Harvard University Class of 2023 SCEA Applicants

@nrsebayer, I am planning to major in physics and possibly astronomy

About 2 hours @adMITed

@lilyfulford You are a shoe in for admission from what i can see.

@Robbyb I agree!

@adMITed mine was an hour

Always nice to be positive, but unless one is a recruited athlete, there are very few shoo-ins for Harvard; Malia might have been the last one. Good luck, though.

Are long interviews good?

They’re not bad, but read nothing into it; some interviewers tend to have longer interviews than others.

what percentage of the applicants who are debated at the final committee get “lopped” off would you estimate? Anyone know approximately? I know it’s a lot in RD…

Is it unprofessional for an interviewer to say that I don’t think you have any trouble to get in?

Lol definitely don’t see myself as a shoo-in thanks for the confidence though! Just trying my best. @robbyb @x2019x I I agree with you @skieurope thanks for the luck!

@YaleMIT Don’t read too much into phrasing…my son’s interviewer said things such as “when you get to Harvard”…or “you’ll do great at Harvard” etc…He didn’t take it to heart as if it meant anything more than what it is.

Unprofessional? No. Unrealistic? Yes.

The biggest chunk gets “lopped off” before it ever makes it to final committee, IMO.

Unprofessional? No. Unrealistic? Yes

Making sense! I didn’t read too much into it, just wondering if interviewer has any instruction?

@lilyfullford Do you rank high in academics at your high school, say, a likely valedictorian? Sports? School student body leaders, too?

They do, and that’s not a sentence that would have been suggested as an appropriate closing remark.

If an applicant is a well qualified one, the local alumni interviewers do want the applicant succeed in getting accepted and their reports may weigh strongly in subcommittee deliberation. @YaleMIT If an experienced interviewer says you are likely to get in, I will read it as a sign they will strongly recommend you and you are likely to get in.

Yes, currently salutatorian, captain of two sports. Student council President, student mentoring leader, national honor society president still not a shoo in

@dataminer ^^

A Harvard interviewer should comment. I think they may get or are allowed to ask for more background info (my kids’ interviewer asked for resume, transcript and test scores), so they may have more facts to go on, but I am pretty sure they generally don’t have an indication from the AO where the applicant stands. Even with full stat’s, EC and award list, interviewers still can’t accurately predict acceptances with so many high achieving students getting denied each year. The only possible exceptions I can think of are: the kid is an athletic recruit and either the AO or the applicant has informed you so; the kid is “Malia”; the kid has some amazing national or international award(s); the AO has told you the kid is in (development or other special case) and you are asked to sell Harvard to the kid – if this occurs, and I think it is extremely rare, some other people at Harvard are already “selling” the kid.

I totally disagree with the comment above that a strong recommendation will likely get you in. I think too many applicants read way too much in their interviews, both in how much weight they are given and how strong of an assessment they will get.

@lilyfullford Given that a large percentage of admits come from New England, I peg your chance at 80%. Unless several Project 351 leaders are also academic wizards, which I think is impossible. I wonder how many kids from that selective 22 went to a private school (such as Andover) afterwards.