How important is an interview?

<p>I've received a VU CoRPs interview request from a RD applicant. I wonder if alum interviews really matter in the admissions evaluation process. If you have done an interview, please kindly share your experience with me. What did you say, ask, observe? Was the whole experience worthy of your time and energy?</p>

<p>doubleeternity;</p>

<p>First, as a current Vandy parent, I want to thank you for even considering taking the time to do a prospective student interview. In the “new era” of admissions at Vandy where ACT/SAT scores are skyrocketing in candidates and there are record numbers of applications, an alumni interview is really helping differnentiate candidates. Not all can/will do alumni interviews, but when the alums write a recommendation, it is considered. </p>

<p>When my daughter interviewed, she met the alum at a Starbucks near the person’s office–about 40 minutes from our house. (I encouraged the “go to him” mentality in her…) The “warm up” questions were pretty predictable:</p>

<p>Tell me about yourself…
Why Vandy?
Thoughts about majors?
What do you do in HS for fun?
What good book have you read recently?</p>

<p>Then the alum asked our daughter, what do you want to know about Vandy? Her questions were well thought out and tougher…</p>

<p>Why Vandy?
What did you major in?
What experiences at Vanderbilt helped to shape who you are now, and what you are doing?
Do you still connect with people you went to college with?
Are there specific classes that you would take now you didn’t then?
Living in Nashville insights?
If you went back, what would you do differently, and would you pick the same college?</p>

<p>The alumni told our daughter that if he had to try to get in now, he’d never get in…he was kind, gracious, great representative of the school. For our daughter, she treated the preparation as you would a job interview, but found it to be much more conversational once she got to the interview. The whole process took about 45 minutes including the 5 mins in line to get coffee.</p>

<p>Our D did get in, and is enjoying her time there immensely, and we are very grateful to the alumni who took time to meet with her.</p>

<p>It’s basically your last chance to give your profile a boost. Declining can’t hurt you but a glowing review can do you a lot of good if you’re a borderline candidate-- and basically everyone is borderline these days. The interviews are pretty casual in my opinion.</p>

<p>You should do it. It usually can’t hurt you.</p>

<p>I got a request for an interview, contacted the interviewer, set up a time and date–planned everything out. Then, I blatantly missed it. It was careless and stupid; I just completely forgot about it. The interviewer was understandably really mad, and he said that he was going to express that anger to the admissions office. I thought I was totally doomed and everything.
Weirdly enough, in the end, I still got accepted. So, I hope that anecdote makes you a little less nervous about it–the interviews really shouldn’t be a point of stress as they apparently can’t hurt much (in my experience).</p>

<p>My daughter just had her VU CoRPs interview this morning and really enjoyed the experience. She totally prepared for it as if it were a job interview, and they met at a coffee shop. She and the alum really hit it off and it was extremely positive. Very much a conversation and not so formal. Hoping this will help as I also tend to think my daughter’s a bit on the borderline too.</p>