<p>Harvard is a BIG reach for me, but I applied because I thought I had nothing to lose, "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take", etc. However, I wasn't considering the interview. The guy called me last night to schedule one and I am freaking out. All I can think about is the scene is Risky Bussiness where the interviewer tells him hes "not princeton material" and tom cruise is just like "what the f***" and leaves, but i don't think I can do that, and even if I could run a high-end call girl service it still wouldn't get me in. </p>
<p>Any advice on how to present myself without making a fool of myself? And is he going to tell me whether he thinks I can get in or not or is he just going to be nice?</p>
<p>Now, what is the one thing you always hear about movies? THat they are nothing like real life! So stop freaking yourself out, you'll be fine!</p>
<p>Act confident (make eye contact, smile, sit up straight, all that good stuff), and realize that they only want to know more about you and your activities. Have answers ready for basic questions like "Why Harvard?" and "What do you have that other applicants don't?" You'll do awesome, no worries! :)</p>
<p>There are occasional asinine interviewers in the world, but most alumni interviewers for Harvard and any other college are nice and want to help you. Generally, their experience will be that no one they interview ever gets in anyway. (Think about it -- Harvard accepts about 6% of applicants, and hardly any interviewer does as many as 20 interviews a year. More like 5. So, on average, you might see one admitted student every fourth year.)</p>
<p>I was worried about the same thing with my Yale interview. I promise, you will be FINE. Look online and see if you can find some practice/sample college interview questions and have someone ask you them. Try and answer them on the spot, as clearly and concisely as you can. Also, don't be afraid to let your unique qualities show. It will benefit you greatly if you don't give the stereotypical student responses to their questions. Lastly, come prepared with questions that you would like answered about the school. It's a great way to give the interviewer more insight into your personality. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Every year the Princeton alumni interview coordinator in our town jokes about the movie Risky Business at the Princeton information session. As written above, movies are not like real life.</p>
<p>Yeah, you need to relax. I just had mine today, and Harvard is a pretty big reach for me too. My interviewer was really nice. We had a super nice chat, he barely talked about my grades, and only because he had asked for a copy of my common app. We talked about imperialism, anthropology, government, the peace corps. The interview is where you can talk about what kind of person you are and what you will bring to the university, not how bad you did on the SAT or all the C's you got sophomore year (hypothetically speaking). If you're really concerned, explain that there is more than you than test scores and a GPA. Harvard is looking for diversity, not just the same elite students over and over again. Good luck!</p>
<p>The interview is not a test of your academic prowess or the worthiness of your stats. The AdComm will do that. The purpose of the interview is to make sure you are not some spastic psycho savant who will suck all energy out of the campus and eventually end up in a tower with a rifle and create a public relations crisis for the university. Based on the fact that you are worrying about this, I suspect you are none of those. As previous posters suggest, just be yourself, have an opinin about some of the news stories of the day, know what non-academic book you last read and enjoyed, where you plan to be in 10 years, you know... blah blah yadda yadda... and DO NOT ask a question that can be answered by going to the main page at [url=<a href="http://www.harvard.edu%5DHarvard">http://www.harvard.edu]Harvard</a> home<a href="%22So,%20does%20Harvard%20have%20any%20statues?%22">/url</a> and contrary to what someone abobve suggested I'd avoid politics except to say "Yes, I wish Obama the best of luck; he will need it." or whatever). I am kind of liberal and my Harvard interviewer was quite clearly more on the conservative side. Again, it made no difference but keeping the interview on center is important. You should DEFINTELY be ready to address your shortcomings if the interviewer probes, though. Good luck. You'll really do fine. It is pretty basic.</p>
<p>Edit: PS - Extra points for the Risky Business reference. One of my favorite movies from the 1980's. And I am pretty sure it is the first movie I ever watched with my Dad where they dropped the F-bomb.</p>
<p>haha same umbofever! My parents were like "ohh this is such a funny movie, my friends and I loved this when we were in college" so we sit down to watch it and it was MEGA awkward, the f bomb wasn't the worst part, but the sex scenes? hahaha</p>