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is there any way to get into harvard law without having a phone interview?
just wondering.. because I suck at phone interviews. face-to-face interviews will be fine but i would avoid phone interviews as much as possible

no. it's mandatory.

Generally it's considered a privilege to get one of those phone calls. However, it's mandatory whether you feel that way or not. There is no way for applicants to get direct access to the adcomms while their decision is pending (I remember trying), you aren't given enough notice to set up an in-person interview (if you get an advance email, it'll be a day in advance at most) and at that point I believe even a mediocre interview performance would be better them an email pleading for a face-to-face meeting because you can't handle a five-minute phone call.

I'm sure you could try to request it, but practically, if you actually want to be admitted, you should just do the phone interview if you get one.

TL;DR:

DoubleChecks wrote:no. it's mandatory.

futurehero wrote:is there any way to get into harvard law without having a phone interview?
just wondering.. because I suck at phone interviews. face-to-face interviews will be fine but i would avoid phone interviews as much as possible

I totally get phone anxiety. I HATE getting phone calls from potential new employers, especially when they catch me off-guard.

Try to make one random phone call a day, calling a restaurant to ask about wait times or a nurse hotline for some random medical question. The more comfortable you are with your cell the less awkward the dreaded but much hoped for school/employer phone call will be.

urg...
the thing is, i am not a native english speaker. i am good enough for working and studying in the states but phone interviews scare me.... thinking that they might not understand my pronunciation or something like that.

what if i am abroad when they call me? do they still try to reach me? that's actually a possibility because i go to home every winter break, and that might be the time they call applicants around

futurehero wrote:urg...
the thing is, i am not a native english speaker. i am good enough for working and studying in the states but phone interviews scare me.... thinking that they might not understand my pronunciation or something like that.

what if i am abroad when they call me? do they still try to reach me? that's actually a possibility because i go to home every winter break, and that might be the time they call applicants around

instead of trying to avoid this, you should look for ways to become more comfortable with this. after all, you will be spending 3 yrs in a law school where, well, your oral skills may be the focus point at certain times (and this is assuming you dont even practice in the US afterwards)

practice it and develop some confidence

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I heard JR1s don't weigh that heavily in the decision anyway. Unless you really fuck up (e.g. say something racist), you'll be fine. I've heard of plenty of people who didn't bomb but still sucked (e.g. stuttered a lot, talked in circles) who got JR2.

soj wrote:I heard JR1s don't weigh that heavily in the decision anyway. Unless you really fuck up (e.g. say something racist), you'll be fine. I've heard of plenty of people who didn't bomb but still sucked (e.g. stuttered a lot, talked in circles) who got JR2.

while true, there are roughly 25% who get JR1s and no JR2s so..

Obviously this is speculative, but I think at least some of that 25% is people who barely got JR1s and were unlikely to get JR2s anyway. I guess for these applicants it's important to ace the interview (and even that might not be enough), but most of the time it's enough to have stellar numbers and a not-disastrous phone interview.

futurehero wrote:the thing is, i am not a native english speaker. i am good enough for working and studying in the states but phone interviews scare me.... thinking that they might not understand my pronunciation or something like that.

If you're worried about a law school phone interview for this reason, you should be worried about job interviews even more so.

I went to graduate school with two people who both had significant accents. One was unable to get a job and the other had to go through an unusually large number of interviews, despite the fact that they both looked great on paper.

Of course, that's academia - a different job market - but I would imagine law is similar. Both involve a significant amount of interpersonal interaction - with colleagues and clients or students.

soj wrote:Obviously this is speculative, but I think at least some of that 25% is people who barely got JR1s and were unlikely to get JR2s anyway. I guess for these applicants it's important to ace the interview (and even that might not be enough), but most of the time it's enough to have stellar numbers and a not-disastrous phone interview.

oh i dont disagree with your point that your JR1 prob doesnt have to be great. just saying, don't know what group OP falls under...

Seems that JR1 is just a formality, but yes, I'm pretty sure it's mandatory.

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