I just had my Penn “interview.” I use quotes because I wouldn’t even consider it an interview. My interviewer seemed very disinterested and was on her phone or looking away half the time. It only lasted around 15 minutes. I gave a short intro about myself, and then she just had me ask questions. After I asked her like 7-8 questions, it just sort of ended. I thought I was very respectful and tried to elaborate on all my answers, but she just wasn’t there with me. Is she going to write a report on me? Because I doubt it’ll be any good, seeing as she barely asked me anything. If it was just an information/question session, I didn’t really learn anything at all, but at least it won’t affect my application.
Alumni interviewers write a report, but admissions doesn’t really use it in evaluating you… It’s very minimal. If you feel as if your experience was unfair, you can contact your regional alumni chair (you can look up this info, or call up penn and ask), explaining your poor experience. By doing this the chair can probably contact penn, but more importantly they can look into it, and see if this interviewer has to be let go
I don’t recommend that you contact the regional alumni chair or anyone at Penn admissions regarding the interview. Move on. Should you get accepted and choose to attend you may decide to bring the situation up at that time. Alumni interviewers are volunteers. It’s disappointing that your interviewer didn’t behave professionally. Penn trusts that they represent Penn better than your interviewer did.
I’m mainly worried my interviewer will write a negative report since she barely learned anything about me, and I don’t think it was my fault, since I tried to share as much as possible… she just wasn’t interested. So I’m still on the fence whether or not I should contact the regional chair to just explain the situation.
I am sorry that you had such a disappointing interview experience. This interviewer did not follow Penn’s protocol. I don’t think you need to worry. I do not think that a negative interview report will be the deciding factor between an acceptance and a rejection.
There’s not much you can do about it. Sometimes students get a feedback request, but that is totally random.
I’ve taken this directly from Penn’s interview FAQ: . If you have any concerns about your specific circumstances as they relate to your interview, you may contact Penn Admissions, but please also follow up directly with your interviewer. ( http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/freshman-admission/interviews ).
She may have been distracted that day. How do you know she won’t write you a nice report?
NO.
@cbreeze Well, she barely learned anything about me… The entire interview (which consisted mainly of my asking questions) only lasted 15 min. So, I don’t really know what she would write about me…
So it would be a bad thing to write to Penn Admissions about the interview?
@741236985, I highly doubt your admission will be affected by an interview. In addition, since she didn’t know you, she can’t write anything negative, can she? I see no reason why she should.
What would you say to the Adcom if you were to write a letter? That the interviewer seemed disinterested in you? You would write an pre-emptive negative letter on your interviewer? Do you think the Adcom would look favorably on such a letter? What does this say about you the applicant?
It’s a no-win situation for you.