<p>Hi. My 12th grader will be applying at some reach schools that profess an interview is neither required nor recommended. I have read in these forums (particularly the Regular Decision Results forums for some of the ivies) that most of the applicants say they have indeed had interviews with these schools. I'd like parents' perspective on this: If they don't recommend them, then should we 'bother'? I feel my d interviews well but still, it they are very stressful and difficult to schedule.</p>
<p>If it is not recommended, I would not make a huge effort to schedule an interview. </p>
<p>My D scheduled them at schools she was visiting after junior year, but she had one school that didn’t do any interviews and some where they were strongly recommended. </p>
<p>A few had local alumni interviews, which seemed the least helpful. </p>
<p>A couple schools had the local admissions rep in the area for interviews, which was nice because then she could meet the person who would be the first reader of her application. </p>
<p>Many of the interviews were with senior students, which also did not seem like it would affect the outcome of her application. Some went better than others, but her admission results certainly didn’t correlate with the interview process.</p>
<p>Northwestern is an Interview Not Required school, and I had 2 kids admitted that did not interview. One RD and one ED. I would suggest checking the Common Data Set to see if your specific schools of interest refer to interviews in the same vein. </p>
<p>IMHO, I would only have my kids interview if it was required. A couple of thoughts that occur to me about interviews: How do you know how well regarded the interviewer is? How qualified is the interviewer? etc.</p>
<p>I don’t want to sound negative, or offend anyone, but except in cases where interviews are required, I strongly suspect that in most cases, interviewers are just given interviews as busy work, to keep them interested, and encourage donations by the interviewers.</p>
<p>Alumni interviewers do it to support their alma mater, not as “busy work”. They are busy professionals, often with a family to take care of, who sacrifice a lot of their precious spare time to do these interviews and write interview reports. The last thing I need is busy work.
I do not consider it something to “keep me interested” or to “encourage donations”. I am interested and always will be, and I made donations as soon as I could afford to do so, long before I started interviewing. </p>
<p>I would look carefully at the words on the individual school’s website, and check section C of their Common Data Set. At some schools they are not used for evaluating students at all, but are offered as a way of allowing students to talk to someone familiar with the school. Their use varies, so sweeping generalizations are not useful…</p>
<p>Thanks for your opinions – I’ll definitely check out the common data sets for these schools. Beantown Girl, you may have already read about disappointed interviewers whose opinions don’t seem to be considered in the actual admission interview. Glad to hear that’s not your situation. </p>
<p>So far, all of my daughter’s interviews have been on-campus with admission staff and were recommended or highly recommended. I’m wondering if the schools who say interviews aren’t recommended actually do prefer a candidate who makes the effort over one who doesn’t, or if they offer interviews to familiarize potential applicants with the school. Or, will I ever really know?</p>
<p>Another way to look at is this. They are trying to get a complete picture of a candidate. They have numbers such as gpa and test scores, data such as classes taken/rigor of courses and EC’s. Then there are the other fuzzier and more subjective pieces of the puzzle such as teacher recommendations and interviews (though recommendations always carry more weight). The **more **info there is, the easier it is to get a sense of the personality of the student. So consider it extra info for the admissions people.
I bet in some cases it doesn’t tell them anything they don’t already know, but I always consider those students in large high schools whose teachers may not know them well. How detailed and personalized are those recommendations? So there may be cases where the interview report can help add to the picture of the student as a human being, not a bunch of data.</p>