<p>The only prep I'd suggest for the Harvard interview, is the prep that one should already have done if one made a careful application: One should have taken the time to research Harvard to learn whether it seems like a good fit for you in terms of your personal and academic goals. Otherwise, prep is useless.</p>
<p>There shouldn't be any need to rehearse answers any more than there's a need to rehearse answers when, for instance, meeting with friends or friends' parents. The interviewer isn't out to get you. The interviewer is there to learn about you. </p>
<p>The only people who have to rehearse answers are those who used the application to portray a false impression of themselves. </p>
<p>Up until recently, it had been delightful for me to interview most Harvard applicants. That's because whether or not the students were likely to get in, they were interesting, nice people who were eager, even happy to have a conversation about themselves and their interests.</p>
<p>I keep seeing, though, more and more applicants who seem programmed. They speak without emotion or warmth, seem like they are just trying to make sure that they get out the "right"answer that they seem to have memorized under the tuteledge of a college consultant. They don't act as if they are relating to another human being, but to a step on the rung of the ladder to success.</p>
<p>My thoughts are that they probably have been living their life for years by doing things that they thought would impress Harvard instead of doing the things that they truly are interested in. When asked about their activities, they spit out a list as if the length and titles of their positions are what's impresssive, not what the human aspects of what they experienced -- friendships, personal growth, feeling that they made a difference in an organization.</p>
<p>I have heard alumni interviewers from across the country make similar complaints.</p>
<p>IMO it is far better to approach the interview as did the posters in posts 21, 22 -- and to let the interviewer see and connect with the real you -- than to present a false image. Showing the real you will probably result in a pleasant experience in which one feels that one connected with and was respected by another human being -- whether or not one is accepted (and no matter who you are, the odds always are long that you will be accepted). Showing a false you IMO would result in a much more painful experience.</p>
<p>I imagine that people who have twisted themselves into what they think is the person Harvard wants feel devastated when either they are admitted (and then wonder if the real them would have been admitted ) or are rejected and wonder if all of the false front building was for naught.</p>