<p>I received an invitation for an alumni interview next week but the thing is I am at my grandmother's house several hundred miles away and will be until early February. I did not ask for one because I knew I couldn't go to my hometown for one and I didn't even send in my application until Jan. 1 and the supplement on the 2nd! (Now I feel bad because other people who asked for one and submitted their application by the 10th are saying they didn't get one.)</p>
<p>Should I just tell the interviewer I can't go? Will this hurt my chances? I really want to go to Duke and wish I could go to the interview. :(</p>
<p>Your interviewer has til mid-February to submit the evaluation. So, if you can go back in early February, that would be ideal. Your interviewer should be able to accommodate you assuming he/she is around then, of course. If you can't even make it back in early Feb, just explain (preferably by phone) to the interviewer that you aren't in town before the deadline and would really like to learn more about Duke, but unfortunately it's just not possible. You could even ask if he/she would like to discuss a few things over the phone at a later time (don't know what he/she will say to that) and express your interest in the university. </p>
<p>If the interviewer cannot conduct the interview, he/she submits an "unable to interview" to admissions, and it will have NO EFFECT on your chances unless you were outwardly rude or something - which it doesn't sound like you are being. It's just a logistics thing and it happens more frequently that you would think (esp with boarding school students).</p>