<p>Yeah, I had to send my SAT scores in an interview form by e-mail from the San Francisco Harvard Club.</p>
<p>My interviewer did not ask for SAT scores. He did not ask for me to bring a resume. He wanted to learn things about me that could not be learned from my application. The interview went really well. It was at his house, a very comfortable setting. He says he does not see applications, but he must get a little write-up about students because he asked me about journalism (a passion of mine) at the beginning of the interview.</p>
<p>Had my interview a week or so ago. Was a general chat about my academics and extracurriculars *there was no sign of a structured interview at all. Interview lasted for about one and a half hours with him, and had a similar amount of time talking with him and his wife outside of the interview.</p>
<p>He wanted me to write out a CV and bring my SAT scores along to the interview, so he wrote very little, which was great.</p>
<p>Good luck with everyone else's that are coming up!</p>
<p>"He says he does not see applications, but he must get a little write-up about students because he asked me about journalism (a passion of mine) at the beginning of the interview."</p>
<p>He may have Googled you before the interview or he may know someone who knows you.</p>
<p>My interviewer tested my social/political awareness with questions like, what do you think is the role of the US in the world?</p>
<p>I have the impression that Harvard values interviews more than most other schools, because everyone gets interviewed for Harvard.</p>
<p>haha I had to fill out a "pre interview resume" in which I lists everything...SAT, GPA, AP, ECs, you name it. and my interviewer just asked me questions based on the sheet :P</p>
<p>At first I was very nervous about my interview, especially while I waited for the woman in a very formal lawyer's office. I was expecting a stern woman, but in fact she was very welcoming and easy to talk to. We started our converstation off of the interview form I filled out and as we talked she asked more questions. The interview was about an hour and not as formal as expected. I dressed as I would dress to school and in NO way was it me sitting in an uncomfortable chair while an interviewer coldly asked me questions. Relax and just have a comfortable conversation with the interviewer.</p>
<p>I was extremely nervous when I found out that my interviewer had gone to Harvard for undergrad and Yale for law school. My nerves didn't subside when my car broke down on the way to his house. I was convinced that I was having the worst day of my life. Oh yeah...and it was raining. And when I say raining I am not referring to sprinkling, I'm talking monsoon.</p>
<p>Luckily, once I arrived (both late and sopping) the interview went really well. Not once did I get asked the question, "why harvard"? or "why you"? Instead, we had a fairly casual coversation about international relations, books, my extracurriculars, and the Colts. He seemed engaged and promised to write me a very favorable recommendation. Afterwards, we went out for coffee to discuss a personal research project that I am currently working on.</p>
<p>My interview was with a scientist from the EPA. It was at his house, or mansion rather, and I don't think it could have gone better. I basically told him about myself, with his prodding, my heritage, my academics, my goals. We concluded with the statement that Harvard would be a perfect place for me. I hope the adcom sees this when they read his letter.</p>
<p>Wow, it looks like you guys have had a fairly personal interview. I have my interview at a private school that's sort of far away from me. I'm expecting it to be an interview en masse with many interviews going on at once too, as I had to RSVP for my interview and whatnot. </p>
<p>It should go well, I hope. I doubt my interview will be longer than an hour given that it's at 8 pm. </p>
<p>Anyone else have anything similar to this? If so, how did it go?</p>
<p>I had a similar experience. My interview was at the UC San Diego campus, about 20 minutes from my house. There were about 20 of us interviewing at a time, and they shuttled the next twenty in to interview the next hour, right after we finished. I was kind of annoyed, because my interviewer and I were still talking and the President of the harvard club rushed us to finish for the next group.</p>
<p>It's understandable given how many students are applying; they want to fit everyone in. Still, my my personal interviews with G-Town, Princeton, and the Penn and Duke ones to come are more personable and a better environment, I think.</p>
<p>HELP - I have my interview coming up this Friday.</p>
<p>What are the so called "standard questions" like for colleges?</p>
<p>My only college interviews so far have been for the Service Academy admissions process, so the "standard questions" that they asked me I'm sure are quite different than that of Harvard. I'm fairly certain Harvard won't ask me how I feel about the posiblity of dying for my country and how I would lead in a particular combat senario.</p>
<p>What did you guys wear / what should I wear?</p>
<p>For the Service Academies suit and tie was the norm.</p>
<p>my interview was so chill!!! we barely talked about college. the interviewer was genuine, friendly, and enthusiastic. He really made me want to go to Harvard!! I would love the chance.</p>
<p>I've had two kids go through a bunch of interviews, and never thought of it as a source of anxiety at all. I told my son and daughter to use it to ask the interviewer questions about the experience the interviewer had at a school, and think about whether the school was a good fit for them. I haven't heard from either of them that interviewers took notes, and it would have felt inappropriate to get into scores or grades or anything else that admissions already has.</p>
<p>The Harvard interviewer told my daughter to let her know when she has a music concert, that she would like to come, but my daughter probably won't. It's fine. I think she should invite whomever she wants to a concert, whatever feels comfortable and natural for her, and not let admissions anxiety take over her life.</p>
<p>Interviews aren't even required anymore. It should be a relaxed, enjoyable conversation that helps you evaluate a school, and lets them know a little about you as a person.</p>
<p>Interviews are given little weight in the admissions process; a great interview probably isn't going to help, because the majority of people do have great interviews. It is only the terrible interviews (antisocial, extremely shy, rude, or flippant applicant) that will have an effect on the applicant's admissions decision.</p>
<p>Actually, I think that great interviews can help, but I don't think that most students would know if they had a great interview. The kind of great interview that I think can help would be if important info came out during the interview that wasn't in the application.</p>
<p>I suspect that's what happened with one student whom I interviewed. By chance, the student whom I was assigned to interview was someone whom I had interviewed a couple of years before for a local opportunity with an organization I'm affiliated with. During the interview, I asked some questions about how she took advantage of the opportunity that she had received. What I found out (and this wasn't even on her activities list because she thought what she did was no big deal) was that she had done something that in our community was extraordinary (though would not have seemed extraordinary to Harvard admissions officers who are in a much more sophisticated environment). I also knew that what she had done was way above and beyond what any of the other students had done who had gotten the same opportunity that she had. </p>
<p>Anyway, I included all of that info in my interview report, which put what she did into context.</p>
<p>I'm not going to say what she did here because it's not that important. What is important, though, was that it was a community service project that she took on because she saw the need, not because she was trying to dress up her application. It also was a service project that took a lot of work, had the potential for a big impact, while also being the kind of thing that wasn't flashy and that one could do by oneself. </p>
<p>Later, while running a leadership workshop with local teens, as an icebreaker, I asked the teens to each talk about a peer whom they admired. One participant (who ended up getting the top leadership scholarship from our state flagship) named the student whom I had interviewed. His reasons? In addition to being a very nice person who got along with everyone, she was the type of person whom one could count on to pitch in and do whatever she could to help a cause.</p>
<p>Northstarmom, please give us more details about Harvard interviews for international applicants. There is no interviewer whom I can contact in my country, and other students told me that if your file is good enough, someone will e-mail you. When do interviewers contact you: mid-January, early February? I've heard thousands of versions and I'm really beginning to get butterflies in my stomach :D</p>
<p>I finished mine just few minutes ago. Im an international from Guatemala. It was the best interview I had ever had.</p>
<p>I am having my interview in a few days.....very nervous. I was wondering though if the interviewer sent a pre-interview page to fill out should I bring other materials with me?? Help!</p>
<p>I had mine over the weekend at my interviewer's house. She was an older woman, a head of one of the alumni organizations who typically coordinates interviews rather than runs them herself. However, there'd been a mishap where she'd forgotten to give my name to someone and was instead interviewing me herself. Because I knew she was fairly "important" and had probably done tons and tons of interviews, I was really really nervous. (So nervous, in fact, that well...you'll see.)</p>
<p>I went in, though, and the interview just went wonderfully. Our conversation flowed naturally as she asked me about my extracurriculars and my classes and my family and all of that. She would ask me more questions about specific things I brought up pertaining to my ECs as we went along, and it just worked off of there. She was also a math major, just as I plan to be, so we spent a good deal of time discussing that. None of the "why harvard" or "why you" questions; it was definitely not a predetermined set of questions. I asked her some questions as well and we generally just got along really well. The interview lasted for a little over an hour but didn't feel like it at all.</p>
<p>On the way out, she asked for my SAT scores and such (there was no pre-interview form) and wrote down some things I had mentioned. I also presented her with my activity sheet at this time; she said it was very helpful but that she was also glad I'd waited before giving it to her so that we could talk a little more "freely." She was from my town and said she'd never seen someone with my scores from this town and that she'd love to have a hometown person be accepted, which was really nice.</p>
<p>So I left feeling really content. Then comes the funny/annoying part, however. I go to my car to leave...and can't find my keys anywhere. I'm afraid I dropped them inside and would have to go back and look all over her house for them--how embarassing that would have been! But, no, I see my keys...on the seat of my car. I'd been so nervous, apparently, that I'd locked them in. I had to call my mom to come and open the door with the extra set, so needless to say, I felt pretty dumb by the end hah.</p>