My son applied RD and since he is local he went online and scheduled an interview at the University. Does anyone know about the on campus interviews? Are they really just meant to be adjunct to a school visit to get more info rather than evaluative?? Thanks and much luck to all RD applicants!
I heard they are with an admissions officer and that they can really impact the final decision due to that.
Nope - as far as I know, interviews are not with admissions officers. They are with alumni or student volunteers in the admissions office. An interview may tip the scales slightly if it goes spectacularly well or poorly, but for the most part interviews are more for you to get information and establish fit.
I was told by an Admissions Officer that they are “informational and not evaluative; a chance to have your questions answered.” I believe most are conducted by students or alumni. My daughter did not interview and was accepted (ED). Good luck!
Whew! Takes a lot of the stress off knowing they don’t matter all that much! Thanks, Kayak24!
Thanks all. My son had an interview with an alum for a different school and she said she was writing a “reference” but this is prob just some form she is required to write to confirm the interview happened and that he is not unfit for consideration. Thanks for the feedback.
@einyfine , each school handles interviews differently so you would need to check with the specific school to know how interviews are considered, if at all. This info is usually listed in the Common Data Set for the schools.
Google: school name Common Data Set.
FYI Hopkins’ CDS says the interview is “considered” in admissions but not “important”.
Thanks @kayak4 , very interesting and helpful.
@einyfine I was an admissions interviewer at Hopkins. The interviews are conducted by alumni. They are optional and not required for acceptance. An interview is never going to be as important as your child’s academic record (grades, test scores, etc.). It allows the school to get a sense of who the person is beyond his/her grades and test scores and sort of simultaneously allows them to confirm the character of the student the application presents. In addition, if the student is a borderline applicant academically, it can help him/her get a leg up.
I’m not sure who told the poster above that they are informative rather than evaluative; they are definitely evaluative, as we were required to complete a fairly thorough and specific evaluation in order to even submit the post-interview forms. However, they are nowhere as important as the academic record (obviously).
I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The interviewers want to help your kid (at least, I know that I personally took it upon myself to try to figure out each applicant’s strengths and communicate that in my evaluation); the applicant would have to be outrageously rude or anti-social to warrant a negative response.
How do they decide when your academic record is as good as it can get. Recommendations very good also. The essay? The major apply for? Diversity. Curious since there are many students with similar stars.
@thetransfercoach thanks so much for that thorough and helpful feedback!
@ambkeegan, You ask a common question. At universities like Hopkins, most applicants ARE “as good as they get” academically. Yes, diversity is a big thing, region of the country is taken into consideration to a lesser degree (every college wants to be able to say that they have students from every state), and the major counts to a tiny degree (universities generally only look at the major if they are super-low in a particular department one year, or the opposite is true and they have too many applicants for a particular one).
The essay (kind of like the interview) is an example for the applicant to express who he/she is beyond the stats. If it just reiterates the application, it’s not going to be very helpful. It’s basically your chance to tell your story and give them a sense of who you are as a person. One thing I would advise is to NOT spend the entire essay reiterating what is already on your application. You want to use the essay to your advantage, not to duplicate material they will already read.
I think a lot of it is also subjective. I’ve worked for some elite universities as well as somewhat selective (T50) schools. I noticed that my younger colleagues tend to like applicants who are interesting to them, or who show a lot of interest in the school. (I do, too; however, I also tend to think about the big picture and who these people will be 10 years later. If I get the sense that this person is going to be the next startup CEO, or someone who will be a major force in a political/non-profit movement, you bet that person is going to get bonus points!)
What if your child doesn’t live in a city where a person from JH can do the interview? We never heard from JH or some other schools. He had an interview with Harvard and Case Western(when he visited).
@thetransfercoach Thank you!
You can request a Skype interview if you don’t live near an alumni interviewer. I believe you have to request it yourself – they don’t set it up for you.