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My college interview for Harvard happened over five years ago, but was quite memorable for being the most Silicon Valley thing to ever happen, so I’ll recount the story here.Now, to my understanding, Ivy League college interviews are virtually inconsequential. A Dartmouth alumnus, UPenn alumnus, and Harvard alumnus all noted that their feedback has almost zero impact on the outcome of a particular application. The objectives of the interviews, they said, are to engage alumni from around the nation and the world (i.e. to procure donations), to excite students about the prospect of attending the university, and to do basic “background checks” on candidates like:Is the candidate who they say they are?Is the candidate a staggeringly bad culture fit for the college?My initial interaction with a Harvard alumnus was negative. The initial email came from someone who was administrating the interviews, and I recall the alumnus issuing condescending remarks about how we were to conduct ourselves in a professional environment, follow up via email, show up on time, etc. I’m sure the poor guy had administered hundreds of interviews over many years, and had been dealt his fair share of 17-year-old immaturity, but the instructions were unnecessary.During the process I mentioned above, the university distributed information about the date, time, and location of the interview, and provided the name of the interviewer, a “Kent Walker.” As I usually do, I nonchalantly plugged the name into Google, and found him on Crunchbase:“Senior Vice President & General Counsel at Google”Oh. That Kent Walker.That’s cool, I thought. Harvard is gifting me the opportunity to meet one of the most prominent GC’s in the Silicon Valley. No cold emails. No coffee.We met in an interview room in a business center somewhere in Mountain View near Google’s campus. The glass paneled atrium for the business center served as a waiting room, where prospective students sat nervously awaiting their “fateful encounters” under brilliant streaming rays of morning sunshine. There were close to ten of my high school classmates in the waiting room. Most of us pretended we didn’t recognize each other, but a few pairs broke into casual conversation. The communal waiting room made the situation worse. Internal dialogues could be read aloud: “Oh god. I heard she got a 2400 on the SAT.” and “He won a bronze medal at IPhO, he’ll get in for sure.” Imposter syndrome, and the reality of improbability, weighed on all of us as we awaited our interviewers.Finally, I was summoned. The chat took place in a two-person conference room. Kent was friendly, personable, intelligent, and open. He was parent of daughters who went to Palo Alto High School, where I was finishing my studies, so we chatted openly about parent and student experiences at the Silicon Valley high school. We talked about his experience at Harvard as an undergrad, and about his senior thesis. We talked about what I wanted out of Harvard. We talked, for a short period, about his career at Google, which was fascinating (no, really, imagine having that job).Near the end of the interview, he gave feedback that had a lasting impact. He said something like, “Your application is structured around your desire to enter the medical profession, and your essays indicate a passion for helping people. But your academic record and work experiences indicate different strengths. You’re best suited for highly quantitative work, and you’re clearly adept with computers. I don’t know how to stitch these two facets of your application together for the admissions committee.”After I was later turned away from Harvard, and was preparing to enter college at UC Berkeley, I took some time to contemplate his feedback and past experiences. I switched into Computer Science at the beginning of my undergraduate career and never looked back.So, despite the non-impact of the interview on my non-admission to the university, you could say the conversation had a somewhat remarkable impact on my life. Thanks, Kent.

This is my first post, but I figured if I could help anyone out there with this information then I might as well share this info! This also kept me entertained for a bit during this quarantine lolFirst things first: my background. I’m a Latina girl, first-gen college student, first-gen since my parents are immigrants, girl interested in STEM, and low income. I’m from NJ and go to a decently sized public high school, where not many but a handful of students are accepted to top 20 schools every year. Take this information as you will.Numbers AKA Stats:GPA - 4.831 weighted. My school doesn’t give unweighted GPAs, so this is what I submitted to all my schools. Both Honors and AP courses are weighted, with AP courses being weighted a bit more. As for class rank, my school does not rank and only told us our decile for colleges, and I’m in the top 10% of my class.SAT - 1460 with a 740 in Math and 720 in ERW. Not the best but I would argue it meets the threshold for all of the schools I applied to.AP - I took 3 AP classes/tests junior year: AP English Language (4), AP US History (5), and AP Spanish Language (5). This year I’m taking AP Calculus AB, AP Physics C Mechanics, AP English Literature, and AP Spanish Literature along with other Honors classes.Extracurricular Activities:Top Youth Volunteer at an Immigrant Resource Center - This is, in my opinion, my most significant activity as I have volunteered for this center for over 5 years. I handle sensitive client information, translate from English to Spanish, step in as the secretary, make art for protests, speak at rallies ranging from hundreds to thousands of protestors on behalf of the organization, and much more.Vice President of Engineering Club - This is your standard club where we teach students about different fields of engineering, computer science, cyber security, etc. We participate in local and national engineering challenges.Co-Founder and Co-President of Student Equity & Inclusion Committee - I helped create this committee that encourages students of color to take Honors and AP courses. My high school is almost 50% students of color but our school’s diversity is not reflected in these courses and this club is an effort to tackle this disparity.Lead Facilitator of Alternatives to Violence Project - I would help run summer camps that are led by youth for youth. We would run this to teach leadership and conflict resolution skills, and we dabbled in advocacy work. This was very closely linked to the Immigrant Resource Center.Member of MOSTEC - This a selective 6 month program with MIT that took place over the summer leading into senior year up until December. I took courses in calculus and design thinking and had to work on a project over the summer and present it at MIT’s campus at a symposium.Head of Executive Board of Melanin Minds - This is a social activism club and we hold open forums to discuss issues within the high school, and then led initiatives to change our Eurocentric history curriculum. We also celebrate the cultures in our community through a cultural dinner night.Wrestler and Manager - I was one of two girls to join my high school’s boys wrestling team. I joined junior year and then became a manager senior year and by my junior year two more girls had joined the team!Big Sister for Big Brothers Big Sisters - This was something I did weekly where I would spend an hour at my local elementary school mentoring a kid and helping him with homework and his behavior.Peer Tutor for High School Homework Club - Self explanatory: I tutor underclassmen.Essays and Letters of Rec:I honestly think my common app essay was a highlight of my application. It talked about my living environment since I live in the projects, and I discussed how the dangers of my community have shaped me to become a humanitarian you could say. Since I couldn’t really highlight this aspect of my life anywhere else, I would imagine that anyone reading my application would appreciate this additional info about me and have my accomplishments be contrasted to these circumstances. P.S an admissions counselor told me that I “write powerfully about how community affects me” so that’s pretty coolAfter I spoke at a rally in my town in which my teacher was in attendance, my sophomore year history teacher told me she was going to write my letter of recommendation. Therefore, I already had one letter secured early on, and she is known for her eloquent writing. I asked my biology teacher from junior year to write my second letter since I wanted both a humanities and STEM perspective on me, and she was more than willing. She’s incredibly sweet so I can imagine her letter reflected her character toward me.Finally, here are the decisions in the order I received them :)Seton Hall University: Accepted! +Buccino Leadership Institute Acceptance!Fordham University: Accepted!WPI: Accepted! +Presidential ScholarshipProvidence College: Accepted! +$20,000/year Albertus Magnus Scholarship!Loyola Maryland University: Accepted! +$33,000/year Presidential Scholarship!Drew University: Accepted! +Honors ProgramThe College of New Jersey (TCNJ): Accepted! +Honors ProgramSyracuse University: Accepted! +Honors Program, University Discovery Madrid Grant, AND Full Tuition 1870 Scholarship!RPI: Accepted!Johns Hopkins University: Accepted!Stevens Institute of Technology: Accepted! +Lawrence T. Babbio '66 Pinnacle Scholars Program!Harvey Mudd College: Accepted! +President’s Scholars Program Scholarship recipient (full tuition)!MIT: Rejected :(Boston College: Accepted!Swarthmore College: Accepted!Hamilton College: Accepted!Haverford College: Accepted! +Reid ScholarshipGeorgetown University: Rejected :(Yale University: Accepted!Columbia University: Accepted!Harvard University: WaitlistedPrinceton University: Rejected :(Brown University: Rejected :(Cornell University: Accepted! +Jacobs Dean’s Scholar AND Meinig Family Cornell National Scholar!

You have an edge in the Harvard and Stanford MBA admissions process if you are a consultant with one of the Big 3 consulting firms. With low acceptance rates in the range of 5–10%, this puts you into an advantageous position for a few reasons:Student stats - Harvard and Stanford MBA programs look for the same things in students as the Big 3 consulting firms look for in employees; top students from elite universities. You already meet their criteria.Career profile - top MBA programs want to ensure that their students will be immediately placed in high paying positions. Placement percentages have been dropping over the last few years, even at Harvard and Stanford. Most Big 3 consultants return to their employers for a couple years to receive tuition money, so employment is usually assured.Work experience - 15–20% of Harvard and Stanford matriculating students have a background in consulting. It is considered a desirable work experience by both schools.Contacts - a large percentage of your Big 3 colleagues will have graduated from Harvard or Stanford. You will receive recommendations from firm partners with personal relationships in admissions or the career center, giving you a boost over less well connected applicants.I will provide a couple caveats based upon a recent discovery at the Stanford GSB.Stanford Misled MBAs On Financial AidInformation on financial aid was leaked to the press that clearly shows the student profile that is most desirable to the university.Diverse - MBA programs, even Harvard and Stanford, continue to struggle to attract diverse students since business can be viewed as a hostile environment. Both schools are trying to attract at least 40% women and 25% minorities, so this gives diverse candidates a leg up.Domestic - applicants from within the US have been declining for the last few years, likely due to good economic conditions at home. This is not a positive trend for top MBA programs from an alumni or hiring perspective, so it makes entrance for international students more difficult.Financial background - Stanford and Harvard like to tout their starting salaries as a selling point for potential applicants. The highest starting salaries are in private equity, venture capital and hedge funds. Applicants with work experience in these areas will be given priority over someone like yourself.So what does all of this mean? It tells you what Harvard and Stanford want. The more important question is to ask what you want. Once you have determined that, you can decide whether either school meets your needs and why. If you still want to apply to Harvard or Stanford, you can clearly articulate why you should be accepted. That is usually the winning ticket.