual talents
and/or circumstances
We do not receive grades, test scores, resume or lists of EC’s. There may be a note relating to a particular area of interest. Personally, I do not ask about grades or test scores or ask for a resume because I don’t want to have any preconceptions about the candidate, and I want to base my report entirely on the interaction with the candidate. My kids have walked into interviews where the interviewer has asked for a resume (Harvard, but it could just be that interviewer) or it is evident that they have some form of resume in front of them.
While I do not have a preset list of questions, the vast majority of interviews sequence out as follows:
- Introduction/small talk to put the candidate at ease.
- Ask how the school year is going – from here, I can get an idea of what the candidate is interested in academically and in terms of EC’s.
- The conversation can naturally flow from the above to a discussion about favorite subjects/classes/class projects and if that is what they want to pursue in college and as a career, or I may need to prod the candidate to talk about this. From time to time, I may ask for some details about a class or project, and at times I may challenge them about a particular viewpoint or conclusion just to see how they react. Often during the course of discussion in 3, I will ask why they are attracted to Yale given their interests.
- Similar to 3, the conversation can either naturally flow to an EC or I may ask a question to get the conversation to this topic. Here I am trying to get a sense of how deeply involved the candidate is in the activities that the candidate wants to highlight.
- If all the EC’s that the candidate chooses to talk about are school sponsored/based, I may ask a question along the lines what do you like to do outside of school, do you have a favorite hobby, what do you do to relax?
- 3, 4 and 5 will take up 80%+- of the time. Within 3, 4 and 5, the candidate may ask me questions about Yale, e.g., why did you choose Yale, what did you like or dislike about Yale. If I feel that the conversation is stagnating or the candidate is getting tired of talking, I will ask “do you have any questions about Yale?” as a break. Usually though, the questions about Yale come at the end.
- The very last question I will ask is “is there anything you would like to talk about that we have not covered?” Most of the time they will say everything has been covered, but at times they may bring up a particular interest or challenge that may be a new topic or it could be an emphasis on something we had previously just touched upon.
After the interview, I try to write my report that evening tying the specific interaction I had with the candidate to the guidelines that the AO laid out.
Having said all of this, and as posted throughout CC by other seasoned interviewers, these interviews are not going to lift an otherwise “no” candidate into the “yes” pile or sink a candidate that the AO already loves into the “no” pile (absent something totally extreme). I think the AO uses the interviews to confirm if their read on the candidate is consistent with the interview. Also, the AO makes it very clear to interviewers that we are ambassadors representing Yale, and that we should be selling Yale as much as the candidates are trying to sell themselves. I am pretty sure Harvard tells its interviewers the same thing. So don’t stress, be prepared (but not robotic) to have a conversation about what makes you you and to get as much information about the college as possible.
I was just wondering whether likely letters are still a current thing that happens during Harvard admissions process?
Yes, they are.
When do likely letters get sent out?
@swim1128 my friend got a couple early March last year but I think you have to be an especially strong candidate with something that makes you stand out. My friend was a URM who had published writing and high stats.
@ap012199 oh gotcha, thanks
Yale will be sending out about 100 likely letters in another week or so. Stanford a few weeks after that. Columbia, Cornell and others also will start sometime in February/March, I don’t believe Princeton sends out likely letters. Some letters will go to athletic recruits not picked up in the early rounds. In short, likely letters will start shortly and end mid-March.
I’m submitting a creative writing piece through the applicant portal. Would it qualify as academic work or miscellaneous?
Here is a link to Harvard’s page: https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/application-requirements/supplemental-application-materials
it doesn’t specifically say which one it could be however I see it as academic! Miscellaneous would, in my opinion, be resumes and other documentation.
Sorry that I couldn’t give much help!!!
Hey guys I just finished my Harvard Interview and I enjoyed myself so much!
What are likely letters?