<p>I haven't interviewed at any colleges but I just got this email from the Columbia admin office saying "I am a member of the Columbia University Alumni Representative Committee. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions has received your application and has asked me to offer you the opportunity to interview with a Columbia alumnus." </p>
<p>Is every applicant invited to intervew? And does not doing so negatively affect your chances of admission? I'd like to avoid interviewing if at all possible but I don't want to hurt my chances...</p>
<p>There are literally a million threads on this. (Say with Chris Traeger voice, it sounds better.) But I understand if you don’t live on the internet.</p>
<p>No, not every applicant is invited. Not doing so probably doesn’t do much in terms of hurting you - but there’s really no reason not to. Unless you make an absolutely abysmal impression on the interviewer they are likely to write at least a lukewarm report about you. You can also learn a lot about the school and the kind of people who go there, especially if you get a recent graduate. I suppose you can always make up vacations or schedule conflicts once you are contacted to make it seem less avoid-y (yeah, no better word came to mind), but I think the general consensus is there’s no point. </p>
<p>Thank you for responding! I don’t really live on the internet, due to the fact that my PC is extraordinarily slow (maybe because I melted it in front of a fireplace… whoops) so it takes me too long to stalk all the appropriate CC threads. That said, can you possible clarify a couple things for me? </p>
<p>First, from what I’ve gleaned, getting asked to interview has zero correlation with your chances of admission, right? It’s just related to the proximity of alumni?</p>
<p>Second, for this interview, does the interviewer have your entire app (including the supplement with the essays, book list, etc.) in front of them/ have they read it? Or do they only have limited info on you, or just your commonapp, or what? I’ve never interviewed before but I’m thinking of doing this one. I’m just worried I’ll blow it and screw myself over… but since Columbia is such a crapshoot anyway, I figure why not, right?</p>
<p>I loathe interviewing because I suck at it… basically, I say “like” every other word, end all my sentences in a question, and just generally sound immature and inept. I come across much better on paper, which is why I usually avoid interviews.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Getting asked has no correlation, you are correct.</p></li>
<li><p>No, they have limited information - name, school, perhaps some of the majors you selected (I don’t quite remember). No test scores or essays, and I’m pretty sure they don’t even have an extracurricular list.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I understand your concerns, but I think at worst you can consider it practice for any other interviews, college or otherwise, that may come up in your future. Anecdotally, a “bad” interview by itself seems to rarely mean a rejection, just as a “good” one doesn’t always mean an acceptance. So as I said before… no reason not to.</p>