<p>Just curious. If it's "recommended," does that mean you better do it? Do alumni get training in what to ask? Do schools attempt to get alumni in your deisred major? Just feels like a bit of a crapshoot with the results depending so much on who you get and their moods.</p>
<p>I think about my son's friends. Equally wonderful and qualified academically, but lets just say some, I imagine, would interview well and some wouldn't. If a kid is reserved and not a live wire, does it count against him/her?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Interviews tend to help more than hurt.</p></li>
<li><p>You should do most things that are "recommended" for your college application, no matter what they are, unless there's a good reason not to do something. So, if an interview is recommended, try to do it.</p></li>
<li><p>Alumni usually get guidelines on questions, I believe, but it depends on the school. Many colleges also do on campus interviews, sometimes with admissions officers and occasionally with current students.</p></li>
<li><p>They do not try to get match interviewer and interviewee by major. College major doesn't matter all that much to begin with, and most students change their majors once they start college. I also don't see how it would help make the interview more productive. Then there's the simple fact that it would be impossible to be so choosy about interviewers in non-urban areas and with schools without a huge number of devoted alums.</p></li>
<li><p>Many aspects of the college application process reach outside of academics. Nothing says a reserved kid can't interview well, though. (People who don't have the social skills to interview well are a different story.)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>D decided she didn't interview well, (I think she idd just fine - just drew a bad interviewer for one school, and did great with the other) so she did not request the recommended interview at U of Chicago. She was accepted. I think it depends on the candidate.</p>
<p>From what I've learned from others visiting campus and interviewing both totally depends upon the applicant and the school. </p>
<p>For example my D is planning to apply to a selective LAC which is a bit of a reach. Her stats, so far, fall in their range but are not at the top. Therefore, she will interview there because: 1) it's a reach, 2) they recommend it 3) it's her first choice 4) it's close enough to make a visit feasible to do both.</p>
<p>There is another school both of my Ds are interested in which recommends an interview and a visit It is less selective, their stats put them at the high end of its range, it's neither girls' first choice and it's 1/2 way around the country. They will interview with a rep in our area but won't visit unless accepted. </p>
<p>I would say that an interview is never a bad idea as long as the rep is close enough to get to...or if you have to travel to get to them that shows interest which is never a bad thing either even if the interview doesn't go as well as the applicant had hoped.</p>
<p>D has been interviewed by two schools so far and has another interview next week. The interview on campus was short, Columbus Day weekend, there were too many visiting students, by an athletic coach (D is a klutz) and while it was cordial, they had no common ground. It didn't hurt her though. She wrote the appropriate thank you note, including a comment that she had not realized that there were so many IM and REC sports opportunities available on campus).</p>
<p>Second interview, was a woman in a related field who was very informative and they struck such a rapport, that the interview went for over 2 hours in a local cafe.</p>
<p>Next interview, also local alum, is also being conducted by someone who graduated from the engineering school.</p>
<p>What I heard from a friend who does some recruitment interviews, is that they focus on the intangibles on the application or resume. The second interviewer certainly had a copy of Ds info and had some general, but a lot of specific qs.</p>
<p>MIT recommends interviews, and point out helpfully that the acceptance rate for those that opt not to have interviews is half that of those who did. If interviews are recommended I'd go.</p>
<p>Don't underestimate your kid's ability to shine in a conversation -- my (formerly) reticent son has been surprising me in all sorts of ways in this regard lately! They grow up a lot between soph and senior year...DS will now strike up a chat with anyone, anywhere. Whoddathunkit?</p>
<p>He did his first interview at a school that he was very interested in, but was not at the top of his list. It was a good opportunity for him to get his bearings without a lot of stress. It went well, and that confidence just fed into his subsequent interviews.</p>
<p>^ That makes sense to me, but I really do feel that great interviews can be a tremendous asset. I know that I get along with people easily; I've been told that I communicate well, get along well, and interview well. I was never very sure, though; I've always found these things to be very easy, but I assumed many other people did, too. I'm now a second year in college, and I've had eight or nine interviews in my life. I have never been turned down from something I've interviewed for: I got a scholarship to a top-10 college without spectacular stats, I was accepted into the most competitive major at the college without an extraordinary GPA, I've gotten jobs I'm technically under-qualified for. So, now I'm not sure. I don't think my luck is good enough to get me these gigs, and I know I'm not enough on paper. In all of these cases, I see it as either my essays/cover letters or my interviews that have given me the extra boost. </p>
<p>That's not saying a good interview will get an unqualified applicant accepted, but I think a great interview can help someone who's borderline get in or can act as a nice tip for other things. From the opposite point of view, a very poor interview may tip the applicant in the other direction. I'm not talking about someone who's awkward or shy; I'm thinking about applicants who come across as extremely arrogant or offensive. In the "real world," I think that interviews are extraordinarily important. In the college admissions world, I just think they can be important.</p>