<p>My daughter and a girl in her class who is applying to a couple of the same schools as she is were talking about interviews yesterday. The other girl told my daughter that School X had already contacted her for an interview, and it was wonderful because the person was a close family friend. I know in some areas this will happen because there are a dearth of alums involved in the process, and the odds are that some families will just know everybody. In this case, the applicant is a great girl and very qualified for School X. It did make me wonder, however, if the schools ask the interviewers about previous relationships with the candidates. Seems there could be some potential for bias in the process.</p>
<p>I can't speak for all schools, but Duke specifically asks interviwers not to interview people we know personally. However, it is up to the interviewer to call this out or the school will not know.</p>
<p>A better option is for the interviewer to ask that the applicant be reassigned to another alumnus and then offer to write a separate recommendation letter if desired.</p>
<p>If there's a dearth of alum interviewers in a region, it may be that a close family friend has to interview a student. However, to be ethical about this, the relationship should be stated in the recommendation form.</p>
<p>I do not think that having such an interview would be an advantage. Indeed, I think that it would backfire. In the one such situation that I heard about, the student did not get in despite the interviewer's apparently writing a glowing recommendation.</p>
<p>As an alum inteviewr, I would not agree to do those kind of interviews. I would be concerned about my biases and the ethics, and I would be concerned about losing a friendship if the student didn't get in. Far better to do what gadgets suggests and to write a separate letter of recommendation.</p>