<p>So, I just had my alumni interview yesterday, and it lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes. I thought it went really well and the guy seemed to like me a lot, but do you think that it lasting this long is a good sign or a bad sign?</p>
<p>I think that it is a good sign because he would have tried to leave early, if he did not like you.</p>
<p>Lasting long = great sign.
My interviewer said his are typically 1 hour long, but mine ended up being about 2.5. This happens pretty often if you can connect.</p>
<p>Of course, the interview also has very little bearing.</p>
<p>Definitely a good sign. I wish mine had lasted that long. My alum was sick so she wanted to get out of there! Mine was like 1 hour.</p>
<p>It doesn't matter. I think mine lasted 30 minutes and I just wore my school uniform. We talked about the most randomest things, I mispronounced many words (a particular personality quirk of mine), forgot how to say empathy, accidently suggested that the "Book Thief" (a book dealing with seriously sad holocaust issues) was a trashy novel that I read for fun, and at the end of the interview apologized for mispronouncing so many words (very awkwardly all in all).</p>
<p>But Yale still accepted me!
Lesson: Don't Stress about alumni interviews. They don't matter all that much.</p>
<p>@ floatingsaturn : is not getting an interview a bad sign for internationals?? I got calls from Harvard and Princeton but nothing from Yale so am really worried…</p>
<p>I’m in the same situation as vandit_daboss!</p>
<p>If you’ve read any of the other threads about Yale interviews, you should know that having one or not having one is not a pre-determination whatsoever about your chances. Interview assignments are based on numbers of volunteers’ hours available – which is a limited resource.</p>
<p>If your interviewer is prominent in the local club or well-aware of who is reading your application, it is a very good sign. If not, the alumni interviews are usually generously scored, and minor factors.</p>
<p>peresedu: Hunh?</p>
<p>What “good sign” is it regardless of who is the alum interviewer? If you’ve followed the various posts regarding the Y interview process then you’ll know that the alum who gets the student’s name is complete coincidence and not an indication whatsoever of the relative strength of the applicant.</p>
<p>I’m one of the most prominent alums in my area. Served 3 yrs as Yale club president and 5 as VP. Been a director since 1995. I do several college fairs and am a reliable interviewer for my area coordinator. He went nuts this year and assigned me … THIRTEEN students. This is after I begged him to take OFF two others.</p>
<p>Do you know how these 13 students were assigned to me? I live near them. Period. They ranged from very viable candidates to completely no chance candidates. If my name came onto their caller ID, they better not have felt that it was a “good sign” because it wasn’t. I called them as I saw them.</p>
<p>Now – I can see how a more seasoned interviewer can make the best of a promising situation in that we know what the committee is looking for and thus, won’t miss an opportunity to really humanize the applicants.</p>
<p>T26E4 - I’m curious about how your end of the interviewing process works. Does Y give you a form/questionnaire to fill out for each interview you do? Do you submit a vague report saying things like “this kid is very polite and motivated because of blah blah blah”? do you ever mention whether Yale is an applicant’s first choice or not? Have you ever explicitly stated that an applicant should not be accepted? Or do you avoid recommending acceptances/rejections?</p>
<p>irun: you know, after reading this I’ll have to evoke the spirit of Elihu Yale to curse your family for generations … LOL</p>
<p>**Does Y give you a form/questionnaire to fill out for each interview you do? </p>
<p>No. It’s just a text window.</p>
<p>***Do you submit a vague report saying things like “this kid is very polite and motivated because of blah blah blah”? </p>
<p>LOL: I *try *not to be vague but I put down my honest (albeit subjective) reading of the student and what makes him/her tick.</p>
<p>****do you ever mention whether Yale is an applicant’s first choice or not? </p>
<p>No because I never ask. Frankly, I adhere to the thought that Yale assumes they are at the top or near the top of every applicants’ list. Therefore their 70% or so yield. I don’t think they give any nods to a person’s expressed interest in Y being their #1 choice.</p>
<p>**Have you ever explicitly stated that an applicant should not be accepted?</p>
<p>Yep. There have been some that performed so terribly in my 45-60 minute session.</p>
<p>***Or do you avoid recommending acceptances/rejections?</p>
<p>I’ll make a recommendation if I feel I have enough to go on. Often, I don’t and can only offer my observations. That’s OK however. I’m certainly aware that I only get to see a sliver of the student – I don’t get to read their recs or personal statements. New Haven gets to do all that. I’m only one contributing component of the overall pic.</p>
<p>Now I gotta go light some incense to call on ol’ Elihu. Where do you live again??</p>
<p>LOL</p>
<p>Good luck to you. I hope my answers de-mystify some things for you and the other readers.</p>