<p>My Harvard app was completed 3 months ago and I have not yet gotten an interview request. The nice lady at the ad office says they will be interviewing thru mid March. But still this waiting makes me nervous, especially since my best bud hit "submit" 2 seconds before the deadline and got an interview the very next day. I am just wondering if:
A. My application is so aweful it is already in the bottom of the reject pile.
B. My application is so spectacular they already accepted me without an interview.
or C. They are interviewing in order of a random number generator and I am number 34,000.
Anyone else in similar predicament?</p>
<p>Don’t worry…I think the interviews are based primarily on availability and a bit of randomness. Not being contacted for a interview does not mean that you are an unqualified applicant nor that you are a shoo-in. Harvard received a record number of applicants this year and so they are probably struggling to arrange interviews for everyone. I would just wait patiently and not worry too much about it. If it makes you feel any better, I know a girl who was interviewed by Harvard and got waitlisted but who was not interviewed by Columbia nor Princeton and got accepted. The point is that whether you get contacted for an interview has very little impact on your admission decision.</p>
<p>Interviews are handled by local Harvard clubs, not by admissions, so no matter what admissions thinks of you, that won’t control whether and when you get an interview.</p>
<p>I wasn’t contacted by an interviewer so I got in touch with the office myself and it turned out that I had already been assigned to an interviewer a while ago but he had failed to contact me for some reason. So I was reassigned and now have an interview scheduled for February 23rd. You should try that.</p>
<p>Wow - those are three very useful, very insightful responses to get within two hours! CC still amazes me sometimes. :)</p>
<p>Do not worry beacuse you have not gotten an interview. Just have hope and pray to God and ask for his help.</p>
<p>^^^ God helps those who take the initiative to contact the Admissions Office and ask if they should have been assigned an interview time yet.</p>
<p>Yes I do ask God for guidance and encouragement. But according to the nice woman who answers the phone, they simply sent a list of applicants to the local alumni association and volunteers, and beyond that there is nothing she can do. My name was not specifically assigned to anyone. She was somewhat surprised because they do try to run interviews “first come first serve.” I guess I will just have to be patient. BTW I completed my Yale app at the same time and only got contacted last week.</p>
<p>^ then ask God to strike whichever interviewer is supposed to be assigned to you with incurable procrastination. The interview is NOT your friend. If you have a great interveiw, it is irrelevant as it is expected, and if you have a horrid interview admissions takes note. There is only downside to an interview.</p>
<p>This process is not unlike the Japanese business system of personnel evaluation often written about in the 80s. Greatness is irrelevant – complete absence of objectionableness is the goal … i.e. the nail that sticks up is hammered down.</p>