So today I just found out that Case Western has a policy where YOU have to request the alumni interview online. I googled about interview policies for a few schools and then just used the Prep Scholar list of “Colleges that Requires you to Interview” for the other ones. It didn’t list Case Western, so I figured it was similar to Northeastern and George Washington (similar tiered schools that I applied to) and didn’t require them.
Case Western send this Application Update form today, and as I googled to find out possible deadlines to send this and if the optional essay was important, I discovered that CWRU offers interviews and I just missed the deadline to request one.
What should I do? If I answer that optional essay which is basically a “Why Case Western”, will that make up for the fact that I didn’t interview? I also did not visit campus…but I was in contact with the admissions officer and I attended an info session held at my school. Will I automatically be rejected because I didn’t interview even though it was "strongly recommended? Should I email the admissions officers to ask for an interview or is that just making excuses?
I doubt they will automatically reject you because you don’t have an interview. Our S sent in his EA application last wk of October and he didn’t send in the request for interview part till middle of November, and he never got the arrangement to have one. He attended a college fair with CWRU in it and had one simple correspondence with the representative, and in contact with a couple of kids from his HS who is now at CWRU, and that’s it. We didn’t have time to arrange a campus visit/interview. All being said, our S got in w/ very good merit package. I think there are other ways CWRU could do the track of interest beyond the interview. They sent my S a fair number of emails between the time of application and decision announcement, I know our S read and clicked all those emails, and often spent a fair # of minutes clicking on the video links about news and people/awards etc from CWR. In hindsight, it seemed reasonable to conclude my S been very interested in CWR, or else, being a teen, in the middle of college application season and with 1st semester senior year class work, there were enough stuff to keep him busy and he probably would have ignored those emails if he was not interested.
“All undergraduate applicants to Case Western Reserve University are encouraged to complete an interview.” encouraged is not a synonym of required
Check the school’s website for policies, not internet discussion boards. https://go.case.edu/portal/campus-interview
@Mickey2Dad thank you for that anecdote. I receive a lot of mail from CWRU and some emails which I do open, but I’m not sure if that really counts. I sure hope demonstrated interest isn’t an incredibly crucial factor; on the Common Data “Interest” used to be Important; now it is in the Considered box.
To me, strongly recommended means nearly required, as that is what schools say in reference to SAT IIs…I also would hope to obtain merit from CWRU, so I would want to make sure my application is as complete as possible.
School policies change. By initially relying on Prep Scholar to find out about the interview policy and not double checking the school website during application season, you missed an opportunity to interview.
If it was worth your time to apply, why wouldn’t it be worth your time to write an essay now when they have requested one from you?
Have you run the net price calculator for Case? Is it affordable for your family? Are you still interested in attending? If the answers are yes, you should write the essay.
Case is trying to protect their yield by determining if you are actually interested in attending if admitted. If you are having a hard time figuring out “Why Case?” that’s an indication you aren’t interested. If it isn’t a top choice for you, don’t write the essay. You are unlikely to get an offer below your EFC.
@BuckeyeMWDSG thank you for your advice. I just have no idea the deadline for the essay; I started all of my apps early so I had around around 5 months to perfect my CWRU PPSP essay, my main Case essay, and 2 merit essays. I just don’t want to have to rush this other essay and write it in a week…since I’m assuming they want the update ASAP. I was also confused as very few other schools I know of have made students write essays in February…
I didn’t apply for financial aid (won’t receive any). Case Western is pretty expensive, so I would need to receive merit aid to even consider attending. I haven’t received many offers yet (only heard back from 1 school undergrad program so far) but I did get full tuition at my safety which has a good reputation (if not equal to that of Case Western) for the programs I am interested in.
I guess I will write the essay but I won’t worry too much about it. I’m not really sure if Case is a top choice as I would only attend if I received a merit offer and I don’t know anyone who goes there. I did some research and Case is a great small sized research school in an urban area like my criteria but I guess since I never visited, I don’t have as much of an impression. I will definitely continue to do research
Hi, my son contacted Case for an alumni interview, but there was not any follow up from Case–and oddly we still received the emails regarding interviews. Could the interview perhaps be more important if you are applying for engineering or other more competitive majors there? That was my thought as my son applied into Liberal Arts.
@luloobee I’m not sure; I applied as a CS major which I know is competitive but not as much so as BME, Biology, or Mech Eng I believe. I will just see what happens I guess. Good luck to your son too
Re: Alumni Interviews…Alumnis are volunteers. Also there have to be alumni in your area. I do interviews but there are only so many I can do so not everyone gets one. I choose or get assigned interviewees based on proximity. You don’t hear back because the students are on a list and an alumni could select to interview them any time during the application period.
Also if you look at the CWRU common data set, “Level of applicant’s interest” has gone from Important to Considered as of last year.
