<p>I have been contacted about an interview later this month. My interviewer asked me to forward to him the following info via email within 24 hours.</p>
<p>A full transcript, all official score reports, two graded papers, my BC calc final from two years ago, my Harvard essays, and a sheet with some personal data. Is this at all typical?</p>
<p>No. The guy sound anal and insecure.</p>
<p>Wow. Your guy wants to know you very well..</p>
<p>Are you sending them?</p>
<p>Who even has all this stuff electronically? How do you forward "a full transcript," which has to come from your HS, or "official score reports," when the only way they are "official" is if they come from the CollegeBoard? And your Calc BC final?? -- Did you even get a copy of this two years ago? </p>
<p>I think the guy is trying to intimidate you but he really doesn't know what he's talking about.</p>
<p>During a job interview, I was once "intimidated" by a Harvard MBA. He told my my NYU MBA wasn't really worth all that much. Totally left me sputtering, and I didn't get the job. Perhaps he's trying to do something similar to you.</p>
<p>Don't let him get away with it!!!</p>
<p>And I love this pressure: ". . . within 24 hours." Good grief.</p>
<p>My daughter usually brings a copy of her resume with her to her interview. One of her interviewers (not from Harvard) actually said that he didn't want to read it before he writes his report on her, because he didn't want to be tainted by what's on her app already. I think your interviewer is being lazy, instead of submitting his impression of you, he is using your written information for his report. I would be torn about sending them. You may want to PM Northstarmom, I think she is an interviewer for Harvard.</p>
<p>But if OP wants to go to Harvard, and this is his one and only interview for Harvard, and the interviewer is requesting this stuff . . . shouldn't he at least attempt to comply? I think he should, without getting all crazy about it if he can't (and he can't, since he can't send "official" anythings). I think the interviewer is a jerk, but OP's gotta deal with that.</p>
<p>VeryHappy - I totally agree with you. It's unreasonable, but it would be easier to send it to him than to argue about it.</p>
<p>No. The OP should contact the admissions office and mention the interviewer's requests and ask for another interviewer. What the interviewer is asking is inappropriate. Transcript? We never saw our S's transcript. It went straight from his school to Harvard. Two graded papers? Why? He's only an interviewer! The BC Calc final? Does he want to regrade it?<br>
I think the adcom should thank him for his services and say goodbye.</p>
<p>I already sent the stuff, since we have all of it available thru email, whether "official" or not. We pass out unofficial reports and transcripts all the time at our school. The counselor loves the help. Calc final was the only issue. </p>
<p>I just wondered if this was normal. Clearly not normal based upon the replies. But i have nothing to hide, so no big deal. Thank you for all the replies.</p>
<p>When you actually have the interview, I think you can expect this guy (and it is a guy, not a girl, I guarantee everyone!) to try to intimidate you and put you down and make you nervous. He will belittle your accomplishments and harp on some less-than-perfect grade or score that you have. He will ask you arrogantly, "Why do YOU think you're worthy enough to go to Haaaaah-vaaaard?"</p>
<p>Just be prepared and don't let him rattle you.</p>
<p>Update us once you have the interview. I'm curious as all get-out to see if I'm right.</p>
<p>And good luck.</p>
<p>Wow that is quite scary.</p>
<p>I know that our school would give us a hard time about obtaining a transcript. They would probably say, wait in line and come back next month.</p>
<p>The purpose of the interview is for the interviewer to make his or her own impression of you and then convey to Harvard whether or not you would be a good fit for the school. Harvard already has your transcript and SAT scores. They already have your essays and recommendations. They do not want the interviewer to act as an admission officer and make a decision based on your application if you should be accepted. Rather, they are there to see if you are a good fit based on how you present yourself. They look to see if you are articulate,and how interested you are in the school. But mostly they want to get a sense of who you are, what your accomplishments are and what your passions are. They ask questions such as what do you see as your biggest strengths and weaknesses, what excites you, what are your interests and hobbies, whom do you most admire, if you could change one thing about your school experience what would that be? Then after the interview they write a recommendation that tells the admission officer what their impressions were.
While I have heard on this cc site that there are some interviewers who might inquire about gpa and SAT scores, most interviewers at the ivy league and other selective schools including Harvard do not ask these questions. The reality is that most applicants have competitive scores and grades or they would not have applied. They are not there to write up a recommendation based on what you have presented in the application. They are there to give the last component to the application and that is to convey who you are in person.
You do not want to be critical of the intereviewer in case they still interview you after you indicate what they requested. I would call or email your regional admission officer and say you were asked for this information and it seemed unusual and you were just wondering if it is standard. If it is not standard, you might ask the regional admission officer if you could get another interviewer. You definitely dont want the interviewer to think you complained about him in the event he still has to interview you</p>
<p>My S had a Harvard alumni interview. He was not asked to bring anything. However, he chose to bring a resume. The interview consisted of talking about housing, the social scene at Harvard, the interviewer's own experience (she was a fairly recent graduate), and, after she glanced at my S's resume, a discussion of one of his hobbies. She also shared some advice and tips about Harvard. All in all, it took 45 minutes. He had a similar experience with the MIT interviewer.
This interviewer is out of bounds.</p>
<p>maybe this is some type of twisted way of judging your personality?</p>
<p>As in he wants to see if you follow directions all the time or do you call BS?</p>
<p>I've found that most interviewers ask you resume questions at front for the first 10 minutes and they write down everything (every AP score, even though your college knows what they are). They do it, in my opinion, to get you to settle down and ease a little (it's possible :)) as you restate numbers, etc. After that preliminary, they begin the discussion and the excitement brews. To put in a positive light, maybe this guy simply wants to get to the interesting talk without further ado. So get ready for some quick, earthy talk and be prepared for challenging questions.</p>
<p>I was asked to bring a resume and unofficial transcript. Once I arrived, I was asked to list my SATI subscores, SATII scores, and AP scores. I don't know if that was normal either since most of the other interviews I've had didn't involve scores or grades.</p>
<p>Tell the admissions office about it</p>
<p>The problem with asking for a new interviewer is that may be impossible to accomplish. Believe me on this: There are lots of applicants, and in many areas, there aren't too many alum or many alum willing to volunteer hours of their time to interview even one applicant.</p>
<p>I suggest sending what you have, explaining why you couldn't send anything else, and then going to the interview. If there are problems with the interview, however, then let admissions know.</p>
<p>"Problems" would mean the person doing something like giving you a history test or grilling you about calculus. If the interviewer is reasonably appropriate, don't complain to admission, though you might want your GC to let Harvard know about the amount of paperwork that the person wanted you to provide. That's unreasonable, but a new interviewer may not realize that, and Harvard could tactfully let the interviewer know what is appropriate.</p>