Thoughts on VERY positive Harvard interview?

Stanford doesn’t even offer interwiews to kids in California

In the vast, vast majority of cases, a great interview (even a mediocre one) will have no effect.

My experience (as a 25+ year interviewer with a Harvard peer school) is this: for most kids, it won’t make ANY difference. The applicants are in three groups: a) shoo-ins (recruited athletes, other “gotta haves” that, barring a felony or something, will receive an offer) – this is only a very small group (~2-3%), b) the vast number who don’t get much traction past the first read. I can imagine ~85%. Then there’s c) that remaining ~10% or so which they need to whittle down by 4/5 — the kids in the grey area. For them, an very good interview MIGHT make a difference.

For group a) and b) who represent the vast bulk of applicants – there is no effect whatsoever.

That being said, I know of students in the “c” category for whom the alumna’s report did tip the scale in the applicant’s favor in the committee’s eyes.