Hi guys!
I could not find any information about the interview policy for international students in any colleges other than Harvard and Yale-NUS, where you get an interview only if you have a great chance to get in, Brown, Penn, and Princeton in which the interviews are made randomly, Williams, which does not offer interviews at all, and MIT–self-scheduling interview policy.
So, I decided to ask if anybody knows what the interview policy have other top-tier schools and if students have a chance to get in without being offered an interview. Thank you very much for your answers in advance!
Ask for specific schools. There are 1000s of colleges in the US.
Washington in St. Louis, Columbia, Yale, Pomona, Brandeis, Johns Hopkins, Skidmore, UChicago
According to the Wash U website, interviews must be requested, and it appears they have alumni in some international locations (but not all): https://admissions.wustl.edu/visit_site/Pages/FAQs.aspx
For Columbia, the process is not up to the student; it depends if there are alumni in the area of your high school. Applicants from China have a specific process: https://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/apply/first-year/interviews
For Yale, it again depends on whether there are alumni in your area; you don’t request an interview.
For what it’s worth, I found this information incredibly easily by googling school name interviews. You can do the same with the rest of the schools, but I would hazard a guess that they all have a similar policy- internationals will get interviews if there are alumni available.
Just there is the same information on the Harvard site as on the Yale one. However, it is known that in reality, the interview is requiered to be admitted.
@planet133 is that really the case for Yale and Harvard?? (I’ve had interviews for both)
Do not know about Yale, but certainly for Harvard if you cannot request interview in your area
Interviews are NOT required for admission to Yale or Harvard. They like to interview as many applicants as they can, but it depends entirely on alumni availability.
I know, but Penn, Princeton, and Brown still assign interviews randomly, as opposed to Harvard…
I think you’re just a little bit confused. The process isn’t “random” exactly- it’s dependent on three variables- where you live, and how many alumni live in that area, as well as how many alumni in that area are working as interviewers.
Harvard’s policy, according to their website, is as follows:
Domestic applicants are contacted by local interviewers if available. There are also limited on-campus interviews.
UK and Canada applicants are contacted by an interviewer.
They then have a list of countries where the applicant must initiate the interview.
Last, is a list of countries with limited interviews, where you will only be contacted if the admissions office wants more information on you.
https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/what-we-look/interviews
Thank you, I do know about all this. I am just from the country where there are only few interviewers, so in my area, only those who have a good chance to be admitted get inteviews:) So, I just wanted to know if some other colleges, for example Yale, contact only those whom it really wants to admit–even though it is not written on the site word in word but rather revealed basing on the words of those admitted.
In any case, thank you that you spent your time answering me!
I didn’t have an interview with Princeton, and I am an international student, I just feel like I won’t be admitted, because interviews in our country are selective.