<p>How important is the interview? How much weight does it carry? My kid was very disturbed. He said he did not connect well with the alum and that he was more nervous as a result. He otherwise has great grades, scores, recommendations, extracurriculars and essays. What do you think?</p>
<p>The received wisdom on here is that it can help you sometimes but rarely hurts you.</p>
<p>Well, I heard it differently. A good interview from a good student is a given so not much weight. OTOH, a bad interview could really hurt a good student's chance. However, it has to be really bad.</p>
<p>I'm sweating this for ds when he gets to this part of the game. I'm afraid he won't present well as he's pretty reserved and won't come across like one of these over-achieving dynamos that colleges seem to want.</p>
<p>But I love him and know he's great just as he is. Which is good, because if he can't impress enough to get into college, he'll be with us for a long time. LOL!</p>
<p>This was not his first. He always wears a tie, is rather handsome, yet is rather formal and reserved. He is very intellectual and was put off by the interviewers style which was very laid back and a little too personal for him. Because this was also his top choice school, he was very nervous. The guy told him that he lacked passion. However, he is a chess champion and loves science and history. He had two other very successful interviews where he connected with one person discussing finance and with the other, philosophy. I just don't understand what exactly happened?</p>
<p>Last year my daughter and I practiced on her interview skills. I came up with a list of potential tough questions, so she would be prepared when asked. We talked about what to wear, how to address the interviewer, covered current events (what not to say, and how to gracefully get out of a debate), her ECs, why ___ school. We rehersed a few times at home. I think because she was prepared she wasn't as nervous.</p>
<p>Some kids are not comfortable conversing with adults. But most people my daughter has met were very nice. They tried hard to put those kids at ease. I think most interviews are just informative anyway.</p>
<p>Was this an alumni interview? If so, they are typically not evaluative. They are informational -- intended to get the student interested in the college and let the student show interest in the colege. I think that, short of the kid who comes across as overtly rude, drunk, or a potential serial killer, it is tough for an alumni interview to derail an application. I don't think "formal" and "reserved" will harm your son's chances.</p>
<p>
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The guy told him that he lacked passion.
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This guy sounds like a real jerk. Alumni interviews, as WJB says, are not going to matter in the decision to admit your son. Obviously, anyone who acted like this guy is not a skilled interviewer. He should be drawing your son out, not offering a negative assessment of him! Don't give it another thought.</p>
<p>Yes, he does sound like a jerk. And part of the reason that alumni interviews don't play a significant role in the admissions decision is that there is so much variability among alumni interviewers. Some are terrific, others are not.</p>
<p>Take a look at my February 1, 2008 Parents Forum thread entitled "Weird Alumni Interviewers: Exception or Rule?" to which I have received many informative responses. Read through those responses; you will find them applicable to your son's situation. </p>
<p>StickerShock is right about your son's interviewer sounding like a jerk. That interviewer had no business forming--let alone trumpeting--a negative value judgment of your son, particularly when that value judgment was most likely based upon the interviewer's misinterpretation of your son's natural social formality and personal reserve as a lack of intellectual "passion."</p>
<p>It sounds like your son possesses good manners--a once-standard but quickly declining social skill which is often unrecognized, unappreciated, and misunderstood by people who lack good manners. Your son's ill-mannered interviewer might be accustomed to meeting applicants who brag shamelessly, fawn piteously, or otherwise exhibit undignified or immature behavior. The interviewer might dislike, mistrust, or feel inferior to socially poised applicants, to whom he makes offensive statements in an attempt to crack their poise and undermine their self-confidence. </p>
<p>I have read elsewhere in this Forum that it is sometimes possible to request a second interview if the initial interview was overwhelmingly inappropriate. Given that the inappropriate interview was for your son's top-choice school, find out if that school permits second interviews, and if so, consider requesting one (preferably with an older alumnus who is more likely to recognize, appreciate, understand, and respond favorably to your son's old-fashioned good manners).</p>
<p>Best wishes.</p>
<p>Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Case in point: Someone on the Yale forum recently posted that he/she received an academic likely letter the day BEFORE his/her scheduled alumni interview! In the grand panorama of college admissions, alumni interviews are just not that critical. </p>
<p>Most alumni interviewers are good people who are trying to do a good job of representing their alma maters (almas mater??). I think that unless an interviewer's conduct is egregious (as a few posters reported on that other thread) it's best just to put a less-than-perfect interview behind you and move ahead. I do agree that the OP's son's interviewer behaved somewhat boorishly and did not represent his college well, but I would not ask for a second interview.</p>
<p>Your S is probably smarter than the interviewer, who wouldn't recognize true <em>intellectual</em> passion if it bit him on the ass, as timecruncher says in a more polite way. <g> Unfortunately, it's the eager-beaver, brown-nosing, hand in the air kids who get the majority of the notice for their supposed "passion" and "leadership," not the reserved intellectual kids.</g></p>
<p>Nevertheless, I agree with wjb that it doesn't sound as if this particular interviewer was sufficiently bad to request another. If in any doubt, perhaps you should consult with your son's GC.</p>
<p>You should probably just forget about it, since alumni interviews usually don't carry much weight, but you could ask for another interview.</p>