How much do Penn Alumni Interviews matter? Mine was average and honestly didn’t go too well.
So I was just wondering, can I still get into Penn without a strong alumni interview?
Thanks a ton!
It’s honestly not as big of a deal as your GPA or transcript or SAT scores.
So a sub-par interview won’t hurt my chances of admission?
@StanfordOrBust19 there is a difference between an average interview and a sup-par interview.
@Angelababy30 Well it was average. But assuming the worst, just trying to see how big an impact the interview might have
I think that an interview, no matter how good it is, cannot get you into a college. Even if you believe that you had an outstanding interview, it may not correlate to an acceptance. However, I believe that if an interview went terribly, the interviewer could have the influence to not recommend you to attend the school, which could have a detrimental impact. This is why I think that if someone is not ready to have an interview for a certain school, they could be better off not taking the interview.
@StanfordOrBust19 An average interview should have little to no effect on your application, but a subpar interview could negatively influence the admission office decision. In contrast, I think a great interview could definitely boost your chances. Many of my friends here at Penn are still in touch with their interviewers. Overall, your other stats, such as gpa, standardized scores, extracurricular activities would have much larger impacts on your application than your interview.
Honestly, your interview would’ve had to be REALLY bad for it to influence your decision. I read that interviews only influence your decision if you had an extraordinary interview or a terrible interview. Angelababy30 is right, ‘Overall, your other stats, such as GPA, standardized scores, extracurricular activities would have much larger impacts on your application than your interview’.
Also, in regard to Bishoptoaster’s comment, ‘This is why I think that if someone is not ready to have an interview for a certain school, they could be better off not taking the interview’, is incredibly false. The same source, I’m pretty sure it was an AMA from an admission’s officer on Reddit, stated that it was terrible to reject an interview if you’re given the opportunity. If you a reject an interview, it leaves the admissions officers wondering why you rejected it and question you. Admissions officers having unanswered questions is never a good thing for your application, because they will assume things (typically the worst). However, if you’re not given an opportunity to interview, they genuinely do not hold it against you – despite the number of applicants who freak out over this.
I applied to Brown ED and got rejected, my interview was pretty terrible (so was my interviewer, so I am only taking half the blame). I might of come off as pretentious a which could of skewed my essays. I’m sure it was my whole application that didn’t get me in, but the bad interview did not help.