Ivy and Ivy + Interviews

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yale and Duke do cuts and only interview those in the running. Princeton interviews best first but tries to get to everyone. H and MIt do as many as possible. Penn interview matters for dual degree applicants only(Huntsman Viper M&T etc), and is selective; others are on availability and not evaluative as of last cycle. Northwestern is first-come but matters

Northwester no longer does interviews. It’s been a few years.

Northwestern definitely does do interviews. My son was interviewed last year, and was admitted

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did alumnae interviews for Princeton for 10 years. I interviewed some amazing, amazing kids and raved about them but have yet to have any of my interviewees accepted. My sense is that they don't factor into the decisions at all but rather are a way to engage alums.

Do they inform you (the alum/interviewer)if your interviewees get accepted?

[Anonymous]

DC just received a Duke interview invite this week. I believe that means they’re a legit candidate—but with 3.8% admitted in RD last year, it’s hard to get too excited. 🤷‍♀️

[Anonymous]

FCPS. Got Yale invitation to interview today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC just received a Duke interview invite this week. I believe that means they’re a legit candidate—but with 3.8% admitted in RD last year, it’s hard to get too excited. 🤷‍♀️

Are they Legacy or athlete?

[Anonymous]

No interview from Yale or Duke for my son ☹️

[Anonymous]

did MIT interview everyone already from the DMV? some kids as DS did not get interview yet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:did MIT interview everyone already from the DMV? some kids as DS did not get interview yet

I think they’re fairly slow this year trying to make it through all interviews. I’m part of the Harvard club and they’re still distributing requests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did alumnae interviews for Princeton for 10 years. I interviewed some amazing, amazing kids and raved about them but have yet to have any of my interviewees accepted. My sense is that they don't factor into the decisions at all but rather are a way to engage alums.

Same for Harvard (one objectively amazing interviewee waitlisted last year). But alums don’t see the files, and have no idea what the other applicants look like comparatively. DMV rates are especially low due to all the super high stats, talented kids, many with very impressive national/international awards. There usually isn’t much an alumni interview adds that isn’t already evident in the essays and LORs, but it is possible to ask probing questions to get a sense of which aspects are genuine or just box checking. My best interviews are the ones where I learn from the student’s passions and get a sense of real intellectual depth. Now that student might not end up aligning with institutional priorities in a given year, and oversaturated majors are tough to overcome, but I’m happy to do my best to help those students. Some admits who’ve looked at their files once on campus have said there were positive notes about the alumni interview—sometimes even a “let’s wait and see the alumni report.” So the vast majority of time interview reports won’t add anything, but occasionally they do. Of course the question of institutional priorities is by far the most consequential thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did alumnae interviews for Princeton for 10 years. I interviewed some amazing, amazing kids and raved about them but have yet to have any of my interviewees accepted. My sense is that they don't factor into the decisions at all but rather are a way to engage alums.

Do they inform you (the alum/interviewer)if your interviewees get accepted?

Diff Princeton alum interviewer. Yes, they send you a list of the names and decisions. I’ve had several admitted (higher than the overall admissions rate). Not always who I expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone get them from our area? Princeton did one-rejected, applied to all ivy and plus, only got interview with MIT and Georgetown. Kid is worried. Also--would they wait for the midyear report to do the interview? It has not been sent in yet.

Interviews aren't worth worrying about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interviews tend to waste everyone's time and mean little to overall admit chances. You have to be an extreme outlier (good or bad) to have the interview move the needle.

This.

[Anonymous]

This is so stressful, sending good vibes to all

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got Harvard this week. Do they interview everyone?

Yes they do.

No they do not and they filter first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just received a Duke interview invite this week. I believe that means they’re a legit candidate—but with 3.8% admitted in RD last year, it’s hard to get too excited. 🤷‍♀️

Are they Legacy or athlete?

Nope. EC's are mid, honestly. I mean, relatively speaking.

Genuinely brilliant kid, compelling personal story and unusual "why Duke."

I don't think she stands a chance