Hi,
Are interviews in India selective? I mean, do only the top candidates from India receive an interview?
Thanks,
No. See the MIT Admissions site about interviews.
Every applicant can request an interview, and you will interview with someone in your area (if a rep is there), otherwise, you can interview via Skype, or otherwise, your MyMIT account will say they were unable to schedule an interview.
Yes I did read the admissions site. But last year, all who got in, received the interview. In India, all the applicants have their interview waived at first. And then in Feb, we receive interviews. I wanted to know if these interviews are selective
Ah okay. To be honest, I don’t know the answer for certain, but I don’t think so. Every applicant (regardless of country) should have the ability to interview.
AFAIK, interviews in China and in India are different than those in everywhere else, in part because so many students apply from these countries, and there is not enough ECs local to these countries. Also, it solves one problem. In my region, we will have conducted more interviews than there are applicants this year (as each year a bunch of people get interviews who choose later not to apply). I can assure you that it is a genuine pain to spend three hours writing up an interview report that nobody will read.
I do recall reading that those in China and India do not get an interview until after they have completed part 1 of the interview (and paid the fee, or filed the fee waiver). Since the part 1 is only due on 31 December, and MIT has no idea which prospective students will apply, all students from these regions are waived originally. It makes for a really painful February for the ECs in these regions.
I do not know the algorithm for selecting who gets an interview. It may well be regional, so they pick certain areas (where they have appropriate EC coverage) and everyone from those regions gets an interview, and all those in other regions get waived. It is designed to be fair. I understand that it can be very stressful to be an Indian applicant given this, but don’t read too much into it.
@Mikalye I completed my part 1 way back in August and no one in India has received an interview as of now and thanks! I understand that not reading much will lighten the stress, but given the phase of life I am currently in, you know how it gets. 
Even I have heard selective interviews only exist…