The lack of an interview at a particular school does not necessarily equate to bad news, The Dean advises. https://insights.collegeconfidential.com/college-interview
If you applied to several and got no interview then it’s not a positive sign. They try to interview as many qualified applicants as possible. However, never say never, anything is possible. With campus, in-person, phone, Skype, FaceTime etc, they are able to accommodate most.
Harvard actually does wholesale interviews in bigger cities, with dozens of interviewers and hundreds of applicants.
Some areas of the country simply don’t have enough alumni to reach out to all the students. It truly means nothing if you don’t get an interview.
In my last town we were only able to reach about 25% of applicants. We offered group meetings but they were poorly attended.
The alumni volunteers making the assignments had zero information from the student’s application. We got name, contact info, intended major. That was absolutely it.
Some committee chairs targeted students from socioeconomic disadvantaged schools for meetings because they had less resources to get to campus. Others just went by alumni preferences for where they wanted to travel (which could be very limiting) or only wanting students interested in their particular major.
Please understand that the alumni making assignments do NOT have access to the application. No grades. No GPA. No nothing.
My husband was a long-time alumni interviewer for an Ivy and for a time was the regional coordinator. @momofsenior1 is exactly right. Generally speaking, interviews are scheduled when there are available alumni interviewers in your area. Even if you live in an area with a decent number of interviewers, if there are also a lot of applicants in that area, they may not have the manpower (or womanpower) to interview everyone. If you are not offered an interview, it should not work against you.
What is the purpose of an alum interview if it doesn’t matter if you get one or not, then?
there could be few factors when after applying for so many positions, the applicant is not getting the call for an interview.
- Resume
- chosen wrong domain
- Eligibility
Maintaining these factors before apply for any job can give you the right Hr call for the interview and you can grow your career faster.
@amymath My alma mater says the purpose of the alumni meeting is to share information with the students and answer questions. It also helps make another personal connection.
I don’t think so. My daughter was accepted to 2 Ivies and no interviews.
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I got an interview for UPenn, but no other Ivy League colleges (or those on par) have reached out.
In regards to Stanford, I haven’t received an interview yet. My school friend, however, received one a month ago. We both have similar statistics and live very close to each other. Is there something wrong with my application?
The same scenario occurred with Duke as well.
I agree with the Dean that you shouldn’t try to read the tea leaves. You will drive yourself crazy and won’t know what the leaves mean. I can understand that this is a stressful time for you, but you’ll find out within the next six weeks. In your free time, rather than fretting about the decisions, spend time with family or friends or do activities that you enjoy and that will help relax you.
It’s best not to generalize about “Ivies” and other highly selective institutions. Each college sets its own admissions policies, criteria, and priorities. There is some overlap among the schools, but each one has a distinctive process.
The Dean is more knowledgeable than I am, but from everything I’ve read and heard, most colleges have alumni interview programs to provide information, develop a personal connection (see post #6, above), and to engage alumni. Even among Ivy League schools, only a few use interviews for the assessment of candidates.
At Harvard, for which I have chaired interview committees in two cities, interviews are evaluative.
In many places in the U.S., all students are offered an interview. In some areas, primarily smaller communities outside the Northeast, there aren’t enough interviewers. In those places, interviews are assigned based on priority. The admissions officer assigns an interview profile number that indicates priority and is strongly associated with the likelihood of admission. Although we don’t see the application, the profile rating gives a good indication of the applicant’s credentials. Only chairs see the rating; interviewers do not. Places with enough interviewers won’t use the profile numbers for assignments because they try to interview all applicants.
The great majority of candidates, perhaps 80%, do not make it to the full admissions committee level, and the interview report has zero impact. For the minority who are under serious consideration, the interview report is one of several parts of the dossier. For some students, it merely reinforces a positive impression. For students on the edge, it can tip them one way or the other.
Harvard is loathe to admit candidates who do not have an interview with a positive report. If the admissions committee wants to accept a student and the interview report is negative, they usually ask for a second interview. (There might be exceptions for some recruited athletes and children of big donors.) If it’s positive, then the admissions committee will likely accept the student, but if it’s also negative, they are unlikely to admit. If a report is not available and a candidate is going to be discussed, the admissions officer will reach out to the chair and ask for an expedited interview and report. If no alumni are available, the admissions officer might conduct a phone or video interview. Only a minuscule fraction (a couple of percent) of admitted students get in without having had an interview. International interviews work a bit differently since there are fewer alumni abroad, and only the top candidates will be offered an interview.
Stanford’s interview program is only about 10 years old, and they don’t interview a high percentage of their students. Interviews are offered randomly.
Bottom line: each school is different. Good luck. Enjoy senior year.
Thanks @jazzing for sharing your insights.