College Interviews

[Anonymous]

Please help me understand this and let me know if I’m overthinking it. My son’s friend has had two alumni interviews this week at schools my son applied to. My son was not offered any interviews.
What are these interviews and how do they decide who gets one? Does it mean anything?

[Anonymous]

Many people say they are more about alumni involvement than the applicant. I assume that it is somewhat school dependent though. I would not give it much thought.

[Anonymous]

Usually, the interviews are conducted by alumni and are for informational purposes. However, it may vary by school or by department or by scholarship parameters. I know several who were asked to interview on campus and were not told that it was a scholarship interview beforehand.

[Anonymous]

And in some instances the students sign up for the interview. For Wesleyan, for example, you have to look on the website and sign up for an interview slot. There is no supplemental essay and it is recommended. There is usually information about interviews somewhere on the Admissions pages of a college website. How it is counted, if at all, is also on the University’s common data set.

[Anonymous]

I think this is very school-specific. They matter some places and not others. You can check the CDS to start or tell us names of schools and someone may be able to comment specifically.

[Anonymous]

Make sure your son is checking his email and didn’t miss emails about setting up interviews.

[Anonymous]

I conduct alumni interviews for a very selective university. There are a limited number of slots and, in my experience, few students that submit after early December are able to secure interviews. This is no way is an indication of likelihood to be enrolled but rather is a reflection of a "first come, first served" approach to interview allocation. Don't worry -- AOs are aware of this issue and do not view students that are unable to interview in a negative light.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please help me understand this and let me know if I’m overthinking it. My son’s friend has had two alumni interviews this week at schools my son applied to. My son was not offered any interviews.
What are these interviews and how do they decide who gets one? Does it mean anything?

It is still fairly early in the RD process. I think for whatever reason your son's friend just came up early on the list to contact, but most alumni interviews go until end of February.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Totally appreciate the thoughts on attending college across the country. We are very well aware as my older child attends across the country, but they were a 2020 HS grad so there were no admitted student days.

DD hs not visited any of these schools before. She is very much a late bloomer on college interest and has changed her mind on what she wants several times. She fell in love with one particular school late in the game (after she had ED’d somewhere else where she had done a summer program). She ended up changed her ED to RD so she could attend the school she is in love with. I just want her to have some comparisons. So far, she has only seen 3 schools and all were in the summer so not students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Totally appreciate the thoughts on attending college across the country. We are very well aware as my older child attends across the country, but they were a 2020 HS grad so there were no admitted student days.

DD hs not visited any of these schools before. She is very much a late bloomer on college interest and has changed her mind on what she wants several times. She fell in love with one particular school late in the game (after she had ED’d somewhere else where she had done a summer program). She ended up changed her ED to RD so she could attend the school she is in love with. I just want her to have some comparisons. So far, she has only seen 3 schools and all were in the summer so not students.

Sorry. Wrong thread

[Anonymous]

It's an alumni engagement activity that rarely impacts the final decision unless someone does something terribly inappropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's an alumni engagement activity that rarely impacts the final decision unless someone does something terribly inappropriate.

This. My spouse does them for a top 15 school. He logs in and sees a list and chooses when he can do the interviews. He then usually recommends the student, or not. And it likely has no effect on their admissions

[Anonymous]

It takes a while to get interviewers assigned to applicants, and then for interviewers to arrange the actual meetings, so its possible your son has not been contacted yet, but it does not mean anything.