I’ve just applied ED to Dartmouth and am fairly certain I will be invited be interviewed by an alumnus. (I say this because all Dartmouth applicants from my school last year were invited to interviews.) I’m just trying to be proactive when I ask does anyone who previously was interviewed by a Dartmouth alumnus have any tips or would like to share his or her experience? (What did you wear? What were you asked? How long was the interview? How do you think it affected your admission decision? What is relaxed or nerve-racking? What did you ask the interviewer?)
Hi Claire, My opinion of the interview is that you should look at it as an opportunity to learn from alums how to thrive at the school when you are admitted.
My belief is that there is little that you can do to improve or hurt your chance of admission. The practical challenge of alumni interviewing is that there are 20,000 applicants. Let’s assume that you can geographically reach half of those and each alum can interview 5-10 (7.5), you need 1,333 alums to interview. (OK, that seems unrealistic, both number of alums and average interview load, but change the assumptions as you see fit, and decide how that impacts my conclusion.) There is no way the college can insure consistency of evaluation across that broad of a base.
The circumstances that could improve your chances would be something that you had a hard time writing about but is critical to your four year experience that you communicate verbally to the interviewer and they can communicate in writing to the office. On the downside, I cannot imagine what you could do to hurt your chances short of not showing up for an interview. So, do not get nervous about your interview. Look at it as an opportunity to connect with people who really love the school, and receive advice on how to make the most of the College should you be accepted.
Also, ask them if they would be willing to help you access the Dartmouth network if you get in to fill your off campus experiences during your four years. The more you can articulate to them why you made D your ED, the better chance of soliciting their help downstream.
Good luck!
@clairecm98 I contacted my daughter to inquire about her interview experience with a Dartmouth alumna.
Her interview was conducted in a Starbucks and was for the most part a casual conversation. Her interviewer was almost 20 minutes late so the anxiety was sky high by the time they finally met. My daughter was asked about her academics and extra curricular activities. She was asked why Dartmouth, why out of everywhere she could attend was Dartmouth the choice. The interviewer was both surprised and pleased to hear that my daughter had toured Dartmouth. We live 2,000 miles away from campus and she was not expecting to hear that my daughter had actually been there. This also helped my daughter as she was able to provide concrete information and details about why she felt so strongly about the college.
She was given the opportunity to ask any questions about Dartmouth and gain the perspective of a former student. The only question that was not a typical my daughter said was when she was asked what her favourite book was and why. They spoke for roughly 45 minutes and my daughter did bring a resume in case it was asked for. As for attire she wore dress slacks and an Oxford, business casual so to speak. She doesn’t know what to think on how big of an impact this interview had on her admission decision as it was hard to read the interviewer. She doesn’t feel it went poorly she just doesn’t know that it would have swung a decision one way or another in terms of her admittance.
My son is a '19 at Dartmouth, meaning that he interviewed last year. He also met an alumna in a Starbucks, and he wore black jeans and a nice sweater and dress shoes, his standard interview attire. I don’t remember all of what he said they talked about, but I do know he really enjoyed the experience and once it begun he was able to relax. I will say that there is no way that it affected his acceptance, because before the week was out he had gotten a likely letter, meaning that they had decided about him before the interview even took place! But that’s not to say it wasn’t valuable, because he did get to ask his questions and what he learned from the alumna made him very well-disposed toward the school, but it obviously didn’t affect the school’s actual decision per se.
Is it true that you are less likely to be admitted if you are not interviewed while other applicant in the same school are?
@nerdking It is NOT true. Interview assignments are random.
Hey guys! I had my interview last week so I thought I may as well share my experience. We met at Starbucks at like 6 at night and ended up having to sit outside because all the tables were full so the environment was very low-key. My interviewer was pretty young (around 30 I think) which was actually more nerve-racking than being interviewed by an older adult, in my opinion. I say this because I had dressed professionally and planned to discuss all my extracurriculars in detail and try to imply what values each has instilled in me (which I do NOT recommend for future interviewees, it just makes you sound rehearsed and insincere). I began this tactic when she asked me to tell her about myself and I spoke very descriptively about my experiences playing volleyball for the past 7 years. She sort of interrupted me after a minute or so and simply said, “So, like, I’m assuming you’re really good at volleyball, right?” (That sounds harsh in writing but she said it in a nice, supportive way.) She then went on to talk about how one of her friends actually started the club volleyball program at Dartmouth which I thought was really interesting but then she continued to talk about her time at Dartmouth and I hardly ever spoke. She asked me the basic question, “Why Dartmouth?” (I DO recommend you think of a solid answer to this question prior to your interview because you will, without a doubt, be asked it.) She asked me if I knew anything about the apparent sexual assault incident at Dartmouth a few years ago, which I did not, and proceeded to talk about that and then asked if I had any questions. I asked one question which she then spent probably 5-10 minutes answering and going a little off topic at times but I found what she said to be quite interesting and helpful if I should attend Dartmouth. After that, she asked me if there was anything else she should know. I proudly offered her my resume (I DO recommend bringing one, just in case) which she then began to read and ask questions about some of the items. She asked to keep my resume because earlier she had said that she doesn’t like to take notes during interviews and then told me to email her if I had any questions and to tell her if I get accepted/denied. All in all, I think the interview went pretty well, but I don’t think it will have much effect on my application as a whole. The interviewer basically implied that she was only there to help me, not hurt me. 