<p>How big of a factor is the interview to colleges like Harvard and MIT? My friend had his MIT interview, and says it went well, so now he is much more confident he will be admitted. I tried to tell him the interview is not a big factor, but he won't believe me. Also, is the interview mandatory at MIT?</p>
<p>The interview isn't mandatory. [url=<a href="http://matt.mitblogs.com%5DMatt%5B/url">http://matt.mitblogs.com]Matt[/url</a>] made a post about it once (there's a link to the post I'm talking about in one of his more recent article) describing possible statuses your interview may be in - waived, complete, incomplete, etc. Anyway, over double the students who get interviews are accepted, and the official term is that the interview adds another dimension to your application.</p>
<p>I'd say it's agood idea.</p>