Anonymous wrote:Harvard interviews everyone.

Does the Harvard alum interview carry any weight? I thought Harvard interviews applicants who are potential admits.

Harvard interviews everyone.

It is really more of a feel good mechanism to keep alumni involved, as well as give applicants a chance to learn more about the school. My admissions professional college roommate, who works at an Ivy, says they really are almost meaningless in decisions, except if they raise real red flags (i.e. if the interviewer describes the applicant as truly antisocial, arrogant, unkempt).

Yale's goal is to offer everyone the opportunity. It doesn't always happen if there are tons of applicants in places with few/insufficient numbers of alumni, but no, an interview offer doesn't signify surviving some kind of initial cull of applicants.

I think Columbia didn't interview everyone in the DMV area this year, and maybe not last year either. DC got an interview and the interviewer said they basically picked names off a list of local applicants without knowing anything about any of the applicants except maybe the high school. So, not getting an interview at Columbia, at least, is absolutely no reflection on your qualifications.

This varies from college to college, though, so check the websites. Also, there's lots of chatter about interviews (deeper meaning thereof, what it means if you don't get offered one) on the College Confidential pages for each college.

Yep, I am an alumni interviewer and they interview everyone.

Anonymous wrote:My MIL interviews for Penn. I'm pretty sure they interview anyone who requests an interview.

These days most of the Ivies alum interviewers contact applicants directly. They ask that applicants not contact the school for an interview (probably because they would be inundated with requests).

All the schools my DC applied to specifically said applicants would be contacted by an alumni admissions rep if one was available to do an interview. Generally that's happened quite quickly after submitting an application (although Penn was the last to be submitted so haven't heard from them yet).

DH used to do alumni interviews for his Ivy. They were mainly to answer the applicants questions about going there-e specially if they couldn't get to the campus prior to applying or accepting. He stopped after he was 7 years out as he felt he didn't have up to date info/experience. He would start the interview with, "This interview has no bearing on your application."

My MIL interviews for Penn. I'm pretty sure they interview anyone who requests an interview.

I interview for my Ivy. We attempt to schedule an alum interview with every applicant. It's optional, I have only had a potential student turn me down if they have already been accepted EA/ED to their first choice. I've had maybe a half dozen students accepted over the last 10 years, but I only interview 1-3 students per year. This year my ED candidate was accepted, last year 1 of 2 were accepted, the year before 1 of 3. From what I understand, it's mostly used when there are two fairly indentical candidates to decide between.

My little Ivy interviews anyone who requests an interview.

I know someone who does alum interviews for an Ivy and this person reports that this person's strong recommendations have not yielded acceptances. (Don't want to divulge gender.)

Princeton interviews everyone. Don't know about the others.

You can find this info on their website. Most of the ivies offer alumni interviews to as many applicants as they can. There are usually plenty of alums in this area to offer them to most applicants. My DS was contacted within days of submitting an application so no first cuts were done. The interviews are optional but recommended. My DC has done 3 so far. Will probably be contacted for a couple more from recently submitted applications. We googled the interviewees so DC could prepare/anticipate. DC had fun with them and they seemed to go very well. That being said I think they carry no/little weight in the decision.

Does it mean anything to be contacted for an alumni interview, or is everyone who applies given that opportunity? Just curious, whether being contacted means the applicant has survived the first cut, or made a short list, or something. These are Ivy schools. Thanks.