<p>Hey, I know there has been a big discussion on second interviews, but this case might be a bit different... usually second interviews are in January or so (judging by the posts), but I had one just last week, on March 17 (I was actually contacted for the interview that same day). Did this happen to anybody else? I thought admissions decisions were done by now... is there any significance in having the second interview so close to the actual day?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Why don’t you look back at the discussion on second interviews?</p>
<p>Basically: Of course there’s significance in having a second interview at this point. Most of the decisions are already made; no one would be bothering to do anything unless it mattered to someone making a decision. So the good news is you are a serious candidate for admission – unlike, at this point, about 92% of applicants. The bad news is that, as of last week, you were still on the bubble, not in yet. There are things they wanted to know about you that they didn’t know yet, and you don’t know what those things were. Maybe it was just to see if you could speak like a gentleman; maybe it was to gauge more precisely what your interests really are. In any event, they have what they want to know now.</p>
<p>Based on unscientific and unverified memory of watching what happened in prior years, and with no promise of statistical validity, I think people who get last-minute interviews at Harvard have a pretty high chance of getting accepted.</p>
<p>I believe that you are actually wrong about the timeline about the second interview invites. My daughter’s year they began about mid-Feb and continued into March. </p>
<p>I keep posting the following thread from that year.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/652256-second-interview.html?highlight=second+interview[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/652256-second-interview.html?highlight=second+interview</a></p>
<p>JHS explained your situation well. The nice part is you must not yet be in the discard pile yet also not in the admit pile. There is another post or thread I did somewhere that worked through the results of CCers in that situation. All I recall was that the % of second interview admits, though not 100%, was certainly a lot higher than the admit rate of the application pool as a whole. (if you feel like going through my old posts you may find it - I may even try a search right now and if I get lucky I will post)</p>
<p>I did some searches.</p>
<p>Here is a thread where I asked CCers to posts their experiences:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/681646-significance-late-multiple-harvard-interviews.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/681646-significance-late-multiple-harvard-interviews.html</a></p>
<p>Here is the one that I attempted to do the math (see post #5):
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/775232-harvard-interview-questions.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/775232-harvard-interview-questions.html</a></p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Uh oh, I’m in trouble then…</p>
<p>Second interviews are requested when more information is needed to make a decision. The timing will vary according to the schedule of the adcom subcommittee meetings. And it would be correct to infer that a second interview in mid-March means you probably have not been rejected nor accepted at that point, and that your application must present a strong candidate. But there will be many other strong candidates whose applications are still alive, making for many difficult decisions, so a late second interview is no guarantee of anything. Good luck in the meantime! The wait is almost over.</p>