I just realized that I never interviewed at one of my favorite schools on my college list. How much will this hurt my chances? I have test scores above their middle 50 and decent extracurriculars.
Depends. Schools that care about “level of applicant’s interest” might interpret that as lack of interest. Other schools make it a point to say that interviews, or lack thereof, can only have a positive or neutral effect on your application.
Go to google and type in “Common Data Set” followed by the name of the school. It should find the CDS for that school and then you can look at it and see what it says for interviews. It will list whether it is any where from very important to not considered.
@bodangles I forgot to mention I actually visited the school over the summer. So there’s some interest displayed however now that I think about it, I bet it’s not too great that I visited and didn’t schedule and interview. I didn’t know I was going to like the school until I visited.
@ClaremontMom I’ll definitely do this. Thanks for the advice.
If interviews are important for your school contact admissions Monday to see if you can arrange an interview. If you are not near campus you the request an interview with an alumni who lives near you.
Most colleges offer no interviews. Only very few even offer them. Of those that do, many cannot interview all applicants due to the shortage of volunteers (e.g. Stanford can only interview about 20%). My alma mater interviews the majority but we still miss a ton. But it doesn’t negatively affect the applicant. Even then, the interview rightly is the least important sliver of the file. Relax. If someone calls you, good. If not, don’t worry about it
@T26E4 - Not all schools reach out to the students, for most of the schools my kids interviewed at it was up to them to schedule the interview online.
Interesting. Thnx. I didn’t know that.
If you have fallen in love with the school, make sure they know it. Try for an interview. Or an alumni interview. If it is too late for an interview, indicate interest in other ways. Check the portal a lot (some track that). Contact them to ask a well-considered question that can’t be answered from the website. If they are your absolute favorite, an Early Decision application is the way to go. If they are your second choice and have ED2, then do that if your first choice does not work out.
Again, check the CDS if demonstrated interest even matters.