Just some statistics for everyone stressing over what it means if you haven’t received an interview request yet.
There are approximately 11,000 interviewers who collectively complete about 18,000 interviews a year. There were about 33,000 applications last year, which means almost half of all applicants did not get interviews. There are plenty of students who get in who did not get an interview, and the overwhelming majority of those who do get an interview, get rejected.
There is always speculation that the interview lists are culled. I have no knowledge of that. As an interviewer, we are assigned interviewees that come from a list from the AO. We have no idea what the applicants’ grades, test scores or EC’s are. We are given a name, email and telephone number, and some cases an area of interest. Now if it turns out that there is a weeding out of obviously unqualified applicants in regions where there are large numbers of applicants and limited interviewers, that wouldn’t shock me, but that is all in the world of speculation. Also remember, given the tight timing of the admissions process and the multiple steps for Yale (regional AO first read with cut, second read by another AO of those who made cut, determination of which files go to Committee, decision) and the multiple steps required in the interview process (sort applicants into 270 ASC regions, assign interviews, schedule and complete interviews, write reports) requires the processes to run in parallel. As I responded in post #16 above, there may be some limited situations where the candidate is pretty far along in the process and is on the final fence where the AO requests a special targeted interview. Those situations if they exist are exceedingly rare.
Interviews while they are evaluative are rarely determinative. A great interview will not get a “no” candidate in, nor will a bad interview result in the rejection of a “yes” candidate (unless something really bad happens – e.g. racist, misogynistic comment). Treat it as an opportunity to find out more about Yale from someone who went there. Current and ancient history are both interesting to find out about. At the end of the day treat it as a conversation to highlight you above and beyond what is on paper. Have fun with it.