I have a few questions about a Dartmouth Alumni Interview
What do I call them when I meet them? Mr./Mrs.? Or by their first name? They introduced themselves to me over the phone by their first and last name.
I read on other threads that potential students write follow-up thank you notes to their interviewer, but how I am supposed to do that for mine if I don’t have their email address or anything?
Any other advice in general? (yes, i got the “be yourself” spiel down, but anything else perhaps out of the boxish tips or something would be cool
I would use Mr./Ms. + last name. If they want you to call them by their first name, they will tell you.
After the interview, if they don’t already give you a business card or someway to contact them, you could ask them if you could have some contact information in case you come up with more questions later.
Agree with above - use Mr. Mrs. in formal correspondence. Once you interview and talk to them, they’ll probably introduce themselves to you the way they want to be referred to - “Hi, I’m Joe, this is Sally. We’re going to do your interview”
Personally, an email thank you is nice afterwards. It is just polite and helps me remember you if I’ve just completed 6 interviews in a row. It also gives you a last chance to throw in anything you forgot to mention in the interview. If I do 10 interviews, I might get 1 thank you email. But maybe they just didn’t like me… sad thought.
Extra tips - I generally care much less about how many things you do and much more about why you do it. Give us something to write about that makes you stand out from other applicants; make our job easy! That’s great you started a volunteer group. Why? Because it’s something that is really close to you? Why? Because a unique experience happened to you when you were younger that made this your passion. OK, now we’re getting an idea of what kind of person you are, perfect.
Also, these interviews don’t hold a ton of weight. A great interview report will act as a tiebreaker for admissions, or cause them to look a second time at your application, but that’s about it. The only way you can blow your chances is if you walk in and angrily flip the table. Once you change your perspective on what this interview truly is, you can breathe a little easier, and you’ll approach it as an opportunity for you to learn about Dartmouth from someone that lived it that won’t give the stock pc Admissions answer when you ask a question.
In addition, I’d say the vast majority of files are read and processed to a point of decision where an interview report won’t even act as a tiebreaker. Most kids’ files are rejected (you know that). Some are shoo ins (you know that too).
That small sliver of kids on the bubble – only for them might an interviewer’s report make a difference. For those that get an offer, the interview tends to corroborate the rest of the file.
Thus, I concur w/Tank07. Please don’t stress about it. If you get an offer from Dartmouth, know that 99.8% of what leads to that success has occurred and submitted in your application.
My Dartmouth alumni interviewer asked me to bring a copy of my Dartmouth application. I thought this was a strange request considering my other interviews did not even ask for a resume let alone my application. I don’t necessarily feel all that comfortable sharing my personal essays with a stranger who lives in my small town. I would feel more comfortable with supplying my resume. Does anyone have experience with this?
@scavullo I would assume your interviewer would like to see that for some of the stats – GPA, school rank, etc. It’s somewhat unusual for us to write our report based on your application. None of my interviewers would be allowed to write “their personal essays were very good” or anything of the sort. It’s only for what the interview covered.
My advice would be to bring your resume, or failing that, just the portion of your application that lists name/scores/activities. Like noted before and elsewhere, the resume is nice for interviewers because it lets us ask better questions about your experiences and also keeps you fresh in our mind when we’ve done multiple interviews in a short period of time. The application itself would be excessive in my mind.
@scavullo I concur with Tank07. While well intentioned, your interviewer is overstepping. Provide what Tank suggested. If asked further and you’re willing, say you’re willing to discuss the generalities of the personal statement. If it’s private, then say so and hold firm.
BTW: I’ve been a 25+ year interviewer for another Ivy.
Yes - all RD interviews would need to happen by Feb 15th at the absolute latest, so Feb 12th gives your interviewer time to write the report and submit before Admissions closes the submission period
Yep! If you don’t get an alumni interview by then, you very likely won’t. But check your spam folder, just in case your interviewer has been emailing you!
@jmend1781 The schools have some wiggle room w/the deadlines. But don’t torture yourself trying to discern if this late interview request means something big or not. It’s unknowable and you can’t change it anyway. Just go do your best and let the chips fall where they may. Best of luck to you!
Dartmouth does have wiggle room on their deadlines, meaning they want them by a specific date but will accept them up through when they make decisions. But the later your interview, the less likely the report is to have impact on your application, so they push for the Feb 15th deadline for maximum impact. Better late than never, but better early than late.
(yes, i got the “be yourself” spiel down, but anything else perhaps out of the boxish tips or something would be cool