<p>How applicable is it to ask questions about campus life if your alumni interviewer graduated about 20 years ago? In that case, what kind of questions CAN you ask?</p>
<p>Just because an alum is old doesn't mean they don't know what goes on in on campus. They may have relatives, friends or even former students whom they interviewed who keep them abreast of campus activities. They also may visit the campus frequently.</p>
<p>You have nothing to lose by asking them about campus life.</p>
<p>It really depends on the alumnus/a. Many of the older ones who are still interviewing do so because they have stayed very involved in campus life, and they will probably still have a pretty good idea of what goes on. You can also always ask how they think the college has changed, or what they think the most noticeable improvement has been - most people are pretty happy to talk about that at length. You can also ask what their education has done for them - what jobs they've gotten, how they related or didn't relate to their majors, what connections they've made with other graduates and if they've stayed in touch, etc.</p>
<p>You've gotten great advice so far. My D was expecting someone younger than her alumna interviewer (who had graduated in the mid-80's), but the interview went very well. The interviewer had a lot of experience, submitted the results quickly, and was able to answer all her questions.</p>
<p>I graduated from my alma mater in the mid 1970s, but I have a niece who graduated in the late 1990s and my daughter is a senior. So just because an alumni interviewer is "older" you can't assume that they are not in touch with at least many of the aspects of campus life.</p>
<p>I had my MIT interview with a rather elderly alum who graduated in the school in 1950. Talk about a generation gap! However, he said he went back to campus at least once every year for their class reunions, etc. From the information he gave me during the interview, he seemed pretty in touch with all the happenings at his college even though he had graduated 50+ years before hand.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice so far. But what if I wanted to ask how accessible research opportunities with professors are to undergraduates, or how the competition for grades is, or things like that? It seems more relevant to ask those sorts of questions (especially the latter question) to someone who was a student more recently.</p>
<p>csquare -- you can ask those questions to your interviewer, no matter when they graduated, but you must realize that even a recent graduate might not know the answers to your questions if they were in a different major. That's why forums like this are so helpful, someone here might have a direct answer to your questions. Also, people have different perspectives, and the more people you ask the more complete of a picture you will gain.</p>
<p>I'd be able to answer those questions for where I went to college, and you'd consider me an older alum. I visit the college at least once a year, and read the alumni magazine and the student newspaper regularly.</p>
<p>your questions, well, they CAN come across as negative if you don't approach them correctly, if handled poorly</p>
<p>For instance, so is the school really competitve with regards to grades?</p>
<p>Remember this person LOVES this school and you need to not put them on the defensive</p>
<p>Some things about most college's culture change very slowly if at all. At my alma mater, competition for grades is something that hasn't changed significantly in 35+ years. So I think even "older" alums can answer quite well questions about the culture and personality of their college. And remember, most colleges do make an effort to keep their alumni interviewers up to speed on what is going on at the college.</p>
<p>Questions about research opportunities with professors would be much more department specific. On very specific questions (like for example, how many students do undergraduate research with chemistry professors) you are not likely to get precise and accurate answers from any alumni interviewer, however recent, unless they were a major in that department. So a good alumni interviewer will tell you who to contact at the college to get very specific questions answered.</p>
<p>im getting interviewed this sunday by a man who is from the class of 44, he claims that while he might not know exact details of classes he stays up to date on things like campus life and campus poilitics</p>
<p>you can always ask them why the chose to go to the school</p>
<p>I used to think that applicants would get a much better picture from younger alums. But I've now heard plenty of horror stories about younger interviewers--new parents who bring their crying babies with them, etc. There are good interviews and bad ones, and you can't predict by the age of the alumni volunteers.</p>
<p>My interviewer from Princeton this fall was of the class of '48. Yes, he was 80!! It went pretty well, though. He was pretty spry.</p>
<p>I just remember the nery first interview my D had with an alumnus who graduated over 40 years prior. She asked him what he thought of "Shopping week," and he looked confused, and said that he thought that there were some nice shops nearby. It made D very uncomfortable to explain that she meant what they called trying out classes before you registered. Apparently they didn't have that back then, and he had no clue about it, and she came away with a bad feeling about it. He was a very old male who attended when women did not go there, and she wasn't surprised when she was rejcected froim her first choice. I can't believe that they would have a man who had been retired for a number of years to do the interview, who had no idea what was going on now. Oh, well...D is very happy where she is, and can't see herself having gone there, after all, but still, one wonders...</p>
<p>My interviewer from Princeton was also quite old. While the interview wasn't bad, my Harvard Interviewer (in her early 30s) was a ton better. I think the schools should gravitate to younger interviewers. While that wouldn't be nice to the older alumni, I think the prospective students would get a much better picture of the school.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Some things about most college's culture change very slowly if at all.
[/quote]
And somethings have changed entirely between the time the older grads were there and the present. I don't deny that alum interviewers are motivated and fans of their school; after all they are volunteering. But whether they can accurately convey current info based on their dated experiences, another story. Some specific examples. A HS classmate of my sister got into Stanford "back in the day", that day being less than 30 years ago. His ECs? President of the Chess Club. Period. Or take someone who went to ucla in the 70s. What would they know about housing and the campus environment for kids? Back then they had the 4 old dorms, and a lottery for frosh housing. Today they guarantee housing to everyone for 2 years. Are their experiences up-to-date? I think not. For the UC schools in general, up to the mid-80's you were allowed to apply to exactly 1 UC campus. Is that applicable today? No. And lets not forget that up thru the 60's many schools had quotas on how many minorities, Jews, Catholics, etc. they would take. AND until the 70's many top colleges such as the Ivy league were male-only. How relevant are the experiences of the people from that era to today's kids?</p>
<p>maybe you could ask questions about how the interviewer's life was impacted by attending the college, or how s/he stays connected to the college. since the person volunteered to be an interviewer, he or she probably does other things to stay involved with the school. And since you're going to be spending much longer as an alum of any given school than you will as a student there, these are all good things to know...plus they give interviewers a chance to talk about themselves, which many of them appreciate!</p>
<p>badgolfer,
Well I didn't say that nothing changed at colleges. And the culture at colleges that were single sex and are now co-ed has probably changed significantly. But the OP's question was asking about competition for grades and research opportunities for undergraduates. Whether or not in the 80s you could only apply to 1 UC campus, or whether you could get into Stanford with your only EC as president of the Chess Club "back in the day" doesn't really have much to do with the culture on campuses, whether or not there is much overt competition for grades, or how many research opportunities there are for undergraduates. </p>
<p>The admissions game to colleges, driven in large part by demographics, has changed much more than the character of most of the colleges I'm familiar with.</p>