Son had interview yesterday. It was scheduled for 45 minutes but the interviewer spent 30 minutes talking about his life in Yale. Then he just asked 2 things from my son’s resume but nothing deep. My son actually expected to be grilled so he could show how he really thinks about Yale and his EC. Now he is sad not because he did not perform well but because he was not given the chance to talk about himself. The interviewer said he had been doing this for years so he didn’t need to follow Yale’s guidelines. But how he is going to prepare the report if he didn’t really have a discussion with my son? Not sure how this will affect my son’s chance with Yale.
Alumni interviews matter about 0.01% in the scheme of things. IMHO they are more a way to involve alumni in the continuing life of the school (and hopefully impart some useful info to prospective students) than to really learn anything about the applicants. Because face it, there is no “quality control” as your son has learned. I would encourage you (if you are so inclined) to have your son drop Yale a line after everything is said and done in May.
OR… You could have your son write a glowing thank you note saying how wonderful it was to hear all about his experiences there and how it really made him think about how he would fit in well in that environment- that way the report is glowing with the interviewers stroked ego. I have to agree that its highly unlikely that the interview will matter much at all. My daughter had so many different kinds of them and most were the Alum trying to talk her into picking their school rather than actually interviewing the student. I would not put much stress into it.
@donnaleighg and @Memmsmom Got it! Thank you so much for your input!
I’m sure the interviewer got enough out of the interview. Yale interviews can be non traditional. Many of mine end up as conversations. If I end up grilling the student with question after question, its not a success for me but more like pulling teeth. I often end up talking about Yale cause the kids want to hear from someone who really went there. We don’t have a template for interviews and seasoned interviewers pretty much do what works for them. Tell him not to stress. He was looking for a stereotypical interview. Yale’s are often different. In 20+years, I have never looked at a resume or transcript. Good luck!!
I would say that if your kid managed to look interested during the interviewer’s monologue, then the interview report will likely be positive.
^ It’s an important life skill to look interested while someone drones on. Bonus points for actually managing to be interested 
DS has learned much during internship interview season, a good bit of it having very little to do with his job-related skills or internship possibilities.
I love to talk about Yale during interviews, I don’t think I drone on. I talk mostly once the interview is over and in response to questions, if asked. It is so important that applicants see Yale as a REAL place, not some magic place where life is just great. If I am familiar with their major (either through my own experience or my child’s) then I talk about that. I explain the residential colleges, something that is hard to get a sense of from the brochures. It is pretty easy to determine if the applicant wants that degree of conversation. If they don’t, I leave it at that.