<p>thanks in advance</p>
<p>I've heard they can make a HUGE difference. If you were likely to get in, and you bomb it then you probably won't. And if you were borderline getting in but you swim right through the interview then you probably will get in.</p>
<p>Depends on the school.</p>
<p>Well no top schools do real interviews anymore and the alumni interviews are just informational.</p>
<p>I think they make a difference. My position stems from my DD's interviews. She actually dropped one of her top schools after meeting the alum interviewer. She realized the school would not be a match.</p>
<p>Very much depends on the school. Like newyorka said, some are strictly informational, while other top schools have a specific set of questions to be asked and a report to be sent back to the school in question.</p>
<p>On the student end, though, the interview can REALLY help you determine whether you actually want to go there or not. My Princeton interview sealed the deal for me- it just wasn't the right fit.</p>
<p>If you know how to talk to someone one on one and keep a nice, flowing convo going while providing solid answers to whatever your questions pertain, then it will make a HUGE difference.</p>
<p>I worked with a former ivy adcom who told me they could care less about what the alum interviewer says. Any alum can sign up, there is no quality control. In small towns the interviewers often know the kids. They simply don't matter.</p>
<p>Georgetown is the only school that I know that REQUIRES alumni interviews. So obviously I think interviews will play a slightly bigger role at Georgetown admissions than at other comparable schools. For the majority of schools, it's optional (and/or recommended as well) or not available at all, like at Stanford.</p>
<p>For other cases, if you apply to a specific program, like Rice/Baylor or Northwestern HPME and such, interviews are part of the gleaning process and definitely are required and a big factor in your chances of acceptance.</p>
<p>But yeah, the colleges do not train the alumni interviewers so it's not really taken seriously by the admissions. It's more of you getting to know the school better and asking questions and such. And sometimes there aren't even alumni interviewers in the area an applicant lives so it's quite unfair to give an edge to someone who is able to get an interview vs someone else who isn't because no alumni interviewer lives in his/her area.</p>
<p>i am a strong interviewer, so they helped me a lot. they are good for developing a relationship with the admissions officer. i got a personal phone call from the admissions officer at one school when they were considering taking me off the wait list. he told me that i was the only person he called personally. i happened to have a very strong interview at that school. i believe that my interview got my foot in the door at at least three top choices.</p>
<p>however, i don't think a poor interview can really hurt you drastically, unless you make a fatal, fatal mistake. so, just work to make a good impression, and i really think there's not a lot to lose.</p>
<p>thanks guys</p>
<p>Firstly I disagree with Mallika7122. There is no set rule on interviews' utility to the individual school. I interview for my HYP alma mater. Some interviews matter, some don't. Period. If there was someone on the cusp, I'm sure the alum's thoughts would be more closely scrutinized for texture and subtleties not found elsewhere in the file. </p>
<p>My area officer told me that three inner city applicants got the final nudge IN exactly due to the strong interview reports. The fact is that the HS teacher and GC recs offered very little despite the students having very strong metrics -- the recs were all pithy and formulaic. By having an alum speak to them, other details of the kids' background and context were given to the admissions committee -- allowing them to confidently offer admissions.</p>
<p>I'm sure if the student displayed some very bad behavior, that would be a strong red flag to the file readers. Once, the student espoused clearly racist views to the interviewer. That was strongly highlighted in the report. An H interviewer (who posts frequently here) once had a student display socially inappropriate hygiene in her presence. This was noted as well. Both of these situations are legitimate facts for the adcom to consider, in my opinion.</p>
<p>I've never had any bizarro behavior in the 100 or so kids I've met. Most have been solid kids that I genuinely could see attending my alma mater -- the fact is that I know they have tremendous competition and I only see one slice of them. In the 19 years I've interviewed, I've had about ten of them offered admissions -- I seriously doubt that any of them got in needing my positive write up. I've also seen some that I thought were very viable get passed over. Such are the numbers and it doesn't bug me.</p>
<p>One year I felt rather cold about one student and wrote a neutral report. Despite this, he was offered a slot (which he turned down). C'est la vie.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you and all your peers this upcoming admissions cycle!</p>
<p>thanks guys</p>