Interview

When does Harvard usually start contacting applicants about interviews? I submitted my app right before new years and this is the only school I haven’t heard from yet about an interview.

Plenty of time, don’t worry!

Are you an international student? Have you googled “Harvard international student interviews” and learned about which countries Harvard offers interviews in, and which countries Harvard requires students to initiate interviews?

I just had mine today (in a boardroom at the company my interviewer runs…talk about intimidating) and I only found out about it yesterday evening. Mine told me that they’ve had lots of trouble finding enough alumni this year though, which could be why it’s taking longer or why some people aren’t getting them. I’m in the UK btw

Thanks everyone for the responses! I’m a domestic student and I know several people from my area over the last few years that were offered interviews which was why I was wondering. Is there like a date that they usually try to have them completed by?

Do all applicants get an interview.? My D applied but just because we had a feevwaiver, her goal is good enough but not her scores. We figure she had no chance. Does anyone know if every applicant gets an interview or only the ones that made an initial cut?

^^ Harvard tries to interview every US domestic applicant and a limited number of international applicants.

The Admissions office passes a student’s name and contact information on to their local alumni chapter, which then randomly distributes the student names among their volunteer interviewers. The interviewer then contacts the student, usually by email, to schedule an interview. The amount of time it takes to be contacted by an interviewer depends on the number of applicants in a particular area and the number of alumni interviewers who have volunteered.

@gibby. Thank you, meant to say her gpa is good enough, not goals, lol. There is no chance she will get in but she wants to do the interview anyway. Odd as she is usually shy but will be good practice for her. Hate to waste the interviewers time however, had no idea about an interview or might not have applied. I believe I saw a resume sample you posted in another thread, great help, thank you.

The odds of any candidate getting in are slim to begin with. I have rarely felt that my time was wasted ( I am a Yale interviewer) except on the very few occasions when the interviewee showed zero interest within the first minutes of the interview. Then I have control over how much more time I need to spend with the candidate. Interviewers are all volunteers and almost all of us do this because we enjoy interacting with bright, young ambitious high school students. If your daughter has a sincere interest in Harvard, then she should take advantage of the whole experience. No one’s time would be wasted.

If I don’t hear from them soon should I contact them? Only reason I’m pushing is because I’m out of town the next two weekends after this one and I don’t know if my interviewer will be available on weekdays

^^ There is still plenty of time for your interviewer to contact you (all of February and the first 2 weeks of March), so I would wait to be contacted – unless you are an international student from a country where students need to initiate interviews: https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/what-we-look/interviews

FWIW: Several years back, I received the below private message from a Harvard peer school alumni interviewer. Due to increasing application numbers at Harvard, they might – stress MIGHT – be doing the same thing.