Do colleges that require/recommend interviews set up an interview with every possible applicant, or do colleges use the application to decide which applicants pass the sniff test to set up an interview?
A couple of schools my son has applied to have already responded with an interview request. They’re both reaches for him and I wonder if they are the least bit serious – as in, did the essays and ECs make them want to take a closer look? Of course we’ll follow through. I’m just wondering if this is the slightest of positive signs, or if it’s absolutely nothing.
It may depend on the college, but often it is a question of availability. It seems he applied early, and you either live close to the colleges or there are sufficient alumni volunteers in your area from those schools willing to interview. I wouldn’t read much into it either way.
Some schools recommend interviews but they are conducted by alumni. Availability of alumni interviews are generally a function of volunteer availability in your area and nothing more. As an alumni chair who assigned interviews, all I had was a students name/contact information/intended major.
When my D was applying to colleges two years ago, we found no correlation between interviews and acceptances. Her very first interview was for a school that ended up wait listing her.
Most AO’s I’ve talked to say they try to get to most applicants via alumni, but there are geographic constraints. If you are looking at a moderately popular school and don’t live far from population centers, you’ll probably have interviews arranged, regardless of admission likelihood.