<p>How much can a college interview help you in the admissions process? Should I be going out of my way to schedule interviews?</p>
<p>It depends on the school. Some schools consider interviews important in their admissions decision, some don’t consider/care for them at all.</p>
<p>VERY FEW colleges consider interviews important. I can’t name you two. Some more out of the way colleges give weight to students’ demonstrated interest. They will sometimes use the interview to gauge this interest.</p>
<p>But the fact is, the VAST majority of schools don’t offer any interviews. Many who do, only count them as the smallest portion of your application. My ivy alma mater tries to interview everyone – but it’s impossible. But the weight of the interview is tiny and one doesn’t need one to be fully considered.</p>
<p>It can help you because it gives a personal aspect to the whole package. But how much is debatable. I mean, I got into every college I interviewed for save one (and that one was the first interview, so things were rocky). </p>
<p>And you shouldn’t be going out of your way to schedule interviews. I mean, if you can do it without sacrificing too much, do it by all means. But don’t drive ten hours to get to an interview. Most interviewers will be happy to do it by phone if it’s a hassle.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>From the other side as an interviewer, I agree with 93tiger’s statement in theory. Besides the few colleges that highly encourage/require interviews, for the rest of the colleges (like my alma mater) the interview can only occasionally help. </p>
<p>1) it may illuminate other areas of the application but can never breathe life into a corpse but, </p>
<p>2) a bad interview report CAN hurt you (meaning you do something awful like spew something racist or something)</p>
<p>I fully concur with not doing crazy efforts to schedule an interview. Colleges know this and you won’t be penalized.</p>