<p>Is it true that Harvard alumni interviewers will hear early if the applicants they have interviewed are accepted? I vaguely remember my interviewer saying that she would be so excited to be the first to let me know if I got in. We really hit it off, and I just felt like she understood everything about me and was going to do everything she could to get me in. Believe me, she was not the cookie cutter Harvard grad either. After our interview, we talked by her car while she smoked a cigarette and then wanted to meet my parents and tell them how incredible they were in raising me. I cried, my sisters cried, and my parents cried bc of how great it felt to be commended after all of our struggles, especially by a women of her status. Even if I get rejected, this experience has allowed me to see I will succeed no matter what.</p>
<p>I have never heard of alumni interviewers getting early knowledge of their interviewees’ admittance, but I’ll let actual interviewers here confirm that. As for:</p>
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<p>Just curious, do you think it is atypical for a Harvard grad to smoke cigarettes or to be enthusiastic? In any case, congrats on the good interview!</p>
<p>If she’s a chair of a local schools committee, she may learn of acceptances a day or so early, but the two chairs of two different committees in my region whom I have asked have told me that they do not find out early. In my region interviewers are told about a day or two after interviewees have been notified of admission, so that we can make a congratulatory phone call.</p>
<p>I defer to an actual H interviewer as well. I interview for a peer college. For my college, interviewers are NEVER told the results beforehand – actually a few days after. Expressly to avoid the scenario where the student finds out from anything besides the official source. (Interviewers are NEVER the official source)</p>
<p>MacW, your interviewer has instructions not to tell you if she hears early; perhaps this is another reason why she is atypical. I am glad you hit it off with her, but still, don’t take up smoking. :)</p>
<p>Lol, believe me, I will not take up smoking. It was not just the smoking that threw me off, but when she expressed a few vulgar words about how unfair the education system is for someone like me (poor white boy in a small town) as opposed to other applicants in larger schools. She wasn’t a radical in any sense, but realistic, and extremely down to earth. She was very refreshing and calmed my nerves instantly. She had talked about being in a committee where all the other interviewers bragged about their interviewees who had composed an orchestra, wrote a book (not putting down by the way, just really unbelievable) or name-dropped and said that she would be glad to share my story and struggles amongst others.</p>
<p>Smoking? Vulgarities? Social awareness?</p>
<p>Well, crap, doesn’t this woman realize that all Harvard graduates are supposed to act like Thurston Howell III? (Except, for extra snootiness, we’re supposed to prefer writing it, “Thurston Howell, 3d.”)</p>
<p>Seriously, though, I think you may be overestimating the weight of an alumni interview in Harvard’s admissions process. And if you believe she told you she’d give you advance notice of your decision, then either she misrepresented how connected she is to the process, or you misunderstood her.</p>
<p>This year for regular action, decisions will be emailed to students March 28th; interviewer regional chairs will be able to see the decision lists for their region in the morning of March 29th; individual interviewers won’t know officially of any decisions unless their chair informs them March 29th or later - or if one of their interviewees contacts them about his/her own personal outcome.
And there is typically a blackout period of no initiating contact in the immediate few days after students are notified; of course if a student contacts his/her interviewer first, then that’s fine. Interviewer chairs use their discretion in notifying interviewers of decisions in the first few days.</p>
<p>To MacW2013: I am so glad you had a great experience with your interviewer. It’s a great privilege for us interviewers to meet and connect with the many wonderful students who apply to Harvard. Best of luck to you!</p>