<p>I went to a few college info sessions at top-tier schools, and most of the admissions officers mentioned that interviews are a supplement and won't leave one at a disadvantage if he/she doesn't get one. I don't really understand this - wouldn't having more information (and actually getting to know the applicant as a person for an hour) help, unless one comes off really badly in person?</p>
<p>Also, how are interviews granted? I would assume there's a general trend, and I'm curious!</p>
<p>This may help: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/804985-alumni-campus-interview-faq.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/804985-alumni-campus-interview-faq.html</a></p>
<p>The availability of interviews generally depends on geographical area, particularly on whether there is an interviewer living in your area. The importance of interviews varies a little from school to school, and you can find more specific information regarding each school’s interview policies on each’s admissions website.</p>
<p>Applicants aren’t selected for interviews. It just depends on if an alum interviewer is available in your area or if a student has an interview on campus. Being asked to interview does not mean a college is more interested in an applicant. Some colleges do not even offer interviews. An interview can sometimes help a student by making information available that was not obvious from the application. For example, maybe a student has no EC’s jr year because he had to get a part time job because a parent became unemployed.</p>
<p>Ah, I see. That clears things up a bit.</p>
<p>Interviews can help, don’t let them kid you, but they don’t in all situations. They do provide a bigger picture of the person and weed out the applicants that are arrogant or have other bad personal qualities that can’t bee seen on paper. Also, you can use the oppurtunity to be shown in a full light and look very good. If you just turn out to have an average/ just good interview, that’s okay, too, because a lot of students fall into this category. You can also ask questions about the college. Interviews are determined by your distance from an alumni interviewer.</p>
<p>What are the chances of arranging an interview for an international (UK) student?</p>
<p>Chances are lower for international applicants since there are fewer alum volunteers, and since even though the admissions officers travel abroad to interview, they lack the time to interview all interested applicants.</p>
<p>I suspect that in many cases, the international students living abroad who are interviewed are ones that have been prescreened as being at the top of the list of potential admittees. That doesn’t mean they’ll be admitted. It just means they are more likely to be interviewed than are international students who don’t get that chance.</p>
<p>This would be more likely to be the case in countries that have more than a couple of alumni. Of course, if next to no one from your country has gone to the college you’ve applied to, it probably won’t be possible for you to be interviewed since no one is likely to be willing to volunteer to do that interview, and that wouldn’t hurt your chances.</p>
<p>If I recall, I had an international friend and he did a phone interview. Those can be arranged as well.</p>
<p>Interviews won’t make or break your application, but they do show a degree of demonstrated interest in the particular school.</p>
<p>For schools that care about demonstrated interest (places like Harvard are NOT among those schools), an applicant’s taking the time to arrange an interview is a plus.</p>
<p>If you want some anecdotal evidence, I was accepted at every school that I didn’t interview for, including Yale. I don’t think it’s a big deal but it’s good to have. I have heard that it is good if an international gets a request for an interview, but that’s just speculation because oftentimes there’s nobody nearby, so there’s nothing you can do.</p>
<p>Hmm, okay. Thanks for all your input!</p>
<p>Here’s a situation I’ve run across. For my alma mater, there’s been a huge uptick in applications. Ideally, we’d offer alumni interviews to all of them, rather randomly. But there aren’t enough volunteers. As the deadline passes, our regional rep has called our local coordinator and made requests to have interviews with a few that were missed – not all, but just a few select ones. Obviously, these are students that admissions wants more info about b/c they’re under serious consideration.</p>