i live in what can sometimes be a remote area of the U.S. – the Great Plains. I received an email to get in touch with an alumni contact for an interview. However, the alumni interviewer is nearly six hours drive away. Should I contact the admissions office and ask if they do interviews by FaceTime or Skype? Should I just suck it up and drive the six hours for a one hour interview and then drive back home? I really like Georgetown and think it is a very good fit for me but it seems kinda much to expect prospective students to drive that far for an interview.
Six hours is definitely too far for this interview. My son drove 2 hours for his interview, but it took place in the town his grandparents live in, so he was able to incorporate it into a visit with them. If you don’t feel comfortable traveling that distance, I would contact the admissions office and inquire if there is anyone closer to you - and use that conversation to explain just how far away the first alumni contact is, and whether or not the interview could be done via skype. My guess is that once they realize how far away the contact is they will exempt you from the interview, or come up with some alternative. In all likelihood, they have no idea just how far away you are from one another. FWIW, my son (who is currently a sophomore at G’town) really enjoyed his alumni interview, and they have stayed in touch. Plenty of applicants are exempted from this requirement because there isn’t an alum within a reasonable distance, so this won’t affect you in a negative manner. Good luck!
They do offer Skype/FaceTime interviews, though I would strongly encourage face to face if possible. There’s a lot of intangibles and conversational cues that you can’t really get from FaceTime, and they could definitely work to your benefit if you do the interview in person.
That said, my interview was EXTREMELY far. I had to travel across Spain from Barcelona to Madrid (3 hours thanks to the AVE, without the train it would be around 7) Although I chose to meet my interviewer in person, I was offered the option to do it over video chat. In exception geographic circumstances, they always offer that option. I would recommend meeting them if you can stomach the drive, but if not they should definitely allow you to do a FaceTime/Skype call.
Thanks!
You should get in touch with the interviewer. Often, interviewers have travel for work. You may be able to arrange something with him/her other than you driving 6 hours.