How much can the interview help you?

<p>My interview went perfectly. I talked with my interviewer for more than 2 hours and he said that he'd write me an excellent recommendation. How much can this improve my chances of getting accepted?</p>

<p>Depends on the school you're applying to.</p>

<p>I had an interview with Rice University alumni, and he told me that an interview wouldn't make a big difference. Then he went on and told me that it would definitely make a difference if you're applying to Harvard, MIT, Yale, etc.</p>

<p>It also depends on the interviewer. If it was an admissions officer, it will probably count for much more than alumni...</p>

<p>Meresa: I sorta doubt you interviewer actually has any idea how much interviews affect decisions at other schools.</p>

<p>I don't think alumni interviews are all that important anywhere. Admissions officer ones could be.</p>

<p>I concur ^^^^</p>

<p>As an alumni interviewer, I agree that an interview with an admissions officer will likely have more impact than an interview with an alum. Also, I think it depends what was great about the interview. If the content of the interview just reinforces everything that is already clear in your application documentation, then it will not have much impact (though a good interview is clearly better than a bad one). If, on the other hand, the interview uncovered things that may not be clear in your application documentation and these things click with both the college and the interviewer, then it is clearly positive.</p>

<p>No, my Rice interviewer told me as well that Rice's interviews are not very strongly considered, and they're almost more for the student to learn about Rice and for the student to want to go there if they get in. That's their specific policy.</p>

<p>So when his interviewer said that, he did know what he was talking about. </p>

<p>I don't think alum interviews should be so heavily downplayed, because if schools really don't care about them, why do they organize them in the first place?</p>

<p>My Swat interview went fairly well so I'm hoping it's at least looked at. By the way, it also shows your interest in the school that you've set up an interview and were enthuiastic about the school during it.</p>

<p>Rice interviews sound like an "informative" interview - where you learn about the college and not the other way around.</p>

<p>Swat does interviews about you, and they do have an impact (like anything else) - although they are much more powerful if they're with Admissions Officers, as people have said.</p>