<p>Just out of curiosity: are applicants randomly chosen for interviews?
10 people from my school are applying to Brown this year, but so far, only myself and another classmate have been contacted for an interview so far (I'm a little paranoid, the two of us are seen to be the "weakest" applicants).
Has anyone heard of cases where applicants from the same school were contacted by different interviewers?</p>
<p>rain0ashes: I'm a Brown interviewer. It is very common for several interviewers to be assigned to the same school, so that the 10 applicants from your school could be interviewed by as many as 10 people.</p>
<p>Our goal is to interview 100% of applicants. </p>
<p>The whole process is handled via e-mail and the Web. Some interviewers don't check their email regularly, or delay getting in touch with applicants, or suddenly find themselves unable to do interviews but "forget" to let their area chair know. At this point, every student should be assigned to an interviewer -- although we have so many applicants this year we are still arranging some.</p>
<p>If you haven't been contacted yet, I suggest you call admissions. The deadline for write-ups is Feb. 15, although I bet they will accept write-ups through early March.</p>
<p>Thanks for your quick & helpful reply, fireandrain! =)</p>
<p>my D just got contacted this morning and she will be interviewed tomorrow at 8pm ! yay!!</p>
<p>If an interview is so unimportant, what is the point of it?? Other than to put a 'face' to an application?</p>
<p>^It also gives the applicant the chance to learn more about the school, from an alum's perspective.</p>
<p>I think it's more to learn about the school in general. It's also nice to hear some stories from the alumini!</p>
<p>my D did not interview the alumni! the alumni was asking questions regarding her hs's career and what she wanted to do in life!! that's mean it's not only informative it's also about judging who you are and if you are a good fit for a specific school!! (sorry for my broken English... i am not an American.)</p>
<p>got a phone interview next week. anything special go down or is it just like everything other college interview except i can't see my interviewer?</p>
<p>I had my interview last weekend. It went really well. We sat in the Starbucks just talking for like an hour. My interviewer was really interesting, too. After he graduated from Brown he was awarded a Fulbright and got his master's at Cambridge, lived abroad in Cairo for a year, and is now getting his law degree at the local university.</p>
<p>A Brown alumn came to our house this week to interview D2. I couldn't get home from work in time to meet her. I really wanted to because I wanted her to see that I was black. My wife was home, but she's white. M D2 doesn't look black. At her high school, even one of the teacher's who wrote a recommendation for her confided later to my D that she was surprised when she met me at one of the parents' nights. I don't like playing the URM angle but others will underscore being a Legacy or celebrity status or first in family to go to college, so why not? Everyone is looking for some kind of boost.</p>
<p>FireDrain: What kind of chance does D really have to get into Brown? She has excellent grades but weak standardized tests. Good but, unfortunately, ultra-liberal, bleeding heart, help other people type ECs - no lofty student govt., BMOC type ECs. We've yet to visit Brown. Would it boost D's chances a bit if we visited by next week?</p>
<p>I had a brown interview last week at my local library but after an hour , the library closed at 9 pm so we went to the local starbucks for another hour or so. I think this guy was very interested because of my research project on a new anthrax vaccine and he worked for a pharmaceutical company even though we only talked about that for 1/2 an hour or so. He was probably the nicest guy I have ever had an interview with and told probably the funniest stories about his time at brown.</p>
<p>My son just returned from his interview with a Brown alum, and apparently it was a strange experience. They met at a cafe near our local university in the evening -- when S walked up, the interviewer was just finishing interviewing a girl, so they all shook hands and she left. S and interviewer talked for close to 1/2 an hour, and then the interviewer said "I know this is a little strange, but would you mind if we took this interview on the road? I promised to pick up a neighbor from a nursing home where he's visiting his wife, and drop him back home. Would you mind coming along and we can keep talking in the car?" S was taken aback and didn't know quite what to do -- all those years of being told never to get into a car with a stranger... but he felt like the guy seemed trustworthy, so he went, they talked in the car during this errand, and then went back to the cafe for an additional 15 minutes or so, and then said goodbye. The whole episode took about an hour and 3/4. S said the conversation was pleasant and informative, it's just that the situation felt weird! I was just glad the guy didn't turn out to be a serial killer, and S lived to tell the tale...! Maybe this interviewer does this regularly to evaluate prospective students' street smarts or risk-taking attitude? Probably not... All in all, S was left with a strange feeling, but I don't think it's dampened his enthusiasm about Brown. Weird though, don't you think?</p>
<p>Plainsman: The interview is not the place for Brown to discover that a parent is African-American. The application is. As an interviewer, I would NEVER write anything on the application about the applicant's skin color. My skin crawls just thinking about it. </p>
<p>Your daughter's chances for admission are 8-10% or so -- same as every other female applicant. Brown does not track its visitors, so a visit would not help boost her chances. The way to show interest is through the essays on the application.</p>
<p>supportivemom: yes, that's a little weird, and the interviewer probably shouldn't have done it -- but. The guy did give your son the chance to say no. Clearly the interviewer was in a bind -- life happens, you know. Try to look at it from his perspective.</p>
<p>Fireandrain: agreed -- life happens! It all worked out fine, hopefully the interviewer will give my S a good report, and as I said, this experience did not dissuade S from hoping he gets into Brown. By the way, is your screen name a reference to the James Taylor song?</p>
<p>supportivemom: yes. I'm a big fan of JT.</p>
<p>One more point in favor of Brown -- the great taste in music of at least one of their interviewers!</p>
<p>By the way, does anyone know what an interview "write-up" consists of? Is it a matter of filling out a form with set questions, or writing a free-form narrative of how the interview went, or what? And then does everyone who reads the student's application also see the interview write-up? Just curious...</p>
<p>is it okay to call Brown and ask for an interview?
I wansn't contacted by any alumni yet..</p>
<p>they won't get mad if I call right??
(cuz when i called Rice Unviersity for diff. question, this one lady
just hunged up....rude..??? altho i doubt Brown would do that to me..
cuz the other time i called for a question , the lady was extremely nice)</p>
<p>Just had my interview it was basically more informational than evaluation of yourself. I think he could tell that I wasn't too interested in Brown and so I think the interview did not go too well. I more interested in what he did after school since he became a doctor. Apparently, he got excepted into every medical school he applied to which just goes to show that Brown is excellent for those pre-med students.</p>