<p>According to Pomona's website, an interview is optional but "strongly recommended". I would have wanted to have one, but missed the deadline for making a request (I assumed it would be the same date as that for RD application). How is this going to affect my chances? </p>
<p>Statistics or personal experience would be very helpful. Thanks!</p>
<p>I have not had one either and am wondering the same.</p>
<p>Daughter requested an on campus interview at the end of November and they were already full through the end of December, when they stop doing interviews. So, she did not have one.</p>
<p>It depends. It’s important if you don’t have an interview but are able to access campus easily (if you live in SoCal). Of course, it’s also important that if you have an interview, it goes well (especially because Pomona looks at personality as well as academic/extracurricular performance, so they can build a certain kind of community at the school).</p>
<p>The interview helps the admission officers see you as a person. It helps distinguish an applicant as an individual amongst one of the most competitive applicant pools in the country. It will ultimately help them make a decision between two applicants who both have an SAT score of 2250 and who are both captains of the basketball team. It will not however give an applicant with a 2000 SAT an advantage over an applicant with a 2250 who didn’t interview. If you live in California, you should interview. Anywhere else, the interview will be to your advantage, but make no mistake, Pomona cares much more about scores and GPA.</p>
<p>abc nailed it. However, if you live in Southern California, Pomona expects you to interview unless something major interferes with your ability to do so.</p>
<p>[Interviews</a> - On and Off Campus - Pomona College](<a href=“http://pomona.edu/admissions/apply/interviews.aspx]Interviews”>http://pomona.edu/admissions/apply/interviews.aspx)</p>
<p>I would not worry. There are plenty of people who have stated here that they did not interview and got in. There are also many who have posted about missing one or another deadline. Though it as been awhile since we went through the application process, son is a Pomona senior, I remember that all deadlines for requesting an interview or submitting some required paperwork were clearly stated on the websites of the colleges my son was applying to. For those of you applying to 10 or 20 schools you really need to read the websites and somehow track all of the dates. Son applied to “only” 5 or 6 schools but we still had all the deadlines clearly set forth on computers with reminders automatically popping up. Was at Pomona this past week (Family Weekend) and my son mentioned to me that he was sure glad he interviewed with the admissions office. He was not a clear admit and thinks the interview is what got him in. This question of interviewing comes up every admission season. For those of you who would be admitted to any college you applied to the interview is probably not a big deal. For the rest of you, I would think, if it was really someplace you wanted to go to you would want to help your case with an interview. Just got the graduation schedule from Pomona in the mail. Four years go by quickly. Best of luck to you all wherever you end up.</p>
<p>Bruce Poch (former admissions dean) would say that your application won’t be adversely affected if you don’t interview (unless you live near Pomona) and that an interview can only help your application.</p>