<p>I had my interview the past Tuesday. went pretty well I guess. asked me a lot about my EC's, since I gave him a resume. it was pretty casual, and he gave me good advice about majors and courses at MIT. he did the EE part of EECS and I want to do the CS part hahaha</p>
<p>I was surprised because my interviewer went to my high school. nice sign.</p>
<p>How will MIT view the lack of an interview not by fault of the applicant? I contacted before the deadline, my EC said she would be out of country, I e-mailed MIT, they reassigned me another EC, but the contact information they gave was wayyy outdated so I couldn't reach him, and now I'm waiting for MIT's response again ..</p>
<p>Honestly the interview is really not scary or hard.
My interviewer was just so incredibly kind that I wasn't nervous from the moment I got there. He really just let me talk to try to make me look as good as possible.</p>
<p>Just be yourself</p>
<p>My interviewer hasn't uploaded her report yet! My interview was on 8th december. I used the 'conducted interview' form on 'MyMIT' to notify MIT. Wonder what's happened :-|</p>
<p>Spideyunlimited,
What happened is that your interviewer hasn't uploaded their report yet. It usually takes me an hour or so to do the interview, and 3-4 hours to write the report. For interviews in December, I rarely get time in the run up to Christmas to write and edit the interview report. I usually do mine between Christmas and New Year's. Don't fret about it.
-Mikalye</p>
<p>Rhetoric, cliche advice, but very important: Contact your interviewer ASAP!! to get a date scheduled. I contacted mine on November 8th and then a million unprecedented holidays came by and I couldn't get in touch with the EC's secretary. Thankfully I got an interview scheduled for tomorrow.. phew..
Now I'm full of butterflies haha.</p>
<p>I had my interview today, I was late by half an hour. I could not freaking believe it. I was and am so ****ed.</p>
<p>How important is the MIT interview? How much will my punctuality factor into the interview? Do you think it could kill my chances ?</p>
<p>As with all of these things, everything depends on the circumstances and on the EC. There are 2700 of us, and your mileage very definitely may vary. That being said a lot enters into it. I've had candidates turn up late with very legitimate excuses, and they were not harmed by it at all. If however, I met a candidate who I felt was not taking the application seriously at all, then yes, that would affect their chances.</p>
<p>First of all... It's over! Don't worry about it! I'm sure you did a great job. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>As far as I know, unless you do something ridiculously stupid (ya know, cuss every other sentence), the interview can't really ever hurt you. </p></li>
<li><p>Visiting MIT is not considered at all in the admissions process. Such a policy would inherently advantage people who have the money and live close by. I got in early and have yet to visit. So, you didn't hurt yourself at all by saying you weren't going to visit. </p></li>
<li><p>It's reasonably irrelevant whether the interviewer liked you or not. The reports they write are supposed to be objective and factual, not opinionated. </p></li>
<li><p>If the interviewer was as polite as you say, then I don't think you can infer anything from her ending comment. I think she means exactly what she says.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>You're done with the application process! Have fun. Chill. Don't waste two or three months of your life freaking out about MIT.</p>
<p>I'm not sure I agree with all of Eihjia's comments.</p>
<p>
[quote]
As far as I know, unless you do something ridiculously stupid (ya know, cuss every other sentence), the interview can't really ever hurt you.
[/quote]
Can the interview hurt you? Absolutely it can. Eihjia is right about one thing, given that there are 2700 interviewers, there is a quality control issue. Further, the interview is not required. Therefore, an interviewers comments are not as critical as some other parts of the application. That being said, there is a reason for the EC system. Any interview at the extremes, for good or ill, can certainly affect the application.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Visiting MIT is not considered at all in the admissions process.
[/quote]
Visiting MIT is definitely not considered at all in the admissions process. Don't stress about that.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It's reasonably irrelevant whether the interviewer liked you or not. The reports they write are supposed to be objective and factual, not opinionated.
[/quote]
The idea that the interview reports are objective and factual and not opinionated sounds good, but is ultimately wrong. For example, as an international interviewer, one thing that I am expected to check for is the students fluency with English. That sounds fairly objective, no? But in truth, particularly at the boundaries, its not so straightforward.</p>
<p>By definition, we are looking for the characteristics that make up a good match with MIT. We spend the interview looking for "objective" evidence of certain characteristics, and then we take an opinion about them. We express our opinion, backed up with as much objective evidence as we can, but it is fundamentally our opinion. </p>
<p>That being said, last year I interviewed a young man who I liked very, very much, but who I recognised was not a strong match for MIT. Similarly, I have met candidates who matched well but whom I did not particularly get along with. In that regard, it does not matter whether they like you.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If the interviewer was as polite as you say, then I don't think you can infer anything from her ending comment.
[/quote]
I agree. I am an international interviewer, and the acceptance rate for international applicants is 3.9 percent or roughly 1 in every 27 candidates. Given that I tend not to interview 27 candidates per year, that means that most years, none of my applicants will get in. Indeed, every year I meet brilliant, talented, wonderful candidates who will not get in. I probably would not say something like "Good luck wherever you end up", just to avoid the confusion and soul searching that you are going through now, but I do think thought just like that all the time at the interview.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Have fun. Chill. Don't waste two or three months of your life freaking out about MIT.
[/quote]
This is of course completely correct and wonderful, if hard to take, advice. Relax.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Should I bother re-contacting my original EC even though the report deadline is coming up? MIT said a January interview was too late and reassigned me to someone with invalid contact information, and I've been waiting for a response from them for 3 weeks now :/ Will not having an interview (for legitimate reasons) have a negative impact?</p>
<p>Potentially, yes. If the Educational Council screwed up in some way, and assigned you to an uncontactable EC, then that is definitely something that can and should be pointed out to them. There are a variety of remedies available at this late stage, including potentially waiving your interview, so that the absence would not count against you.<br>
That being said, if every other candidate assigned to this particular EC was able to contact them without problem, and you were not, then that does reflect badly on you. However, if there was an EC screwup, then I would certainly contact the EC office and let them know.</p>
<p>Not visiting the campus will not hurt you in the application process. When my eldest was applying to schools we could not visit all of them due to a family medical emergency and the cost of travelling to all the schools. This was not mentioned during the interview. My eldest mentioned it in passing during an info session that fall. If anything they found it admirable that she elected to help family during a crisis than visit a school. I am certain that many people will not be visiting all their schools of interest this season.</p>
<p>I wish you well with the application process.</p>
<p>Yeah, I made every effort to contact the EC. Mailer Daemon kept returning the e-mail to me because it was an invalid address, and I called the phone number listed and the person who picked up said he no longer lived here, so I let the office know. Thanks! I'll just wait patiently for a response from them, haha.</p>
<p>phew i just had my interview today... i was ok.. but there were some silences... :/</p>
<p>Off all the interviews my S went to, he enjoyed this one the best. The interviewer really shared his enthusiasm for the school. God I hope he gets in</p>
<p>Having my interview Friday! My interviewer is an attorney, but he seem to be not so lawyer-like if you understand what I am saying lol. We have been exchanging emails before Christmas and he would always email me like 2 or 3 days before and ask me if I will be able to have an interview. I was supposed to have an interview with him before Christmas, but I had to take ACT that day so I pushed it off. Two days ago I email him about the interview again and he told me he will be available this Friday... so there we go lol. I am a nervous haha, this will be my first interview. I even told him that I am nervous in the email and, he was a really nice guy and told me everyone is during their first interview. He is a nice guy, and my friend already had an interview with him. Any specific questions I need to be aware of?</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>My friend applied to MIT but did not contact the EC. Would it be possible for him to go to Boston/Cambridge in person to get an interview there? Is this possible at other universities? (ex. Harvard).</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>No, interviews are not offered at the admissions office.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your advices!
I am an international student applying for MIT class of 2014. My application process begins later on this summer.
I wish all MIT national and international applicants good luck! </p>
<p>P.S Anyone with info about interviews… please post them here!</p>