The Schools committee
Volunteer to help with alumni interviews for Harvard College .
The Schools Committee is the Harvard Club's largest volunteer activity. Each year, Harvard College alumni conduct hundreds of interviews for applicants to Harvard College from Maryland. The purpose of the Schools Committee is (1) to assist the Harvard College Admissions Office in its admissions decisions, and (2) to be ambassadors for Harvard across Maryland.
Participation in School Committee work is open to alumni/ae of Harvard College and graduate schools. Important prerequisites include broad knowledge of the College, enthusiasm for your experience as a student at Harvard, familiarity with the Harvard undergraduate experience, and sincerity of purpose in working with prospective college students, their families, schools, and the general public. All interviewers will be required to complete an annual eligibility form that outlines specific guidelines and expectations.
The Schools Committee also administers the Harvard Book Award program. Across Maryland, Harvard Book Awards are presented annually in high schools to an outstanding student in the junior class who combines excellence in scholarship and high character with achievement in other fields.
If you are interested in volunteering with alumni interviews and The Schools Committee, please email John Bond AB ’98 at johnbond3@gmail.com .
Listed below is the information 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.