<p>My son interviewed on campus. He was interviewed by, I believe, a senior of Rice. He originally told me it went okay, however, after coming across his "chance me" stats, he made it sound like it wasn't great and there didn't seem to be much conversation. So my question is...how detrimental is this? His stats are pretty good. except his UW GPA could have been better. He has shown a lot of interest in the college. He visited twice, one being an overnight visit, attended 2 football games, one at Notre Dame and one at Rice, attended a baseball game, went to every information session they had in our area (Illinois), corresponded with the engineering department via email and met an alum at a game and emailed with him some. Can you tell he really wants to go to Rice lol. </p>
<p>What specifically didn’t go well? </p>
<p>My son’s interview was a complete waste of our time, which is disappointing when you travel half way across the country to visit the campus. It was a beautiful fall Friday afternoon and apparently the interviewer has some where else she wanted to be that day and it was over in about 15 minutes. Fortunately, he had meet with the admission councilor at our high school the week before, so it did not dampen is interest in Rice.</p>
<p>My son has is valedictorian of a large H.S. with a 35 ACT, so he has a lot going for him. They may or may not accept him, but I don’t see how the lack of interest on the part of the interviewer should play into their decision.</p>
<p>Personal, would not worried about the interview impacting this admission. I would also say that if you do visit campus, do not waste your time with an on campus interview. There are much better ways to spend your time when you are there.</p>
<p>@Antarius maybe it’s my personal paranoia, he said it went well, just wasn’t exceptional conversation. I guess I’m wondering how much stock may be put into the interview. If he wasn’t super outgoing in interview, or maybe they just didn’t “click” is this an issue? I was feeling so positive up until a couple days ago, now I feel like its all gloom and doom. I read other students scores, etc and now feeling like this just may not happen for him. This stress is a killer - need Monday to be here!</p>
<p>@ryan33 thank you for sharing! Your son stats sound awesome, best of luck to him 
</p>
<p>My son interviewed in September. He was told by a friend also applying ED that her interview was only 20 minutes. When my son went on his interview it was an hour solid. He hit it off very well with the Senior who interviewed him and they exchanged emails and conversed several times and my son once asked how important is the interview anyway in comparison to not doing one. The Senior told him that if the admissions team were on the fence- a good interview would certainly push you over the hump but it really is not that significant. He also said sometimes students aren’t comfortable speaking confidently in which they encourage them not to interview. Monday can’t come soon enough…I’m pretty sure my son is an “on the fence candidate” but he interviews well, so here’s hoping he sealed the deal. </p>
<p>Guess my son is screwed, so it sounds. Well on to other applications I guess. So disheartening, but I guess won’t be the only ones. </p>
<p>@nutmom Why would you think he is screwed? I think that you have to take what is said on here with a grain of salt. I have seen horrible advice given and people pretending to be experts while given out wrong information. There isn’t anything you can do now…just remember that it will all work out, it always does.</p>
<p>@Ramon712 you are right, not sure everything I read is always the truth. His chance is as good as any. I have seen people state they’ve gotten in with scores below his and seen people with better scores denied. I suppose it’s all in what they are looking for at that time. His EC’s are strong, so yes, just have to now wait. Thank you!</p>
<p>I hope you aren’t insinuating I would be untruthful. I was hoping the take away for someone in some distress about the process would have picked up that 1. my sons interviewer stated ‘they are not that significant in the decision process’ but a good interview may help the “on the fence candidate” which is very likely my son. He interviewed early in the school year. It was at 11 a.m. on a weekday and I doubt anyone was after him so there was no hurry to complete it. I also recall my son saying he asked him after, why he isn’t taking notes or writing things down. His interviewer said he finishes the interview first then goes to a place to fill out a form or file about the impressions and things they discussed. I would never venture to say whether my son or anyone’s child has a better chance than another. It’s not up to any of us and if my child doesn’t get into Rice, it just means it wasn’t the fit for him and his second choice will be a place where he is wanted and can flourish best maybe even with less pressure. Perspective is key. What a great opportunity we have for our kids to start on such a great journey ahead, sadly denied to many. </p>
<p>@triplehtc No, I am sorry I gave that impression 
I was referring more to scores and such. You said nothing negative and I appreciate your thoughts and feedback. You are correct about the length of the interview, totally depends if someone is after you. My sons interviewer also did not take notes and said relatively the same thing about finishes after. I am not a patient person to begin with, so this anxiety is over the top for me. I wish the best for both our sons!!</p>
<p>On campus student interviewers are not like some off-campus alumni interviewers who like chatting for hours and hours. Some student interviewers just follow the directions from the admissions office and, as long as they gather enough information about the candidate, they will end the interview immediately.</p>
<p>I understand that you feel on-campus interview is too short (Mine takes 45 minutes, which is still much shorter than many of my other off-campus interviews for other schools). But quality is more important than quantity. As long as you accurately answer every question and you demonstrate your strong interest, a 15-minute interview is not bad at all. Interview is only one part of the holistic review and they will definitely see your essays, transcripts and recommendations and make a decision based on these information as a whole.</p>
<p>Yhz1221 we did not travel to Houston demonstrate interest in Rice, but to see if we are interested in Rice.</p>
<p>The interview is a two way conversation and the prospective student is interviewing the interviewer as much as interviewer is interviewing the student. If Rice instructs their interviewers to end the interview immediately after running through their preset list of questions, they may have lost sight of that fact.</p>
<p>If we had left immediately after the interview, there is no way my Son would have considered applying to Rice. Not because he felt he didn’t interview well, but because the attitude of the interviewer total turned him off to the School.
Fortunately, that is not the last thing we did on campus and enjoyed the rest of visit.</p>
<p>It would be disappointing to me if the interviews are considered at all in the admission process, since there is clearly no consistency of how they are handled and are extremely subjective. In our case, I have no idea what impression the interview had of my Son, but I certainly know his impression of her. </p>
<p>As with any profession/organization/group the personalities of interviewers and members varies drastically. I had an interview with a silicon valley company for an internship where I got 0 feedback from the interviewer, he just asked questions stared at me and asked some hard followups; I left convinced he thought I was a moron and I had no chance of getting the internship. Turns out, he isn’t super talkative and listened, liked what he heard and extended an offer.</p>
<p>The student could have been panicking about an upcoming test as well. Or he/she and your son didn’t click. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t panic too much about an interview about getting in. More important is how your son felt about the whole campus visit. </p>
<p>@antarius thank you for that. Ha, as far as campus as a whole, when he did his overnight visit, he never wanted to leave. It’s amazing what he was able to do in a short time. Went to an engineers without borders meeting, played intramural football, classes, etc. Even went shopping with friends he made for NOD </p>
<p>Happy to say my son was accepted and received merit aid. Love this news today! </p>
<p>@triplehtc - Congrats!</p>