HCC Interviewer Training
Sunday October 24, 4:30 – 5:30 pm ET
Dear Harvard Alumni,
It is the beginning of the school year and the Harvard Class of 2025 is settling in nicely and enjoying a lovely fall in Cambridge. We are thrilled to report that we had seven Regular Admits and 4 Early Admits from the Greater Cincinnati region. Seven of these students chose to enroll this fall and we also welcomed three students, originally admitted to the Class of 2024. We are forever grateful to our interviewers who worked diligently to interview more than 150 high school seniors! We find it enjoyable, energizing, and humbling to meet so many talented and passionate high school students each year. It is even more rewarding to imagine what these students will make possible in the future.
Each year the Admissions Offices has the challenging role of selecting the Harvard’s next incoming class and a year hasn’t gone by without Admissions telling us of the value our interview reports bring to their selection process. Our interview reports help Admissions bring what’s on paper to life for each prospective candidate!
For those veteran interviewers - THANK YOU! Your work is so important and I am sure you have enjoyed being a representative in the community of Harvard. If you would like to try it out for the first time, WELCOME!
If you are unsure about interviewing and want to learn more, we hope you will join us for our local HCC Interviewer training (held remotely via zoom). You’ll have the chance to meet the team and learn more! That session is: October 24, 4:30 -5:30 pm. Contact hccinterview@gmail.com to receive a link to join.
If you have questions, please contact Val Bogdan-Powers or Elise Foster, your Schools Committee Co-Chairs (hccinterview@gmail.com)
Warmly, Val and Elise
Listed below is the information from the Harvard Admissions Office regarding alumni interviews for recruiting the class of 2026: Virtual Interviews for the Class of 2026
The health and safety of Harvard applicants and alumni interviewers - as well as their families - remain our top priorities. In light of the continuing public health risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges presented by its variants, all Class of 2026 interviews will be conducted virtually through a video conferencing platform or by telephone. If you are unable or unwilling to conduct interviews virtually, if you need to opt out of interviewing this year for any reason, or if you would like to stop receiving emails from us, please indicate so on the annual Eligibility Form.
New Alumni Interviewer Portal
Our new alumni interviewer portal is now live! The URL to the portal is: alumniportal.fas.harvard.edu. The process for signing into the interviewing portal has changed slightly. We outline the new steps below.
To access the portal, you will need to claim a HarvardKey, if you have not done so already. Instructions can be found here. Please contact ithelp@harvard.edu or call 617-495-7777 for any questions regarding your HarvardKey credentials. You only need one HarvardKey, so if you have claimed one for any other Harvard-related activity, you need not claim another.
Upon logging-in with HarvardKey, you will be presented with the annual Eligibility Form. Interviewers no longer have unique links to the portal or their Eligibility Form; it will now be the first thing you see when you log-in to the portal for the first time each cycle. If you need to sit out this year for any reason, please indicate that on the Eligibility Form.
After the Eligibility Form, you will be asked to complete the Information Form. As a returning interviewer, your form will be pre-populated with the information from our old system. Please update this information as needed. In contrast to the old system, you can now update your contact and address information at any time, though you will be prompted to update your information only once per year alongside the annual Eligibility Form.
Once you have completed these forms, you will see the Documents page of the new portal. When you reach this Documents page, you are all set and ready for this season of interviewing! Please take a moment to review some of the new documents on this page, notably the "Interviewer Startup Guide," a helpful starting point for both returning and new interviewers at the beginning of each cycle.
Interviewer Training Opportunities
Throughout the fall, we will offer six alumni interviewer training and information sessions. The sign-ups for these trainings can be found in the Documents page of the new portal. These sessions are optional and open to all interviewers. Led by admissions officers, these Zoom webinars will cover the basics of interviewing, updates from campus, and some frequently asked questions.
Thank you for all you do to support the Admissions and Financial Aid Office and our applicants! Alumni interviewers play a vital role in our efforts to recruit, admit, and matriculate students to Harvard. We are enormously grateful for the time and care you bring to our process.