<p>A couple days ago, I contacted my local EC by email and introduced myself, and told him I was just reaching out to talk about my future interview. All he responded was that I was being very inefficient by using email, and that I should give him my phone number instead. So then, I told him my phone number, and I thought it would help if I included my schedule during which I would most likely be able to pick up a call. He told me I was being presumptuous by thinking he would be able to schedule an interview with me "in a two and a half hour window." </p>
<p>I didn't really know how to respond politely as I have been doing all this time, since nothing was getting accomplished, so I responded: </p>
<p>"Eric,</p>
<p>Yes. I was under the impression that the interview would be conducted in person, in which case two and a half hours by phone should be plenty of time to figure out a time that works for the both of us. If the problem is that you aren't available during that time, then please tell me a time you could call me or that I could call you that would fit your schedule, and I'm fairly certain we could make it work, whether it needs to be done on the weekends or whether I need to skip a day of practice during the weekdays. I am willing to make time for it. But as of now, I am informing you that this is unavoidably my schedule. I am looking to schedule my interview anytime in October, if this helps your scheduling.</p>
<p>Michael"</p>
<p>Was this the right way to go? For me at least, I was kind of getting fed up after he kept shooting down my attempts to make it work out.</p>
<p>I probably would have replaced “Eric,” with “Dear Mr./Dr./Professor LastName,” and signed “Best, -Michael”. I would also probably have inquired about his schedule and tried to make that work for me, rather than forced him to figure things out.</p>
<p>Your EC is probably a very busy person. He’s not getting anything out of this interview except the enjoyment of meeting someone new and giving something back to his alma mater. You, on the other hand, are relying on him to like you and help you get into MIT. In other words, he’s doing you a big favor by doing this interview. Be nice.</p>
<p>lidusha - you’re completely right. he responded to my emails relatively quickly yesterday, but now he isn’t responding to my most recent one. i’m not sure if he just hasn’t checked that particular email today, but in case he’s offended or something, i apologized and resent an email:</p>
<p>"Mr. Chan,</p>
<p>I went back to myMIT and noticed that MIT did not provide an email address for you (only a phone number). I didn’t realize applicants were supposed to call rather than email our ECs, so for that, I wanted to apologize for starting the messy email-chain and taking up your time.</p>
<p>Also, I must apologize for my last message, which may have come across as more brash than I meant it to be. I wanted to find out was whether there was a time that you would be available by phone so that I could reach out correctly this time via call, but after rereading the message, I recognize that I sound a lot nosier than that. I truly do realize that the ECs are volunteering themselves for interviews solely for the benefit of the applicants, and are taking time out of their busy schedules to give back to their own alma mater. With that said, I wish this process to be as smooth as possible for you, so if there is anything else you’d prefer me to do or know before I call you, please let me know. Thanks.</p>
<p>Sincerely,
Michael Li"</p>
<p>do you think this was the good path to take or do i just sound bothersome now?</p>
<p>Sounds OK to me, though perhaps requesting a new interviewer might make sense, given that you are already off on an unpleasant note with this one. It looks to me like you might just have hit an unpleasant interviewer, which does happen. My EC was a nice guy (and I am willing to bet that most are), but you are bound to hit a handful of bad ones in any group.</p>
<p>Then again, my interviewer told me my area is 0/94 over the past 4 years for MIT admits, so I suppose nice isn’t everything…</p>
<p>is it possible to request a new one? I looked at the site and it said that if you’re going to be on campus, you can contact MIT and ask to do the interview on campus with someone. I think they said this is for people who got their interviews waived or for people who didn’t get an EC. i guess its worth a shot asking, huh?</p>
<p>and also, Mr. Chan has completely stopped responding to me. at this point I’m afraid he’s going to mark down that I chose not to do the interview, which I’ve heard will hurt your admission chances…great.</p>
<p>This is not a big deal, and he won’t be offended – just call the phone number you were given for him and schedule the interview.</p>
<p>You had a misunderstanding during your first contact, which is embarrassing. But it’s not going to sour the interview unless you continue to make it a source of drama.</p>
<p>(Just for the record, based on the information you provided in your post, your EC is a physician, so he would be Dr. Chan. And presumably he is, in fact, quite busy.)</p>
<p>Mollie, to be clear, do you read applications for the admissions office? I know you’re an MIT alum, but I thought you didn’t work for MIT (now)?</p>
<p>Everyone - thanks for all the advice/words of wisdom.</p>
<p>Just to let you know, as I stated before, I had originally asked for an on-campus interview during my recruiting trip next week. However, MIT gave me the option of being reassigned to another EC, which I didn’t even think they would be willing to do. I am grateful beyond words (at this point, I’m aware the mess was due to my screw ups mostly), so I am going to CALL my new EC (Mr. Ferrara) as well as Dr. Chan just to thank him again for his time.</p>
<p>When I said “based on the information…” in my post above, I meant that I’d looked up that name in the alumni directory, not in any EC/admissions-specific resource.</p>
<p>Just to be very clear, there is not one way to contact EC’s. I am a regional chair for the MIT Educational Council. When I recruit a new EC, I specifically ask how they want to be contacted by their candidates, some much prefer phone. Most, including me, prefer e-mail. When you look at your MyMIT account, and see only a telephone number and not an e-mail address, then that should be a really good clue as to how to make contact. </p>
<p>Also, there are often many excuses for how things work. As I say, I prefer, and usually receive most of my communications by e-mail, though I will take phone calls at appropriate times. Yet last week I was traveling for business in a remote country where my mobile phone was charging me USD$2.50/minute to make or receive calls. I received a call from an MIT applicant who seemed very offended that I had no interest in discussing their life story at that point, but rather wanted to get them off the phone as soon as possible.</p>