I know an applicant who recently had his interview at an EC’s home.
ECs are asked specifically NOT to conduct their interviews in their homes.
I feel that, beyond whatever other reasons there may be, interviewing at an ECs home would place an undue amount of pressure on an applicant.
If an EC asked a student to meet in the ECs home, I would hope that the applicant would contact MIT admissions and ask for a new EC. It would be within an applicant’s right to do so.
ECs are definitely told not to interview in their homes, though I had my MIT interview in my EC’s home some years back. It is for the protection both of the EC and of the student. We hold interviews in public places with many other people around.
My interview was at my ECs home. My counselor (school counselor) found out and the next day, first thing in the morning, he called me into his office to make sure I was okay. But yeah, it kind of made me feel uncomfortable. Especially since people kept telling me that a girl such as myself should never be alone in a man’s home.
But hey, I’m fine. My EC was super nice and respectful.
One point, in life you are going to get some bad interviewers. Chalk it up. MIT will eventually get around to giving this particular EC bad scores, as the admissons office will score her report on you. Since she did not get to know you, in her time with you, that will show in her report. Don’t sweat it. The interview is used, but not the most heavily weighted factor and if she wrote a sloppy report, it may not be heavily weighed for or against you. With that, hold your cards closer to your chest, as why tell anyone your personal financial information,in any future interview (job, graduate school, transfer , another college interview ). However a GOOD MIT EC should refer you to the financial aid people if you need that sort of information. A good EC should offer you support for whatever your needs are for learning about MIT and your fit for the school. Sorry you had a very bad experience, and MIT is sure to be concerned if you do call them, but that is tricky as how do you sound to the admissions office complaining about the one person you have had contact with so far? Its not easy to complain about an EC and a little risky. I would not do that. Just hope for the best.
Just curious questions：
For each EC, how many percentage applicants could receive a reply after sending thank-you email post interview ? I think even people said irrelevant, but seems EC only reply those who made good-to-great impression during an interview. My son had 3 interview for EA, the ones he got reply are those he felt good, not the one felt so-so or uncomfortable.
On the other hand, are most of those students finally admitted into MIT had a good/ great interview and at least received a reply after the thank-you-email-post-interview ?
If the applicant had a so-so interview (he interviewer ignore the thank-you-email), does this lower his chance to get into MIT? or just did not improved his chance to get into MIT？i think this depends how well in average those teens can handle the interview, for most of them, 1st formal interview in their life.
Most adults get nervous at job interviews, so it is fascinating for me to even think about how those 17, 18 years old to handle the interview. How many preparation is adequate for those teenages ? not seems careless and unprepared, also not seems overly-prepared or scripted answers？
any help with my questions ? please 
We’ve looked into this, but here’s one of the problems: applicants have a lot of anxiety in the process. A lot of that anxiety gets projected onto the interview, since it’s the most human point of contact with the office. I know this because I’ve talked to admits who thought they interviewed poorly and then I go and read the interview and the interviewer loved them. Another concern is that applicants might be worried that we take their review into consideration in their application and thus not respond honestly.
We’ve been trying to think of solutions (maybe a blind, anonymized response? but how to correct for anxiety?) but it’s reeeally tough.
Also, if any of you had an interview in your EC’s home, please email me. They are instructed not to do it and if they do I need to know.
I thought I responded to this in the past, but I guess not.
First, EC’s are volunteers. That places limitations on what the Institution can do - it can’t, for example, fire the bottom half of ECs and dump the load on the top half. It would also help if the interviewees would keep this in mind. One of the reasons I no longer interview (not the main one - maybe #4 or #5 on the list) is the sense of entitlement by some interviewees. There was the student who demanded that we cancel the agreed upon date and time and switch to another one - one where I was not available. There was the time I got off a plane to Europe to see two emails: one requesting an interview, and one a few hours later berating me for not replying. I think if people were to look at things in that light, their expectations might better match reality.
And, to build on Mike’s point, it’s really annoying when a student asks for an interview and doesn’t want to go to MIT. It’s just deliberately wasting my time. I’m not too annoyed by the rare student who is being pushed into MIT and doesn’t want to go - although I’d be happier if he were to tell me that when scheduling. But I am annoyed by the ones who are “practicing for my interview for [other school]”.
Second, there seems to be this idea that a good interview is one where you “connect” with your EC. I don’t think this is the case. A good interview is one in which the interview report captures aspects about the student that are unlikely to appear in the more quantitative part of the application. I’ve interviewed students who I have liked, and students I haven’t and I’ve had students accepted and rejected from both pools.
My reports are…or rather, were, about 80-90% facts and only 10-20% opinion. Facts are “She said X, she told me Y, she did Z” and so on. One can write a good interview solely on facts, although I felt opinions can improve on that - but I have always made it a point to clearly separate fact from opinion. For example, “He told me that he gets straight A’s without having to study [fact], but I got the feeling [opinion] that he was saying this because he felt the need to impress me, and that he actually does study.” What I don’t do is write a report that is designed to lead the committee down the accept/do not accept path. The job of an EC is to be the eyes and ears of Admissions - but not its brain.
Third, the problem with “grading” is that every student is unique, as is every interview. EC’s are graded on a scale of 1-5. The score I am most proud of was a 3. This was a particularly difficult student with severe anxiety issues - we re-scheduled three times, and eventually conducted the interview by phone. Yes, it was a 3, but in most universes, it wouldn’t exist at all.