<p>I'm worried about applying to Swarthmore RD. It is definitely a school high up there in terms of where I want to go, but I just cannot afford to completely bind myself to the school w/ ED2. Are there a very small percentage of applicants accepted RD?</p>
<p>Also, I've searched the threads for information about interviews, but they did not answer the question I had in mind: what type of questions do swat alums ask? I will interview soon, and I want to go through some scenarios in my mind so that I'm not completely unprepared! :)</p>
<p>The same kinds of questions as at every other school that does interviews… what do you do after school? Why? They basically just want to get to know who you are, and answer questions, they wont try to trick you…</p>
<p>For this fall’s first-year class, factoring out the early decision apps and acceptances entirely, there were 5548 RD applications of which 808 received acceptance letters. So the RD acceptance rate was 14.6%. ED increases the overall acceptance rate a bit to 16.1%. </p>
<p>The main impact of ED is to increase the yield dramatically by effciently matching acceptances to those students most enthusiastic about enrolling at Swarthmore.</p>
<p>For interviews, my alum interviewer is probably around 73 years old! Is that odd? For any people that have had an older alum interview you, how is it? If you ask questions, will they be interested and be able to give you an up-to date answer? Just wondering.</p>
<p>When D did an alumni interview 8 years ago her interviewer was in his late 60s. So I wouldn’t think it odd for an interviewer to be in his or her 60s or even 70s.</p>
<p>Alums who do interviewing are usually pretty invested in the school, and some may even have kids who go or have gone. In addition, many aspects of the school’s character or personality do not change much over the years.</p>
<p>My S had an alumni interviewer (for another college) who is retired and late 60s. My S traveled by train all morning to get to his city before the interview. Due to the train schedule he had several hours to kill on a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon following the interview before spending the evening on the train back home. After hearing this, the interviewer invited S to his apartment where Mrs. Interviewer cooked a small meal for S before the alum had his driver (yes, driver) take S across town to the train station. The interview report was sent in weeks ago but they still seem to be trading e-mails. (I think the last one was on solar flares or Pluto or something about outer space…and having nothing to do with college admissions.)</p>
<p>Viewed in the most favorable way, this interview might have a value of 1.35 on his application. But my S apparently had a blast with this guy and he got to ride in a very fancy car with a private driver. Had it been an alum of a more recent vintage, the interview (a) might have been more informative (actually, let me come back to that*), (b) would be worth just as much (i.e., little) back at Admission Central, and (c) would not have been nearly as much fun.</p>
<p>From the admission office’s perspective, this interviewer probably does a great job yielding the students he interviews who happen to get admitted. It occurs to me that – if there’s a decision to be made involving this college – my S may have a tough time saying “no” largely because of the connection he has with this interviewer. I doubt many recently-graduated alums can make that kind of impact on prospective students.</p>
<p>So, moral of the story: Don’t diss the older generations! We can still bring it.</p>
<ul>
<li>As I typed this, I recalled that my S originally had an on-campus interview for this particular college and it was NOT informative. The senior-interviewer was little more than a cheerleader. Everything was “awesome!” without facts offered to back up the consistently favorable opinion of everything. So, in this case, the retired alumni interviewer was far more informative than a current student was.</li>
</ul>
<p>One of the first things my daughter learned at Swarthmore is that everyone she met there had some kind of **really **interesting story or talent or experience (whether she knew about it at the time or not). So, I would go into an interview with a 73 year old Swattie with the assumption that the guy is probably fascinating in some way.</p>
<p>Update: I called my interviewer to set up a time/date for the interview, and his wife picked up the phone. She sounded so kind, and she was very talkative! If he is anything like his wife, I’m sure this interview will be a blast!!! :)</p>