Brown University Alumni Interview

I received an email from a Brown University alumni informing me that he will be conducting an interview with me. He wrote that he currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany. This is most likely me being very, very paranoid, but is there any reason why Brown assigned an alumni interviewer outside of the U.S? Is it unusual? Is Brown University implying in any way that I am an international applicant by assigning me an alumni interviewer who is not in the U.S? I am not complaining nor am I bashing my alumni interviewer, I am just curious (and paranoid!) about this. I told my counselor about it and she said that she never had any student that was interviewed by an alumni/representative who resided outside of the U.S, in her experience. Please help me.

Where do you live? They probably couldn’t find someone from your area, so they’re giving you a phone/skype interview. I think you’re way overreacting. It’s not like you have to fly out to Germany and conduct the interview there.

That is true. We are doing it on skype anyway. I live in Moreno Valley, CA (which is close to Riverside, CA). Now that you say it, I don’t think you’re wrong; it’s probably because Brown doesn’t have enough or any alumni near my area. Thanks for the response though!

Exactly.

No Brown alums in So Cal? Hard to believe. Perhaps he was close but is temporarily in Berlin. You can check with the admissions office to verify that you were assigned an interview.

Brown’s experiencing a lack of interviewers on the west coast - I know this as I was asked to interview applicants via Skype/phone there, although I don’t live at all near. This was probably just the best option to get you an interview.

I can see why you’re a bit skeptical. It doesn’t make sense why they wouldn’t try to arrange an interview that could be in person, but I think it has more to do with the lack of alumni interviewers in California.

very unrelated but are you a reveluv by chance? your username <3

I see. Thank you for all the answers and replies! They really made me feel relieved, because I thought it was a bit unusual for Brown University to do so. Thank you all again : D

@morrissey00 Yes I am : D I’m a big Wendy and Yeri fan, but I really like Red Velvet in general. I’m assuming you are one also?

I think there are a lack of interviewers everywhere this year. I live in an area dense with Brown alums, and we are seriously short interviewers.

It’s hard to explain the mechanics of assigning interviews using the web portal, but I’ll try. Alumni self-select the geographic areas they want to interview. So someone in Germany can select an area in California (or someone in NYC can select Toledo). Perhaps this person went to your high school and wants to interview students from there? I can think of several other scenarios where long-distance interviews like this happen.

Also, interviews aren’t arranged by Brown the institution, but by alumni volunteers. And the system is far from perfect.

@fireandrain I think it is unlikely that he came from the high school that I go to. Maybe, if Brown alumni interview process works the way you wrote it, he signed up for something like L.A, California or places near by L.A.

I’m not so sure to be honest. Thank you for solidifying this one fact though, that Brown is having a shortage on alumni interviewers this year. I appreciate it!

How do you know what HS he went to until he tells you? He might have gone to your high school 30 years ago, for all you know.

The GEO codes for big cities are very compact and not as vague as “places near LA.” Interviewers can and do request specific schools.

Wow. Thanks for letting me know that. I never knew about this.