Ok, so I applied to Harvard Early Action, and got deferred. During that time, I assumed that there were no interviewers in my area. However, now that the regular decision applications have been sent, I was still awaiting an interview request. I later found out that my friend (Who applied during regular decision) has already gotten an interview and I have not, and we are from the same school and area. My friend does have better scores, but our GPA and extracurriculars are somewhat similar. What can I do and how does this occur? I feel that an interview would enhance my application. Feel free to comment below.
There is nothing you can do about it. Your friend may have been assigned a completely different alumnus as an interviewer. These people work and have busy schedules. It’s possible that there simply hasn’t been enough time for your interviewer to get to you yet. Check your junk mail, just in case. Interviews ususally go on throughout Feb. Just wait it out.
Agree with above, you can’t do anything.
Alumni interviews are not dictated by the admissions committee, but rather the local alumni committees. Your scores/GPA/ECs do not play a role in deciding whether or not you get an interview. You just have to wait and see whether you will get an interview request.
Maybe you and your friend are applying to different majors and that impacts on who they assign to interview?
FWIW: Several years back, I received the below private message from a Harvard peer school alumni interviewer. Due to the ever increasing application numbers at Harvard, they might – stress MIGHT – be doing the same thing.
quick update: I will receive my application on March 30th. He is one of the top in the nation and got his acceptance early (He did not do restrictive EA because he did that for Stanford). He was definitely a High priority candidate then.