Alumni interviews- how much do they matter
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| I know that there won't be a definitive answer on this, but DS is feeling so defeated after a not-so-great alumni interview for his top school. He is pretty shy, and the alum was a young grad, and very outgoing. He has worked so hard on his application, and of course there are thousands that are as qualified as he, so at the end of the day it is out of his hands. BUT, wanted to know if anyone knew what the deal is with alumni interviews. She said that this was actually her first interview she'd done, and ended it with , "Well, whatever school you get into will be good enough." He was pretty crushed. What do you all think? |
Anonymous
| Interviews hardly ever make or break an applicant. And AOs know that not all alumni are stellar interviewers and not all 17/18 year-olds are stellar interviewees. Anyhow, best of luck to your son. |
Anonymous
|
I would definitely not read anything into her comment. She has zero insight into whether he'll be accepted -- she likely just knows how tough it is for everyone.
I used to do alumni interviews for an ivy that no longer offers them. I stopped because it was so clearly a waste of everyone's time -- more for alumni engagement than admissions. |
Anonymous
| OP here- OH, thank you so much for this! I'd heard that it is for alumni engagement. I'll tell my son- this is a very nerve racking time and I appreciate folks' support! (I'm taking it from wherever I can get it LOL! Go c/o /2025!) |
Anonymous
|
That sucks. Disregard the comment.
I also used to do them. Not for an Ivy, but for Middlebury. It was a farce. Met a lot of nice kids doing it though. |
Anonymous
|
The school matters. Yale, Princeton, Harvard and MIT it is considered…the schools where admissions runs the interviews…W&M and Rice as examples, they are considered as well.
Many such as Penn the interview explicitly doesn’t matter at all unless perhaps the interviewee goes wildly off the rails with something. |
Anonymous
| I’m the OP of a related thread “Ivy Alumni Interview” and found the responses very helpful. Don’t worry, it probably doesn’t matter much. Consider it practice. |
Anonymous
| OP here, thanks, PP, I will check out your thread! This is indeed for an Ivy, but not Penn, so wondering, 17:55, how you know this. (Like, not in a snarky way, just how did you find this out?) |
Anonymous
Applicants looked at their application after acceptance and the AO made reference to positive alumni interviewer comments. |
Anonymous
|
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard friends who do alumni interviews say no one they’ve met with ever got in.
They clearly don’t hold that much sway. As pp mentioned, it’s an alumni activity, not really an admissions one. |
Anonymous
That’s a silly rationale. Harvard had like 46000 applicants. I would wager 90% of alumni interviews are positive because that’s human nature. So, you still only have like 2000 acceptances. If every alumni interviewer does like 5-10 interviews…well 5% is less than 1 interviewee getting accepted. That’s just the math. |
Anonymous
Interviewers don't usually know if they get in or not. |
Anonymous
| Does it matter if the alumni interviewer is well known or been interviewing for a long time? |
Anonymous
| I can’t tell you how many people I’ve recommended incredibly highly who didn’t even get wait listed. At this point, I’m not sure admissions even bothers reading what I submit. Definitely don’t worry about an interview or what the interviewer said to her. |
Anonymous
| Spouse does them for Vanderbilt as an alumni, and has met so many amazing kids. None have ever gotten in. From our own kids HS, only legacies |