<p>"Without in the least impugning the qualifications of NSM or Byerly, I think it is unfortunate that vast majority of admissions offices at top schools no longer offer inhouse interviews conducted by professional staff. "</p>
<p>Harvard gets 20,000 applications. To allow in house interviews for all of those students would mean greatly expanding the admissions staff, which is composed completely of Harvard alums. To do that would, of course, cost $. How'd you feel about spending $500 to apply to Harvard? Considering that 90% of Harvard applicants are rejected do you think it would be worth it to Harvard and the applicants to go to that effort to interview everyone in house?</p>
<p>In addition, by offering such a service, Harvard would lose what alums offer: an informed perspective that is able to place applicants in the context of their communities.</p>
<p>I just had my Harvard interview. The interviewer emailed me before and said it should only take an hour, but it actually ended up being almost 2 hours. Is this good? We didn't talk about politics or current events at all though, even though I'm okay in them. She didn't bring it up, and I didn't want to since it was going well as it was. Is that alright?</p>
<p>Also, is it appropriate to send a thank-you card for interviewing to her house, or is email ok? If it's appropriate, I would prefer the card... (the interview was in her house btw)</p>
<p>My S did not discuss politics or current events at his interview. They just did not come up. It sounds like you had a lot to talk about as it was, which is good. If the interview was awkward, I'm sure the interviewer would have put a stop to it earlier.</p>
<p>Send a thank you card instead of an e-mail.</p>
<p>I felt a little dumb, because I was the one who put a stop to it (even though I didn't really mean to). I was fearing a moment of silence (which is awkward/bad), so I asked if she had any other questions. I really wanted to keep going, but people often construe "Do you have any other questions for me?" as "Ok it's been two hours can I leave now?"</p>
<p>The length of the interview may or may not mean anything. Sometimes I've gone over because of interesting applicants; sometimes I've gone over because I couldn't believe how little an applicant had to offer, and I kept digging hoping for some substance. A very inexperienced interviewer may keep going because they don't know how to gracefully end the interview.</p>
<p>Your instincts are good on the follow-up note. It is very appropriate to send a thank-you, preferably a handwritten note sent to the person's office or home. It's amazing to me how few applicants bother to do this even though the interviewer is a volunteer who has spent a considerable amount of time with the applicant and following up (It takes about an hour to write a good report).</p>
<p>I've noticed that a far higher percentage of applicants who mail notes get in than do the ones who don't bother. I don't think that it's because interviewers are impressed by brown nosers (In my case, I got the notes after I'd sent the reports). I think that students who are thoughtful and organized enough to send thank-you notes probably put the same effort into their other relationships, so are likely to have stronger recommendations and mentorships than do students who somehow think that they did the interviewer a favor by applying to Harvard.</p>
<p>As an example, after a student who had sent me a thank-you note was accepted, he met an elderly alum at a Harvard dinner, and learned that the alum was having difficulty with her computer. The student -- a computer whiz -- took his own time to go over to her house and adjust her computer -- for free. He did this just to be nice. </p>
<p>That's also a nice example of the kind of person whom we like to see get accepted. Most applicants are very capable of handling the academic work at Harvard. We also want applicants who not only have a defining passion, but also are willing to use their talents to help other people.</p>
<p>My interviewer didn't. It helps if you bring up the questions you know they're going to ask, I think. You feel more in control. Maybe that's not a good thing.</p>
<p>NSM, you said "To allow in house interviews for all of those students would mean greatly expanding the admissions staff, which is composed completely of Harvard alums."</p>
<p>Are you sure? My regional adcom is a Yale graduate (but he said he cheers for Harvard at the games).</p>
<p>Thanks for your question, which allows me to correct my previous statement.</p>
<p>The only Harvard admissions officer whom I know has no Harvard degree is David Evans, who graduated from Tennessee State and Princeton, and came to Harvard in the early 1970s when Harvard was trying to increase their numbers of black students.</p>
<p>Are you sure that your regional adcom didn't even attend a Harvard grad school?</p>
<p>The specific questions that interviewers ask depend upon the interviewers. </p>
<p>It's best to have an answer that that best illuminates your qualities that would make you an attractive applicant to Harvard. The content, not the length of the answer is what's important.</p>
<p>Regardless of how the interview was conducted, the interviewer still volunteered their time and deserves a written thank-you note. Keep in mind that the time the interviewer spent interviewing you is only about half of the time that they put into the interview. Usually, it takes about an hour to write a report to cover the points that Harvard wants carefully covered. </p>
<p>This advice also is appropriate for interviews that you will have in the future when you look for jobs, including when you get talk to an adult in the field to job advice.</p>
<p>One can never go wrong by mailing a written note of appreciation. Most people don't bother to do things like this. The people who do always stand out.</p>