<p>Do colleges (ivies specifically) interview every applicant or just those who have a chance of getting in?</p>
<p>Can’t say for all ivies, but for the most part, they’re going to interview every applicant they can. For example, Princeton offers interviews to something like 98% or 99% of applicants.</p>
<p>That seems so weird seeing how there is a shortage of interviewers in some areas. The kids who actually may have a chance of getting in may not get an interview over someone with no chance. It’s odd they would waste their time.</p>
<p>It’s not about time or human resources. It’s about geography. If you live in Billings, Montana, there just may not be a Yale alumnus nearby who’s volunteered to do interviews. On the other hand, if you live in Scarsdale, NY, there will be scores of them.</p>
<p>But it really doesn’t matter. Alumni interviews carry very little weight. Given that the alumni-interview process is totally decentralized, and the colleges have virtually no oversight, no way to standardize the interview reports, and no way to exercise quality control, the interviews also carry about as much weight as they should.</p>
<p>Yes, a ton of time is wasted, considering many of the interviewees have no chance at all. But, I think the ivies just don’t want to reveal anything about chances. Plus it gives them a good image.</p>
<p>The Yale interviewer said there were 4 groups. Group 4 never gets an interview and doesn’t have a shot at getting in. Group 3 rarely gets an interview and most likely does not have a shot. Groups 1 and 2 are the only ones who get interviews. Do you think she was lying? Also, the 4 ivies that contacted my daughter were not optional interviews they were requests. She did get some optional ones from other schools. She asked if they were informative or evaluative. The requested interviews were evaluative and the optional ones were informative is what she found out. Why do they have interviews if they don’t matter?</p>
<p>Your Yale interviewer is completely misinformed or making up garbage to sound knowledgeable, punchclubs. Yale sends out contact info for its applicants when the file is deemed complete – not before any evaluation of its contents. </p>
<p>When the interview was given your daughter’s phone/email address, it’s highly likely that no human eyes had even looked at the contents of her application.</p>
<p>Given the # of applicants and the timeframe for setting up interviews, it’s completely inefficient to pre-sort the files. Do they get put into “piles” of relative likelihood? Sure. In New Haven. But the local alumni interviewers aren’t informed of what those piles are. Yale strives to interview everyone – the zero chancers and the shoo-ins.</p>
<p>Statistically, Yale applicants who have never rec’d an interview are admitted about the same rate as those that do. Please inform your local Yale coordinator about that person’s misinformation. She’s really led you down the garden path.</p>
<p>"Why do they have interviews if they don’t matter? " They matter slightly. But in order to do any at all, they have to try to do everyone given the time constraints.</p>
<p>(BTW: I’ve been interviewing for Yale for 22 years)</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the information and what a bummer. Here we were thinking she actually had a chance, I mean after all, why would they waste their time with an applicant who had no shot. That’s just us being logical. She is extremely well roounded and above average but no genius. Which is why we were so excited. Oh well she’ll end up where she’s supposed to be:)</p>
<p>They offer interviews to as many people as they can. They aren’t required for some schools but are still offered on a first-come/first-serve basis.</p>