Can an amazing interview make up for having a gpa on the lower end of a colleges middle 50%(IQR) gpas.
Please help me out, I’ll take anything I can get. Thank you!!
The short answer is this: it depends on the school. In general, though, an interview does not “make or break” a decision, as it is usually a confirmation of what can already be seen through your essays, grades, scores and ECs.
The whole point of the interview is for you to demonstrate your interest on the school, to give a more “human” facet to the application and, most importantly, for you to know the school better and for the school to discover something new about you.
So no, I don’t think it can compensate extremely low stats, but if yours between the middle 50%, it can certainly help.
^^Agreed. Some interviews are evaluative and count a bit and others are informational and don’t really count. You can look at the relative importance of an interview by googling each college’s common data set. In general I don’t think a strong interview would make up for subpar academic qualifiications
Thank you!
I bet fewer than 1% of admissions decisions come down to the interview. Frankly, I think interviews should matter more, but they simply don’t.
I’d also add schools that offer on-campus interviews (in addition to alumni/off-campus interviews) probably value interviews slightly more. Such schools tend to be small, liberal arts.
One important note for the OP: Don’t assume that qualitative factors will ever compensate for weakness in quantitative factors. What I mean is that don’t don’t an interview can compensate for a low GPA or modest standardized test scores. When you browse around CC and talk to people in-person at your school, most people say “My interview was great” or “We really connected” or “The interviewer clearly knows that X school is my #1 choice.” Everyone tends to (not everyone, but most) think their interview went well, their letters of recommendation are great, and their essays stand out. However, I doubt that’s true. But…definitely put your best foot forward with any interview, as you never know if it will tip the scales in your favor.
I think we would need to consider the tier of the college. The greatest interview ever won’t work miracles at a college that thinks your hs record is so off you’d have trouble once in college. Plus, do you know what a great interview is or it’s just some Holy Grail hypothetical question?
lookingforward makes a great point. I’d say 99% of my interviewees leave feeling they had a “great” interview. I’m friendly and we usually are very chatty. I sincerely wish them the best of luck and we depart. But the bulk of my write ups are “average” – as how it should be.
As others have alluded – a supportive interview report may tip in your favor if many other factors point to accept. But even the most startlingly good one won’t breathe life into a dead body.
As for practical advice, simply do the best you can and do your best not to analyze/self critique every “coulda-been” nugget. You should be enjoying your last HS semester. Nothing more to be done other than to go out on a bang.
Please relax if possible. Ask that guy/gal out you’ve hesitated to do so before. Have a blast. Enjoy your family and your friends (in that order). This is the end of 12+ years of pre-college schooling. Whatever the colleges decide, it’s out of your hands. So treat it as so. Good luck