I would expect that there is some sort of filtering system for who gets interviews or not. I don’t think Stanford would bother asking an alumni to interview an applicant with zero chance of getting in. Some people in online forums say it is a good sign while others say it doesn’t matter. Could someone with experience with Stanford interviews or someone attending Stanford answer this? Also some tips for the interview would be appreciated. Thanks 
I think that it means that there is an alumni interviewer (or many) in your area available to do an interview. I have never heard that alumni interviews are granted after a student makes some kind of “cut”. My S applied to Stanford a few years ago…had an interview and did not get accepted. It wasn’t any different than the other interviews that he had…an informal conversation about his interests, activities, plans for college, etc…
I believe Stanford does some sort of filtering prior to assigning interviews for a couple of reasons:
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Stanford receives so many applications that it wants to be able to process them efficiently. This is consistent with what Stanford does in other aspects of app reviews (e.g. few deferrals from REA round so no re-reading of an application; just one reading of an app unless applicant is a legacy, etc.)
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Stanford is relatively young, compared to the Ivies. Its alums are also relatively more concentrated in certain geographical areas. Stanford needs to conserve its resources when it comes to interviews.
Of course, getting an interview is only the first step. Your odds are probably slightly better as a result, but still very very long.
Stanford does very little or no filtering.
Every year I get a list of students who applied to Stanford and I reach out to them if they want an interview. Some actually decline.
They want to get as much interviews as possible as the response we provide on the interview (should be extensive). We do video conferences for people who live in more rural areas.
@cardinalalum Interesting…but i wonder if the list of students that you received have already gone through an initial culling. Last year, 43,997 students applied to Stanford…surely they weren’t all offered a personal interview.
The 44k students is a bit misleading in that many counties in California (LA/Bay Area) where a significant portion of their applications come from don’t get offered interviews.
I don’t know if they do employ a small filter but I can tell you from doing a few of these interviews that there is a wide range in the quality of applicants. Some were obviously brilliant and very promising while others lacked any sign of passion and clearly didn’t even prep for why they applied to Stanford (a question that may or may not get asked but seems standard to consider).
People, the answer is on the website. Always read the website.
https://admission.stanford.edu/apply/freshman/interviews.html
From the website.
Interview Logistics
Interview Assignment
An applicant is matched to an interviewer based on the applicant’s high school location (as indicated on the application) and the availability of interviewers in the area.
All applicants that attend high school in an interview area are eligible for an interview.
Applicants will be contacted by interviewers as our local volunteer resources allow, and applicants may not request an interview.
If an applicant’s high school is not in an interview area and the applicant lives in an interview area, an interview will not be offered.
Applicants attending a high school that is not in an interview program area may not travel to another area in order to interview.
Interviews for Restrictive Early Action (REA) are conducted during the first few weeks of November. Interviews for Regular Decision (RD) are conducted between mid-January and mid-February.
If an interviewer is available, he or she will send the applicant an invitation to interview by email or occasionally will call with the invitation to schedule a time (using the email and phone number provided on your admission application).
An interviewer receives the name of an applicant, the applicant’s high school name and the applicant contact information. Interviewers do not have access to other application information such as test scores, grades or activity lists.
The interview program is regionally based. No interviews are offered on campus at Stanford.
I am a Stanford alumni that has conducted interviews for a few years. The way it works is that interview assignments are initially made by a computer that automatically matches interviewer location (and the number of applicants the interviewer has previously agreed to in their profile) with applicant location,. This generates matches and the interviewer is notified, one match at a time. (i.e. If I get 8 assignments , I will get 8 emails, each with one name on it.) But naturally this leaves a lot of applicants unassigned. So then local Stanford Chapter officers are given access to the computer so they can “manually” assign applicants to those interviewers willing to travel to interview (or willing to take on additional applicants). This explains why some applicants are never offered an interview or get an invitation weeks after others do --I got a big batch on about Jan 13 and since then assignments continue to dribble in. The Admission Office does no pre-screening of applicants that I can detect --getting an invitation depends ONLY on having an interviewer available. So if you didn’t get an invitation, don’t worry, it is simply that there weren’t enough interviewers in your area. Now, as to whether the interviews matter, that’s no secret, either. The Dean of Admissions was quoted in a recent article saying (if I recall correctly) that interview reports make a difference about 10% of the time. That may not sound like much, but if you are that 1 out of 10 applicants that got in because the interview report knocked the decision off the fence in your favor, it’s a pretty big deal. Also, I know interviews are scary, but I think most interviewers are like me and aren’t there to test you or find reasons to screen you out, but rather to convey your good qualities to Palo Alto. I have noticed that nearly 100% of my applicants from bigger schools with lots of counselors and mentors, esp in affluent areas, do accept the interview, while maybe only 80% of applicants from smaller / rural / lower income / high immigrant population accept. This suggests to me they don’t have a lot of experienced, world-wise people around them to give them good advice / encouragement / tips about interviewing, so they are too scared to interview. That’s a shame because I think that 90%+ of the time, an applicant has done a little homework about Stanford and simply comes off as friendly, bright, curious, and passionate about … something, anything…they improve their chances of admission by interviewing. i.e. Not interviewing is, I think, an opportunity lost.
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77005ABHSSr@ thank you so much for your explanation.