Campus Interview

My son interviewed on campus recently, and wasn’t terribly impressed. He got there fifteen minutes early, and the receptionist was a bit snappish, bordering on rude (my son is very quiet and reserved, so that wasn’t the problem). While waiting, some staffers came out and griped about lunch. The interviewer turned out to be a student, who went through a set list of questions, didn’t really pay attention to the responses, and didn’t engage at all. Overall, not a great impression. I know Yale doesn’t need to put in much effort since applicants are swarming, but still. He had a much better experience with his MIT interview.

Anyone whose child had a similar experience?

Too late now, but I’d argue that alumni interviews are more likely to paint a better picture than student-led interviews, at least at the undergraduate level. Seniors will not be enthusiastic about the school—they’re busy with exams, recruiting, time commitments, etc. and just want to graduate. You’ll find that alumni, on the other hand, will be much more engaging and enthusiastic about their alma mater.

As for the rude staff, just remember that once admitted you will never have to deal with these people again. Unless your son does interviews his senior year…

All in all, I wouldn’t characterize the university by one bad interviewer.

DS had an on campus student interview and an alumni interview. Yale no longer offers the chance to have both. The student was engaged and interested, but he got more from the alumni interview. Maturity matters, and volunteers are probably more emotionally invested than kids putting in their hours.

@SwingShift - I’m very sorry that your son had an off-putting experience when he interviewed at Yale. Interviews can be challenging for nervous applicants and interviewers need to be more sensitive - especially with students who aren’t extroverted, like the interviewers themselves. My son had a great interview, but he and his interviewer had a lot of interests in common, which of course made things a lot easier for both of them. Also, before he arrived on campus, he reached out to specific departments to contact students who weren’t associated with the Admissions Office. They were all incredibly polite and helpful, and met him for coffee over the course of a few hours during his visit. These meetings gave him a much clearer idea about what the students at Yale are like, what they like and dislike about their departments and college, and overall left him with the impression that students with a wide variety of academic and other interests at Yale genuinely love their school. Best of luck to your son during this exciting period!

Interviews at Yale count for very little. Your son will have a range of experiences. Rule of thumb is the smaller the college, the more important the interview. Good Luck!

@SwingShift , something to remember, not just about your son’s disappointing experience recently, but for the whole process, is that it’s risky to extrapolate too much from one person at one point in time. Anyone can have a bad day. Posters in some other threads (about college visits that moved interest up or down) constantly have diametrically opposed reactions to tours at one school or another. Recently, they’ve been dumping on CMU. I hated the info session at Princeton. The bad info session at H has become a family joke at our house.

In spite of that, CMU has been a great school for many kids, I know some kids who seem happy at P, and they tell me it’s possible to be happy at H :))

My daughter is friends with a senior that does interviews. She said that many if not most of those they have interviewed have not even applied yet and approach the interview like it is a thing to do in a check box. There is also some kind of opinion that on campus interviews hold more weight than alumni ones locally and many are disappointed that they are interviewed by a student and not some official adult in the admissions office so it affects the attitude during these interviews. Its sad that this left a bad taste in your mouth but unfortunately when this tends to be the norm, it is also what happens for some.

Hi, hope this is not too late but I did have a similar experience when I did my on campus interview last week. From what most people say, the interview seems pretty trivial in admitting students. I (STEM-oriented) was interviewed by a lovely senior majoring in women’s gender/sexuality studies. Our interview started off a bit rough I think because she seemed a bit bored by all my science-y talk about the research I’d been doing since a freshman (later she apologized and explained that she may have looked uninterested because she was tired from having gone to bed very late the previous night). However when we started talking about hobbies (mine is reading classic literature) she perked up very fast and revealed that she used to be an English major. From then onward I think we had a decent conversation. My experience seems a bit different since my interviewer did not really have a set list of questions but rather followed up with questions based on my answers to her previous ones. I think overall I did not really “wow” her but I was borderline satisfied with my interview and I’m not too worried since it only plays such a small part in the whole process.