I had my interview this week, and the woman first asked where my siblings went to college. I accidentally told her that my brother was in graduate school, because he was just accepted to grad school, but in reality he’s an undergraduate. Is it probable that she would write that I said this in my assessment? Additionally, I asked her about “majors” instead of “concentrations”, and I said residential colleges instead of “houses”. These seem like minor mistakes, but will this really hurt my chances? I did know a good amount about Harvard and the academics there, but I slipped on Havard lingo.
Please don’t overthink this. The interviewer is trying to get a sense of who you are and what makes you tick. She is not testing you on word choices. Since most colleges use the word major it is perfectly understandable that you would use it in your question. Also, she knows that you are nervous and trying hard to make a good impression and understands that you will make occasional slip-ups. No one is grading you on these things. Just relax and move on to the next thing. Good luck!
^^ Just try to picture a huge room full of AO’s thinking about the 30,000 applicant files they just went through and saying "well, at least it’s pretty clear we can’t admit the one who said “majors”.
@redhead2188 My Harvard interviewer actually said majors himself! And the other “mistakes” are extremely inconsequential as well. Do not worry!!!
@redhead2188, here’s a thought experiment: Say that Falcon1’s scenario played out, and you knew that the only reason you weren’t accepted was for saying “majors;” is that a school you would even want to attend?
My question is, if the applicant DID attend and become an alumna, would they then ding interviewees for similar quips?
And would it matter if he/she did ding the applicant? As this whole admission process has exploded, these interviews seem to me like quaint little anachronisms that I suspect are more about keeping alumni engaged with the old alma mater and screening for psychopaths than they are about thin slicing the applicants to see which ones they’ll invite into the fold. At least that’s my take away from the two ivy interviewers I know, who both happen to thoroughly enjoy the process.
How many psychopaths have they successfully screened out in their ivy interview “career”?
Apparently there’s a few really bright kids are unable to hide their very unpleasant personalities in even during a relatively brief and casual chat about their lives and interests. The takeaway for the OP is to not worry about a slip up because the interviews really don’t count for much, provided you had a reasonably pleasant discussion. So, no worries and good luck.
Seriously? That’s shocking.
And, they might get to go to school with OUR kids?
I do interviews for Yale and I know for a fact that in some cases they can tip a candidate one way or another. However, that is not to say that if you don’t have an interview it will be held against you. Sometimes a kid is on the fence and the AdComs want to see what the interviewer feels after talking to the live body. Don’t dismiss them offhand.
You probably shouldn’t have mentioned anything related to Yale… But it’s over now so just hope for the best. The thing about your brother isn’t a big deal though.