Which one is preferable? Am I expected to have an on campus interview if I live somewhat close? Any thoughts or recommendations are appreciated. Thanks so much!
What school? My S did an on campus at Univ Roch and phone interview for Brown - we live in TX, so making the trek to New York definitely showed interest, but other than that they both went well. I personally think the phone thing can be a bit awkward but if you are comfortable with phone interview and school offers it, then I guess you could do that. Of course I’m assuming the alumni interview is on the phone - my son’s was.
DS has an alumni interview scheduled in person - they are meeting in a coffee shop, which is what I have heard is typical around here. He has done one on campus interview during a visit. Some schools specific a distance (i.e. 2 hour drive) that they prefer on campus if possible. If you are not close to a school then alumni is certainly fine. It also depends on the school - some use alumni networks exclusively, or at least more than other schools.
If the college is one that tracks “interest” and you live nearby they’d like you to visit and schedule one if possible. However, they also may not have any slots left. They’d not hold it against you either.
What college?
My D preferred interviewing on campus as the interviews were with members of the college admission office or a current student who works for and has been trained by the admissions department. The couple of alumni interviews she had were more hit or miss – some alumni were just not great interviewers, one graduated 30 years ago and didn’t seem to have the pulse of the school etc.
Thanks so much, everyone. @T26E4 I want to interview at Yale and I live one and a half hours away. My parents can take me if necessary, but it would be more convenient to interview locally.
Generally, your on-campus interviews can count more IF you get to interview with an admissions officer. They’ll just have been more trained and able to sight strong applicants more easily.
If you live far away, alumni is your best bet. If you’re close, you should do an on-campus interview. One example I can give of a school not liking students to do alumni interviews is Barnard- the rep explicitly said that for Long Island applicants, we were expected to interview on campus.
I have a long history interviewing/recruiting for Yale – what a great coincidence. Yale won’t care if you come to campus to meet with a senior or interview locally. Their on campus slots may be full however. And it’s possible that not all applicants in your locality get offered an interview because most areas of the country have a surplus of applicants to alum volunteer interviewers.
That being said, neither on campus or alumni interview is essential and (rightly) comprises one of the smallest portions of your overall application.
I’d say, if you already had plans to be near New Haven, make the appt. If not, I wouldn’t go out of my way to do it whatsoever.
Thanks so much, @T26E4 Yale does have several on campus interview slots left, which is why I labelled this urgent.
glad to help. LIke I said, I would NOT make a special 1.5 hour trip to do this. There will be a bajillion applicants within a 90 minute driving radius of New Haven who won’t have on campus interviews.
On the other hand, CT is wonderful in the fall. I can think of many worse things to do than take a drive to CT. Grab some white clam pizza at Pepe’s if you’re in town.
I had 7 interviews for colleges. Coincidentally, I didn’t get into any of those 7 colleges. I wouldn’t place too much (if any) weight on interviews.