<p>I wasn't interviewed for this article, but the alumni who are quoted said exactly what I thought when I quit interviewing.</p>
<p>Ivy</a> League Alumni Quit Admissions Interviews as Success Slips - Bloomberg</p>
<p>Can any alumni give me a good reason why I should resume interviewing this fall?</p>
<p>Sikorsky: I think you know that I’m an interviewer for a peer school of your alma mater. Our area has seen almost a doubling of applications and in my situation, I interviewed close to 40 students in the last three application seasons (I happen to live in an area abutting a large county where barely any alum reside). Of these 40, one got waitlisted. All the others were rejected.</p>
<p>My take on it? Why should I continue to volunteer my hours and pay for Starbuck’s for these HS kids?</p>
<p>I ask myself what is the benefit. I conclude the following:
<p>2) But isn’t it disappointing that they don’t get in? Yes and no. Yes, in that I end up liking most of them and want to see them enjoy my own undergraduate experience. But NO in that </p>
<p>a) I’m certain they are headed towards extremely successful college careers, </p>
<p>b) From the onset, I do not place myself in the position to be the applicant’s advocate. I am, first and foremost, an objective evaluator on behalf of MY SCHOOL. I’m asked to rate the student based on my own knowledge of the applicant pool. The vast majority of my write ups are rated “Average: in the context of the wider applicant pool”. They may be super enjoyable kids, make me laugh, and seem to have great potential and we make a “connection” at that coffee shop. But in the context of the wider pool? My “above average” ratings aren’t that frequent. The way I see it, I’m helping the admissions office better do their job with more information. I’m not here to help them admit my students.</p>
<p>c) I’m fully cognizant that I don’t see the whole picture. My 45-60 minutes with this person is a tiny sliver on what they represent themselves in their application file (with rec letters, essays, transcript, etc.). I’ve met some frankly, noisome people who got admitted. I’ve met kids I’d like my daughters to meet and marry one day – but get rejected. But I’m under no illusion to the weight of my write up of that day’s interview session by and large. </p>
<p>However, I also know my region’s admissions officer and he has asked me specific question about some interviewees and I know of other scenarios where the interview was a tipping factor.</p>
<p>3) Given that almost 93% of applicants will be rejected, I still want to be a great ambassador on behalf of my alma mater. I put forth the best picture and hopefully leave them with a great feeling of my college, despite their eventual results. I think this serves my college well in the long run. I’m doing PR work for them, plain and simple.</p>
<p>I think interviewers should first and foremost go into these sessions knowing that they are serving the college – to be a set of objective eyes on the kids in the extremely artificial context of a “college interview”. They should not enter into this feeling that they are advocates for a certain number of applicants from their region. If they feel entitled that their kids should get in, they are bound for disappointment and frankly, aren’t doing their job, IMHO.</p>
<p>That’s why I interview. That’s why I speak at college info sessions where some kids have no earthly idea what it is to apply to or be qualified for an Ivy school.</p>
<p>Am I nuts? I dunno. I enjoy it. I can’t write big donations to my college. I give back in this manner. In the over 20 years and 200+ students I’ve interviewed, I think under 10 kids have been admitted. It doesn’t phase me and I’m still game.</p>
<p>Have I nudged you a little further to get back into the game? LMK</p>
<p>I interviewed for my alma mater this year for the first time, and none of my kids made it. One of them was a bright, articulate ED legacy applicant who was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the school, and I just <em>knew</em> she would get in. I was bitterly disappointed when she didn’t, especially when I knew how crushed she would be. </p>
<p>The "what great purpose is being an ambassador to 20,000 people who are not going to get in?” quote especially got to me, as my interviews tend to be give and take - me querying them about their applications and them asking me questions about Duke. Many of them were excited (or more so) about the school afterwards, so I felt extremely guilty about hyping it up after rejections were posted.</p>
<p>That was a great response, T26E4. It’s true that most of them will get into good colleges and do well, and it’s important to look at the larger picture.</p>
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<p>You seem to want to reflect better on your alma mater than I do on mine. I didn’t buy their coffees.</p>
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<p>Nudged? Maybe so. Convinced me to get back in the game? IDK. Interviewing really did make me like my alma mater less than I had before. But I’ll ponder it some.</p>