<p>One of the things I'm most concerned about for my application is my interview component. Can any of you have already experience one tell me the questions I should expect and good ways of breaking the ice if my interview and I dont hit it off from the beginning?? Thanks.</p>
<p>i essentialy had like 2 or 3 questions asked to me
1. tell me about yourself
2. why do you participate in the EC's that you do
3. do you have any questions for me</p>
<p>just be personable and passionate about what you've done.</p>
<p>Come on, guys. There's got to be more to the interview than that! At least, more about the atmosphere/attitude of the alumni, or something.</p>
<p>Both of mine were very similar though one was at the diner and the other was at the guy's house, but they just asked the usual, what makes you interested in the major you have loosely selected, what do you enjoy doing for fun, what Ec's do you and enjoy and actively participate in, and the usual do you have any questions for me, and that's pretty much it, just being yourself is really the most important thing.</p>
<p>There's lots of info about Harvard interviews in the archives for this forum.</p>
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Come on, guys. There's got to be more to the interview than that! At least, more about the atmosphere/attitude of the alumni, or something.
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<p>i didn't think so because it's not like there's a winning formula to an interview other than giving it your best approach and trying to be a decent person, so it's not like you should overly worry/stress about it. interviewers are different just like the people being interviewed are different. be prepared but don't be fazed by it.</p>
<p>Yeah my interview was really laid back for Harvard but my Dartmouth interview was a much more intense and had 3 interviewers, be ready for anything, but be yourself :)</p>
<p>Calling it an "interview" just makes it seem more formal than it is. My "interview" was probably one of the nicest conversations I've had in quite some time. Just relax -- the interviewers are humans that had to go through the same thing when they applied to Harvard...</p>
<p>justwondering23, my interview was the same way, but dartmouth's wasnt so it varies</p>
<p>Completely depends on the interviewer.. mine was very very nice, but he asked me to compare the foreign policies of JFK and Clinton.. I really stumbled over that one.. rambled and rambled and rambled and finally ended with "Well, I'm kind of going around in circles here -- I'm not really sure what exactly I am trying to say." haha so yeah.. that was bad but otherwise, quite a fun conversation. And I was admitted, so it's OKAY if you mess up a little bit!</p>
<p>My interviewer asked me, among other, equally odd things, to analyze the labor policies of Wal-Mart with a special emphasis on the immigrant community and foreign workers from the health rights and fair labor etc. angle. He wanted me to talk about their sway in other countries and the future of the chain in general, how they got there, laws etc. limiting their power. So I ended up comparing them to the robber barons and just giving a brief overview of some of their stuff. He then asked about the North Korean and Iranian nuclear situation and wanted historical analysis and world-wide consequences to whatever Condi and the U.S. gov were saying at the point...Lots of current events talk. I was lucky that he didn't want to talk about Mozambique's president or something.</p>
<p>A good two hours of the interview were just politics. He was an administrator at another school, so we criticized the current school model, I talked about the downfalls in my school (he graduated from it years before), and then we finally talked about Harvard in general, and why I should go there. (He started recruiting me at that point.) </p>
<p>It was a four hour interview, but I found it was really just a great conversation with a few questions to "test" you at the beginning. I wasn't stressed out, and I think that helped me steer the conversation towards topics that I could really talk about.</p>
<p>haha wow, it sounds like you got "quizzed" in your interviews. I just wanted to let the OP know that I think that interviewers who "quiz" their interviewees are probably not the typical interview experience. I had 5 interviews, and mostly we talked about my work, and how it related to the work that the alumni interviewer was doing, or how my experiences related to each other, and that was it. It was fairly laid back... and fun! mine lasted about 1-2 hours each mostly because time was limited. Generally each time we both wished for more time to get to know each other.. but I did get to have lunch with my H interviewer after I got in!</p>
<p>I guess I just inspire "quizzing". All of my interviews involved that to some degree. However, I enjoyed the quizzing with my Harvard interviewer. We're really cool now, go out to baseball games, foreign films, and sunday brunch. Very cool guy and a great resource. I don't think we would've had such a politically oriented discussion, however, if I weren't a self-professed policy nut.</p>
<p>my havard interview was 45-60 minutes and we talked about me wearing a turban, my religion, classes at school, EC's and why i participate in them, and talked about watching a Red Sox game at Fenway and him learning how to play ice hockey, it was a pretty cool conversation</p>
<p>Divanny and all, do you think it the interviewer geared his/her questions to a subject, such as history or politics, if those are the applicant's intended major(s)? Thanks</p>
<p>Well, I applied as a math major, and I know that for most of my interviews they would ask me why I was interested/passionate in/about math, but nothing else really, though I'd figure that if they interviewer had a similar, if not the same major, that the interview would most likely revolve around said major as the subject at hand.</p>
<p>divanny is a little over the edge with interviews anyways what do you mean by interview .....</p>
<p>i hope highschool is not hard i have to take the sat II in ny freshmen year ^_^ and GLobal history</p>
<p>when i enter college i want to take Quantum physics and astro physics
i want to be a doctor </p>
<p>i hope global history is as fun as us history </p>
<p>my favorite unit was manifest destiny and imperialism and cold war and world war II and world war I and i favored the american revolution!</p>
<p>immigration was a good chapter</p>
<p>so by the way dont listen to divanny he appears to sound like a bit of a how should i say WEIRDO no offense to you divanny</p>
<p>I definitely pushed the political discussion, Cailg. He knew I was involved with debate and a lot of political organizations on campus - it all grew from there. For example, he asked me "what's one current event which you are passionate about" because I told him I planned on majoring in Government...I think if I had mentioned I was a science fanatic, it would've been steered in that direction.</p>
<p>scientist am i
i wana go to harvard thats one my hopes but not my dreams surprisingly i actually wana be a doctor thats my dream^_^</p>