Join Schools Committee

Connect with Students

Want to get involved?

If you are a graduate of Harvard College or Radcliffe College, we welcome you to join the Harvard Club of Washington, DC’s Schools Committee. The Schools Committee is the Club’s largest volunteer activity.

Each year, nearly 450 Harvard/Radcliffe alumni/ae interview candidates from all over the greater Washington, DC area. Most importantly, the Schools Committee assists the Harvard College Admissions Office by interviewing applicants locally. The interview may be conducted in person or virtually. The interview is perhaps our most important recruiting tool. The Schools Committee interviewers may be the only personal contact applicants have during the admissions process. 

450 Alumni Interviewers

100+ Harvard Book Awards

The Schools Committee also administers the Harvard Book Award program. In the greater DC area, Harvard Book Awards are presented annually in more than 100 high schools to outstanding juniors who combine excellence in scholarship and high character, with achievement in other fields.

Stay Connected

The Interview Process

Ensuring that the interview experience is positive, comfortable, and helpful is the cornerstone of the critical personal outreach you, as an alumni/ae interviewer and official admissions representative, provide to applicants. The Harvard Admissions Committee expects interviewers to treat applicants with respect. The Admissions Committee also relies on interviewers’ ability to make recommendations for applicants’ admission. Blessed with so many accomplished applicants—many more than we have room to admit—the Admissions Committee often makes fine distinctions among candidates. Many of these decisions hinge on intangible factors that alumni/ae can substantiate with interview reports that breathe life into applicants’ folders.

In addition to interviewing applicants, the Schools Committee alumni/ae interviewers act as ambassadors for Harvard in the DC-area community. Schools Committee volunteers attend college fairs and school visits when they are offered. In the process, alumni/ae volunteers cultivate critical relationships with parents, guidance counselors, other alumni/ae, and the general public. As the competition among colleges for the best students increases, so does the need for your help. Both the Schools Committee and the Admissions Committee are grateful to have volunteers join the efforts. Volunteers will likely find the work personally rewarding, intellectually stimulating, and occasionally perplexing.

 

FAQ

Popular Questions

Below you will find the most frequently asked questions, with answers. 

Become an Interviewer!

If you are interested in volunteering, please email hcwschoolscommittee@gmail.com or contact the co- chairs, Kelly Flaherty Dempsey (kellyannflaherty@gmail.com) or Katherine Zeitlin Haskell (kzeitlin79@gmail.com) directly.

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