Harvard Interview

<p>Do you mind posting your stats, bnx? :)</p>

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Clearly that's your job. You have made this place so much better by acting like an ass.

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<p>Better an ass than a milquetoast, I say.</p>

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It's also funny because I was the only person of my class who tested out of freshman english.

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<p>Well, you know what that means about your English test...</p>

<p>hey janel:</p>

<p>thanks for your fast reply. haha, I don't know if my stats would really be all that helpful, though. my high school stats are pretty good: a lot of ec's; good, but not stellar gpa; 1390 sat...My college gpa is substantially higher (3.9 after 3 semesters) and I go to a top 30 LAC.</p>

<p>can we call harvard and request interviews? i want one...</p>

<p>you reaally want one? i'm sort of nervous. i was really hoping that i wouldn't get one haha</p>

<p>Le sigh, For Shag. We go to state schools, we are not worthy. Notice how those picked all go to great schools -- UPenn, a top 30 LAC. Last year, it was Wesleyan and UW-Madison. They try to catch the big fish with the interviews, I would guess.</p>

<p>I'm a little disturbed, however, by this tendency for students already in great schools to have an automatic upper-hand. They assume that, if a student is at great school already, and has maintained a high gpa, that they have had to do more work. When, in reality, it is the students at the state schools who are subjected to unjust grade deflation and grading-policies. In addition, we were not put in the nurturing and encouraging environment that kids at top schools were; we had to continually try twice as hard to stay motivated amongst a sea of idiots who seem to inevitably drag you down. </p>

<p>Oh but I complain too much.</p>

<p>A.MEN, janel! and geez, i feel dumb, i turned down uw-madison for UVM. i really wanted to be in new england. hang in there, we'll get outta here! yeah, the screeching of drunk, fake tanned girls down the hallway has reached new heights. eeeesshhh</p>

<p>and bnx, oh my god i'll take yours if you don't want it. you get to sell yourself to harvard!! sell yourself hard and good luck!</p>

<p>haha..see that's just the thing. i feel like i shouldn't "sell myself" tooo hard. as much as i desire my interviewer to write me a good recommendation, i feel selling myself or going out of my way to impress my interviewer will just get me a less favorable rec.</p>

<p>i know this is fictional (and very much inteded to be taken as a joke), but i found that this website seems to illustrate this pretty well. lemme know what you think...</p>

<p><a href="http://www.yankeepotroast.org/archives/2005/08/the_worst_harva_1.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.yankeepotroast.org/archives/2005/08/the_worst_harva_1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>i'm not too familiar with ivy league alumni interviews...i've relaly only had one before this and it was over two years ago... i guess i'm extra worried for this one as harvard selects transfer candidates to be interviewed, whereas for high school applicants everyone gets an interview. it makes me think that the transfer interview can really make you or break you...</p>

<p>nevermind about the website. now that i read it in its entirity, i see that it is really just meant to be a joke and doesn't even really apply to what i am saying! haha...sorry for the confusion.</p>

<p>That's ok... it was a riot. Lol!</p>

<p>so, do you guys have any suggestions for making the best of your interview?</p>

<p>Be yourself.</p>

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so, do you guys have any suggestions for making the best of your interview?

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<p>Yeah shut up and stop worrying. Seriously. From your stats, I can tell that you are a very geniune and humble person. My guess is that there was something about your personality that they liked. The fact that you aren't pretencious about the interview but nervous says a lot about you. I wish I could get this in your head, but I know deep down inside you are a cool cat, and I am willing to bet anything that your interviewer will think the same as me.</p>

<p>I'm not going to tell you to relax, because I am just some dude on the internet that you don't know and my words mean nothing. So instead, I am going to tell you to just roll with it. If you are worried, then be worried. If you are anxious, then be anxious. If you are scared, then be scared. Ultimately, it's not going to make a difference because your overriding character trumps any transient insecurities. </p>

<p>Just focus on doing the interview. Don't even worry about how you do it. I'm not saying show up in Fubu with a bunch of hookers, but I am saying that your natural style will dominate more than any insecurities. </p>

<p>You were granted an interview from Harvard. There is more to your personality than you recognize.</p>

<p>Later</p>

<p>janel, what do you mean by "Last year it was Wes. and UW-Madison"</p>

<p>Students from Wesleyan and UW-Madison were given interviews.</p>

<p>oh man. I just received an e-mail inviting me for an interview at their office -- as in, Byerly Hall (I go to Tufts). Ah. My GPA is only a 3.52 btw. nerves!</p>

<p>congrats, confetti! who was your email from? what did it say?</p>

<p>Ah, I remember being in this situation. Nspeds, long time no chat.</p>

<p>Martinibluex: I enjoy how you feel that by reading a few past posts of mine (and poorly so, it seems) you presume to know exactly the circumstances regarding my transfer acceptance to Harvard last year or--<em>cough</em> <em>cough</em>--my "alleged" acceptance, as you maturely insinuated. Well bravo. If reading past posts automatically makes one omniscient in LIFE, than all us collegeconfidential denizens would be fricking psychics. And then we would ALL get into Harvard. Because we would ROCK.</p>

<p>I was admitted to Harvard, I was not waitlisted (but apparently making a general inquiry to the message board asking if people were taken off a waitlist--even though other people were asking the SAME QUESTION--means that I was), and I recieved an early notification of my decision because other universities I applied to had attendance decision deadlines. My circumstances were special. Deal.
And just because YOU wouldn't turn down an acceptance to Harvard doesn't mean no one else would. Duke was more fitting for what I wanted to study, and I'm simply not one of those sad little Harvard brand-mongers who think all non-Harvard colleges suck at life. And if this mystifies you or you assume that people in admissions laugh at the idea of people not picking <em>Harvard</em>--ze horrors!! ze will be eating out of ze dumpsters!--again, deal. Or not. Stay in your little bubble. It's much more scary out here in real life.</p>

<p>Oh, and if anything, I toned down my EC list. Be nice or I'll sic la Lohan on you. Or maybe Ashlee Simpson. She won't beat you up, but her voice will make your head explode.</p>

<p>--Peace.</p>

<p>and good luck to all you people w/ interviews. don't be nervous--don't bring a copy of your resume/EC list, ect. because your interviewer is sent a copy of your application. i brought pictures of my family because i talked about them alot in my essays, and that helped b/c my interviewer asked about them.</p>

<p>also, a very good strategy: at the end of your interview ask straight out if your interviewer thinks you'd be a good fit for Harvard--that forces them to formulate their opinion of you right there, and you'll know what it is.</p>

<p>does anyone think perhaps these interviews are what they say they are-- for people who they feel they actually need more information about? combined, my esasys to harvard were about 12 single spaced pages, but perhaps not everyone they are interested in a) lives in an area where there is an interviewer or b) has left the committee feeling as though they need more info?</p>

<p>just hoping.</p>