<p>My son is scheduled for an alumni interview and the interviewer specifically asked that he bring a copy of his application. We thought this strange as we were under the impression that interviewers are not supposed to know stats so they can give an unbiased report. My son called the school and they told him it's not their policy to ask for applications and when my son asked what he should do, they said to tell the interviewer they said that and if he (the interviewer) has a problem, to contact them. The thing is, this puts my son in a spot. How can you tell the interviewer that without antagonizing him? If my son shows up without an application, then he basically came unprepared.</p>
<p>I would bring the application. The interviewer can find out all the stats from the school anyway. Many interviewers have the students stats before the interview.
Alumni interviews are usually not very influential, but if the interviewer specifically asked for info, and your son fails to provide it, it will probably will work against him. If he does not have the stats to get in, he will not get in regardless of the interview outcome.</p>
<p>I didn’t make pdfs of my son’s applications and the thought would never have occured to him as all his apps were on-line so if it were my son, I’d send him off with a “resume” or “fact sheet” and a copy of essays and short answers from that particular college’s app. Pick and choose what you are comfortable sharing and simply tell the interviewer you don’t a hard copy of the entire app. White lie, but takes the pressure off your son if he doesn’t wish to share test scores and GPA. The interviewer may ask and make sure your son has an answer to that type of situation.</p>
<p>alert: playing devil’s advocate here…</p>
<p>Is it possible that the interviewer wants to glance at the app so that he/she has a basis for the conversation based on EC’s, interests, essays, etc?..</p>
<p>my daughter brought a copy of her activity sheet/resume with her to all of her interviews so that the interviewer could see her interests (and gave it to them for reference)…</p>
<p>DD sent a resume to the interviewer before the interview; it included all of her numbers and most things that would have been on her application. The interviewer had it highlighted and it was a great source for the interviewer to ask questions. I am with Rodney^^.</p>
<p>My Ds brought a resume to their interviews. That gave plenty of info and grist for conversation. No one asked for a recommendation. Never heard where interviewers were forbidden to know stats.</p>
<p>My son brought a resume of activities to his interview and the interviewer ended up asking him what his GPA and SAT scores were. So even if he doesn’t bring the application, he might be faced with this question and it would be awkward not to reply. For that reason, he might as well bring the application.</p>
<p>I interview for Brown. This: </p>
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<p>is most definitely not the case for Brown – alumni interviewers never know the stats before the interview, and I believe that if an interviewer asked admissions, they would not be told the numbers. Brown wants the interviewer to focus on the personal information gleaned from a one-on-one conversation – it has all the stats and doesn’t want interviewers to have them.</p>
<p>I like the idea of bringing a resume/activities sheet and giving it to the interviewer. Either say what momof3boys says, or another possibility is to innocently say – “I thought this is what you meant when you asked for my application.”</p>
<p>An aside: It bothers me, as an alumni interviewer, when interviewers don’t follow the guidelines set by the college. This college doesn’t want its interviewers to ask for this information, and the interviewer is ignoring this – and thus putting your son in an awkward spot. My opinion is that it is none of the interviewer’s business what your son’s essays, GPA or SAT scores are.</p>
<p>Ditto what fireandrain said. Yale does not provide “stats” to alumni interviewers and would not give them if an interviewer asked. The published guidelines for alumni interviewers state that questions about GPA and standardized test scores should not be asked.</p>
<p>Ironically, my son has an interview next week with an alum. I told him if that person or anybody asks him what his GPA is to answer: “Hopefully strong enough to get accepted!” and to smile to close the line of questioning. Our school reports GPA as unweighted and I sincerely don’t know how this particular college interpreted his transcript or calculated his GPA and neither does my son.</p>
<p>I agree with momofthree - just bring a resume/activity sheet and explain that since the application was online you don’t have a hard copy.</p>
<p>I also agree that the interviewer probably just wants something to start a conversation wtih. “Oh, I see you are President of the Widget club, tell me more about that.”</p>
<p>S will be going to an interview with one of the Ivy alums next week. The interviewer (movie producer, yeah, this IS LA) asked him to fill out a short form that did ask basic stats, short info on awards, activities, summer stuff. It seemed pretty standard and he said in his email he wanted to use it to formulate the interview.</p>
<p>This didn’t ring any bells for us.</p>
<p>The other Ivy interview is with a photographer.</p>
<p>My S is interested in physics. At least it starts with the letter “P” like producer, photographer … LOL!</p>
<p>That was my question. Are we sure he asked for application and not a resume? Son always had a resume with him (which by the way had his scores on it).</p>
<p>I don’t see what the big deal is or why your son contacted admissions about this. What comes to my mind is wondering what your son has to hide. That may not be the case, but I do wonder why else your son would be so concerned about the interviewer seeing his application.</p>
<p>While I’ve requested resumes, not applications, some students have brought them to interviews and I’ve found them helpful because I could then make sure that I was asking about information that the student hadn’t gone into depth in on their application. Otherwise, the interview report may have just repeated info the school had already. I didn’t, for example, need to have the student tell me the same tale that they told in their essay. I could make sure that I information that reflected another side of the applicant.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the suggestions. In our limited interview experience, the colleges my son has applied to follows similar guidelines as Brown and Yale (incidentally, my son has a scheduled interview with Brown next week). Like fireandrain, it bothers me when people do not adhere to procedures. My son has pretty good GPA and SAT scores, and in response to Northstarmom, has nothing at all to hide. Even then, I would prefer that the interviewer glean his qualities from the interview itself. </p>
<p>My son has had 2 other interviews, one with Columbia, who actually made a point to inform my son that he knows nothing about my son save for basic info. He has 2 other interviews scheduled next week and neither has requested for the actual application. He has brought a resume in his past interviews, and the need for has not come up.</p>
<p>Perhaps, he will do as he did before, and just bring a resume. Thanks for all the input.</p>
<p>I would bring a resume and if the interviewer asks just say “OH Sorry! I thought you meant a resume, like all the other schools. Most of my information is here on my resume, if there is something else you would like to know, please just ask me”</p>
<p>If everything is good on the app (and why wouldn’t it be) You could also try bringing both. - hand the resume in, and then if the interviewer says, can I see your application, hand it to him. Otherwise keep it in your notebook</p>
<p>"Thanks for all the suggestions. In our limited interview experience, the colleges my son has applied to follows similar guidelines as Brown and Yale (incidentally, my son has a scheduled interview with Brown next week).</p>
<p>I know that Harvard doesn’t give alum interviewers any guidelines about applications. Probably the same is true of other schools. Just because Yale and Brown may not want interviewers to see applications doesn’t mean that other schools feel the same way though it does seem that the college that your S applied to doesn’t want interviewers to see applications.</p>
<p>I also know that since alum interviewers are volunteers, they are very busy and many don’t take the time to fully read directions about how to interview. I think that given the flood of applicants top colleges are getting now, the college are happy to have alums take the time to interview even when the alums don’t exactly follow directions. </p>
<p>The one time that a student brought their whole application to an interview was when it was very clear to me that there was no way that that student could have written their essay. The student’s lack of critical thinking was obvious during the interview. For instance, asked their fave book, the student only gave me a synopsis of the book when I asked what the student liked about the book. The student answered other questions in a similar way that was very concrete. Yet, the student’s essay was exceptionally well written. The student’s board scores were just above average for all students, which means they were at the bottom of the pool for Harvard.</p>
<p>I suspected that someone else had written the student’s essay. I didn’t say that in my interview narrative, but I did give specific examples --quotes by the student – that reflected their lack of analytical thinking. The student didn’t get in.</p>
<p>Actually, my other concern for giving out the application has nothing to do with the academic information (after all, our kids, including ourselves, are very proud of their hard work and accomplishments). I’m sure some would berate or scoff at my concern (we are all entitled to our own opinions) but I though I should put it out here just as something to think about. </p>
<p>Unlike a resume, the application’s top page (no less!) for both common and supp contains confidential personal information. It has your kid’s name, birth date and all other pertinent info, plus! a squeaky-clean SS. If someone asks for the app, it’s very likely he’d want to hold on to it to write up the interview report. The app could be inadvertently left laying around on an office desk or somewhere for all to see. And since the interviewer’s purpose for the app is for the interview, it may not occur to him that there’s important personal info on it that needs to be safeguarded. It will be awkward to request that he shred the top page before chucking it; even more so, to hand it in minus the 1st page! : )</p>
<p>“It has your kid’s name, birth date and all other pertinent info, plus! a squeaky-clean SS.”</p>
<p>Eliminate that info before giving the app to anyone. When a student gave me his app (which I hadn’t asked for), I immediately eliminated his social security #. I also gave it back to him at the end of the interview.</p>
<p>I’ve had students who’ve included their SS#s on their resumes: Bad idea!</p>
<p>As an alumni interviewer for 3 decades, my experience is that kids with great stats can’t wait to tell you them. I do like when the give or send me their essays, it is a great conversation starter. Kids who don’t come with at least a detailed resume hurt themselves. I almost always refer back to them in writing my report.</p>
<p>I can understand why more interviewers are asking these things today. As ivies have become off the wall popular with ever increasing numbers of applicants, there are more and more seriously unqualified ones. This year especially, I have found myself interviewing several kids who appear a long way from qualified and I will ask stats to see if I’m missing something, wondering if an inarticulate kid showing no academic passion possibly has the stats the school is looking for. Typically they don’t.</p>