As an Ivy alumni interviewer, the interview does matter, but it doesn’t have a huge weight with admissions. It’s mainly used as a way to give the college more context around you as a person, apart from the black and white numbers on an application form, and secondarily as a “tiebreaker” between two very very close students otherwise.
So why are they useful? Half of the interview is YOU being able to ask your alumni interviewer how the college really is. We aren’t part of admissions, so you can be a bit more open in your questions, and concerns, and can ask “silly” but just as useful questions like “How’s the food?”
It doesn’t hurt your chances by not having an interview, since no college can guarantee an alum is in your area. Likewise, they can’t expect every student to travel to campus for an interview or tour there. It wouldn’t be fair to those in remote locations to not get an alumni interview and not travel a day and a half to get to campus, simply based on geographic restrictions or those beyond your control. That said, they do track who shows up to tours and such, but that’s mainly for contact information, and admissions won’t give you bonus points for each email or visit you do.
@SaphireNY You’re placing too much emphasis on this. Correlation =/= causation. In your summary, you’ve already witnessed some of the randomness of decisions. Why attribute extra weight to interviews when EVERY SINGLE INTERVIEWER WHO SPENDS TIME ON THIS SITE will tell you that the the interview in 99% of cases, means little to nothing? There’s no need to spin these around looking for a pattern. There isn’t one (except maybe for MIT).
the tours aren’t very important but it does show that you have high demonstrated interest. and if it is between you and a kid with the same scores and a good essay like yours, but you took a tour it is more likely that you would get in. they love the demonstrated interest.
Alum Interviews are very important but not for the reasons you may think. Consider how unreliable interview data is. A good school would not put much stock into the reports about alum interviews because they are simply unreliable. Even expert interviews are unreliable for making judgements. Imagine what happens when you ask hundreds of alum to each interview a few perspective students. Mayhem. That won’t yield information that is very useful.
Interviews keep alum connected and involved with the school. Alum that feel connected give more than those that don’t.
Interviews serve as cheep PR for the school. For those accepted, a good interview will increase the chances of a student accepting the offer. This is especially true for students geographically distant from the school.
My D is a shy introvert. She is terrified of interviewing, and I wish I could,help her make it easier. I am the opposite and love interviews. Many of the colleges she is interested in recommend interviews. If any other shy people have advice on the interview process, please share.
@Lindagaf I am terribly shy as well. I procrastinated interviewing until the end of January. The first one was hard but then it got easier as I went along. Just ask her to research the college and talk about her interests and anything else that sets her apart. It will get easier as she does more. Good Luck!
The importance of the interview also depends on the size and type of school. For small liberal arts colleges, interviews definitely matter. They look more closely at you as a person and how well you’ll fit into the college community, which can be very tight-knit.
As a former Ivy alum interviewer and an experienced college educator, my advice is this: Regardless of the relative weight of the interview at the particular school, if they offer an interview and it’s financially feasible for you, do it. The sooner you get proficient at doing these types of interviews–where there’s some pressure to perform with real consequences–the better. You’re going to face them again and again throughout your life. Performing in interviews is an important part of being an adult out there in the wide world.
I recommend to wait until you get accepted to some colleges and then decide to take a tour or do an interview. I would find it more helpful to take a tour of the college because it is more exciting and you can get a much better view of the campus. Doing an interview just gives you vivid information that could be overly exaggerated or possibly false.
Ideally, it’d be good to visit the campus and tour it before applying (to see if the school’s a good fit) and afterwards to make a final decision on deciding between schools.
Also a good opportunity to ask questions to tour guides and students around the campus.
The college admissions subreddit had some tips from an actual college tour guide the other day. Definitely read those before visiting.