Interview next Sunday! Wish me luck, I’m so nervous!
@ammoopi Good luck!
What do you guys do to prepare for interviews?
@kuriosmind thank you
@ammoopi good luck! 
@pnguon thank you
@kuriosmind I don’t know if this will help but for my interview (with Emory) I was able to find some general questions online and practiced with those. Also, on my own time I just talked to myself and tried to come up with questions and answers they may ask of me. A common one seems to be “why ( name of univesity)?” To me, I practiced this a little but when it came to the real one I just acted like myself…but then again, some people aren’t used to giving alot of presentations so it can’t hurt to run it by someone to get some feedback. Don’t worry! You’ll do great! 
My interviewer didnt ask me any questions like those. We basically went through my resume and talked about each of my activities. No “why Harvard” or anything of the like
@kuriosmind Find someone who will give you an interview that’s purposely very difficult. Practice with them. It’ll make the actual interview pale in comparison. I’m naturally very shy, so I had a teacher who I know is very overpowering in his demeanor ask me questions in front of my class. It made the actual interview go very smoothly. Also prepare answers for common questions, like why you want to go to H (they probably won’t ask this question specifically, but in preparing this answer, you can probably answer several other questions), or what you’re passionate about. Make your 10-year plan and make sure you know it to the best extent you can plan it out. Then, just be remember to be yourself and relax. Don’t be stressed out all week over an upcoming interview.
@BlackHuntress @XoXdreamerXoX Thanks guys! I don’t know why I’m so nervous about Harvard. I’ve had interviews for Yale and Columbia and they’ve both gone well with almost no preparation. Harvard just seems unobtainable on a whole other level. I wish us all the best of luck!
@kuriosmind thanks for the info. How did you find out? And are there anyways that we can find out if our applications will be considered in March? Would having an interview with alumni be an indication? Hmm.
Yay. I finally got contacted for an interview. I’m slightly less concerned now.
@kuriosmind
Honestly, I ended up not prepping for my interview too much at all. My interview was really short notice and I knew that if I tried to prep really intensely, I would only stress myself out. That said, what little prep I did do ended up helping tremendously. I basically researched college interview questions and wrote down my answers to them to organize my thoughts. That was it for prep. My interview went great, but a lot of that is luck of the draw on who interviews you.
A couple of other things I did that proved helpful:
- I realized that I had no idea what my interviewer looked like and that she did know what I looked like, so I was a little worried about recognizing her. A couple of hours before the interview, I sent her an email basically saying that I was going to get to the place early to make sure we got a table, that I was wearing a plaid shirt so that it would be easy to spot me, and that here was my cell phone number again in case she needed it. Obviously, whether or not you decide to do this will be up to the personal vibes you get from your interviewer and where you are meeting, but mine seemed to appreciate it and it eliminated any initial awkwardness.
- Be yourself. Take your own personality into the interview. Show that you are a young adult who can have an articulate and intelligent conversation. This was my main strategy because of the limited amount of time I had to prepare and it worked out okay. From the sound of it, there are bad interviewers out there, but I do believe that most love the school and want to help prospective students, not hinder them.
- Bring your resume. Somehow, I missed this suggestion and ended up wishing I had mine with me when she asked.
An experienced interviewer is unlikely to ask “Why Harvard.” That Harvard is one of your top choices, if not the top choice, is pretty much assumed.
Did you two receive confirmation that your application was complete even though your midyear reports aren’t in? Harvard found my letters of recommendation and they are listed as being received, but I still haven’t gotten email confirmation. I’m wondering if I should call Harvard to make sure there aren’t any problems?
If your deferred SCEA does that mean you automatically go to committee RD?
@love2bnana No, that seems very unlikely because there is such a wide range in deferred applicants, from “almost admit” to “almost deny”. Your regional admissions officer will take another look at your application and compare it with the rest of the RD pool and decide if you will go to committee.
@kuriosmind - Thank you.
I just got contacted for an interview as well today. Hopefully things will go well!
Is it bad if I haven’t been contacted for an interview?