<p>I had an interview with Princeton. how much do they consider what the interviewer had to say? could it influence their decision completely?</p>
<p>no, it will definitely not influence their decision completely. there are plenty of students who do not get interviews and are admitted and students who do get interviews and are rejected. your essay is much more important than the interview in terms of getting to know you as a person. all the other parts of your app are more important, too.</p>
<p>A woman whose husband interviews for Princeton recently told me that the alumni interview is not given much weight in Princeton admissions. The interviewer is not given much information about the academic and extracurricular record of the applicant and therefore is not expected to make a thorough evaluation of the candidate. She also said that her husband spends a lot less time writing up the report than alumni interviewers from another HYP college.</p>
<p>I remember my Princeton interview almost 30 year ago at the house of a couple who had met at Princeton and married after graduating. They asked relatively little about me and spent most of the time talking about their time at college. I got the feeling they were mostly selling the college. It was a lot of inside jokes and “right, honey?” Gah. Plus, picture the two of them seated on a sofa across from me, while I perched best as I could on a low sling chair and had to tilt my head back to look up at them.</p>