<p>I have heard a whole range of answers, from "If you get an interview, that is a great sign." to "Interviews are for all applicants, since they have enough alumni here to do them." So, does not getting an interview mean that the school is uninterested? Does getting one suggest anything? My current impression is that if you get one, it means you still have some sort of a chance. If you don't, then it is all over. What is the truth? I live in an area with a lot of college grads, so there is definitely no shortage of alumni.</p>
<p>No. Getting an interview simply means that there are available alumni in your area to interview you. Not getting in interview means nothing other than that there were no alumni available. There’s really no reason to read into it. Think about it: Somewhere like Harvard will get almost 30,000 applications this admissions cycle. Do you really think they have to time to sort through all those applications and decide who gets an interview or not within like two or three weeks of you submitting it? Absolutely not. That would also require them to have to reread all the applications after the interviewers submit their evaluation. It would just be a lot of unnecessary work.</p>
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<p>It’s this one if they have enough alumni interviewers. In other words, they’re not going to deny an applicant an interview if they are able to give him/her one</p>
<p>funnyman: you have lots of incorrect info. Like poster 2 said, having or not having one is no indication of your likelihood of being admitted. For my HYP alma mater, do you know who gets interviewed in my locality? People who send in applications.</p>
<p>As soon as their info arrives on campus, the contact info is sent to my local coordinator. He sends it to one of the alumni volunteers and the ball gets rolling. The applicant could be a shoo-in or a zero-chancer. Doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>Plus, plenty of applicants live in areas where there’s not lots of alumni coverage – these likely won’t ever be interviewed. Doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>Those are just explanations that I have heard. I didn’t know which to believe. So yes from what you guy say, interviews can not be done for all. I guess my question now is, if I am in a place with lots of alumni coverage, and I don’t get an interview would that be bad? Or does it just not carry any significance in terms of acceptance whatsoever?</p>
<p>Thank you for your answers!</p>
<p>Names and contact info for students are sent to the alum coordinator in your region. They send the names of every last applicant. No one has read the file and indicated whose most deserving of an interview.</p>
<p>The coordinator then assigns them to their list of volunteers. You don’t know many of them and they change from year to year.</p>
<p>Having been a regional alumna coordinator, I can tell you there are busy alum (and some senile ones, anyone can volunteer) who sometimes let things fall through the cracks. They have your name when a 6 week business trip comes up and they forget to call to have you reassigned. Happens often!</p>
<p>But since alumni interviews are mainly to answer the students’ questions and interest them in the college, it doesn’t matter at all if you never get one.</p>
<p>Ah ok. Thank you for clearing this up!! Hopefully other people who have questions about this will come read this thread.</p>