College Interviewing

[Anonymous]

Starbucks seems to be the venue of choice for a lot of interviewers as I've been told by several of DC's friends. I would think an interviewer would want an environment as comfortable for the applicant as well as himself/herself.

[Anonymous]

I do mine at Starbucks. I've offered to buy a drink but no one accepts - usually they skip a drink or get their own.

Our interviews are mostly for the candidates to ask questions. Not much of significance is usually passed back to the committee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been an Ivy alumni interviewer in this area for 12+ years.

1) Applicants to my alma mater must interview with an alum if they live within 100 miles of one and are not actually in an iron lung. This is true even if they interview on campus, because the admissions staff don't feel they have enough time to do justice to the task.
2) The admissions officers state clearly that in 90% of cases, the interview just confirms the other parts of the application, so the interview doesn't have much impact.
3) But they want to keep the interview, because every admissions officer has a handful of stories about instances in which the interview weeded out someone with a significant mental illness or personality disorder. The admissions office feels that secondary schools are too afraid of lawsuits to be candid about that.
4) Horrible parents are also spotted by interviewers. I've only seen a few cases where parents really scotched their kids' chances of admission, but with 15 applicants per spot, the university won't admit a kid if they think the parents will call the Nobel Laureate (hired away from Stanford at great expense) to harass him about Mimsy's grade in O-Chem.
5) The university also sees the interview as a form of community ambassadorship. The interview may be the only contact this person has with the university, and they want it to leave a positive impression.

Students do better on the interview if they are comfortable speaking with adults, and have good critical thinking skills. One of the best ways to have kids prepare is to get them comfortable talking to their parents' friends in social settings.

Just curious where you hold your interviews. My niece's interview (who was accepted) was held in the interviewer's palatial office in his large firm. My niece thought it was overkill but handled herself well. She also say behind her smile were a couple of eyerolls.

Wouldn't it be better to hold interviews where candidates might not feel overwhelmed?

Huh? Its his office, where else is he supposed to interview? And frankly its a pretty bad attitude for your niece to inwardly roll her eyes at someone who took time out of his day for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been an Ivy alumni interviewer in this area for 12+ years.

1) Applicants to my alma mater must interview with an alum if they live within 100 miles of one and are not actually in an iron lung. This is true even if they interview on campus, because the admissions staff don't feel they have enough time to do justice to the task.
2) The admissions officers state clearly that in 90% of cases, the interview just confirms the other parts of the application, so the interview doesn't have much impact.
3) But they want to keep the interview, because every admissions officer has a handful of stories about instances in which the interview weeded out someone with a significant mental illness or personality disorder. The admissions office feels that secondary schools are too afraid of lawsuits to be candid about that.
4) Horrible parents are also spotted by interviewers. I've only seen a few cases where parents really scotched their kids' chances of admission, but with 15 applicants per spot, the university won't admit a kid if they think the parents will call the Nobel Laureate (hired away from Stanford at great expense) to harass him about Mimsy's grade in O-Chem.
5) The university also sees the interview as a form of community ambassadorship. The interview may be the only contact this person has with the university, and they want it to leave a positive impression.

Students do better on the interview if they are comfortable speaking with adults, and have good critical thinking skills. One of the best ways to have kids prepare is to get them comfortable talking to their parents' friends in social settings.

Just curious where you hold your interviews. My niece's interview (who was accepted) was held in the interviewer's palatial office in his large firm. My niece thought it was overkill but handled herself well. She also say behind her smile were a couple of eyerolls.

Wouldn't it be better to hold interviews where candidates might not feel overwhelmed?

Huh? Its his office, where else is he supposed to interview? And frankly its a pretty bad attitude for your niece to inwardly roll her eyes at someone who took time out of his day for her.

I think this is being blown out of proportion. A few interviewers do like to show off their digs to impress the college applicant, sort of a look at me how successful I am because I went Main U. Yes, there are a few interviewers with big egos. Apparently, the kid did something right as she was accepted.

[Anonymous]

^^^Also if the interviewer had an insufferable ego, I would have inwardly rolled my eyes too.

[Anonymous]

7:34 Stop. An interviewer shouldn't have to find a different location because he/she has a sumptuous office. I think the niece sounded entitled. She didn't get in because of the interview. The interview, as a PP explained, is more to weed out the bad seeds and the nutty parents.

[Anonymous]

I don't have any personal meetings at my office, including college interviews. Seems inappropriate to me. Also, I'd prefer to conduct them in more relaxed environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:7:34 Stop. An interviewer shouldn't have to find a different location because he/she has a sumptuous office. I think the niece sounded entitled. She didn't get in because of the interview. The interview, as a PP explained, is more to weed out the bad seeds and the nutty parents.

No, you need to give it a break. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. An interviewer is more than entitled to hold an interview wherever. However, since you were not present during the interview and not privy to the disposition of the interviewer, you should stop it with your presumptions.