<p>There’s a ton of myths floating around this thread. For US applicants, you may or may not get offered an interview based on the simple fact of whether or not there are enough volunteer alumni who live near you. Period. Harvard does not pre-sort applications. The zero chance kid who applied as a lark in your high school may already have been interviewed and you may never be called. It’s just coincidence. Names and lists are generated as your applications are processed. Then they are passed to different regions who pass them to individual interviewers. Some are quick to get to the names, some are slower. Some names never get to regions b/c there simply aren’t interviewers.</p>
<p>For international applicants, there seems to be anecdotal evidence of some pre-screening.</p>