Sorry to say this, but many students do not respond to the invitation for the optional interview, obviously not wanting one, but not bothering to respond with a polite “no thank you.”
Are you the rejected interviewer? What is your non reply rate? How is the applicant approached?
Have most people already gotten their invitations? When do they go out?
My sister interviews in Chicago and she received her list to contact on Sunday 11/3 - they have a short window to complete interviews so anyone who is getting one should have heard by now I think. She said it’s a lottery and she is only doing 3 based on time constraints. She also said that students should take it as zero indication of anything really. I know of 2 students in Southern Cal who got them, and didnt get in - and then another student from same school did not get asked for an interview and was accepted. This was last year. I have also heard that no one in Northern California gets asked for an interview (not sure if that’s true or not).
Every year I have done them there are 1 or 2 out of a dozen that never respond and a couple that it seems to take more than 1 invite over a week apart to respond. Its true that getting invited for an interview has nothing to do with qualifications, its not a lottery but simply whether someone is available close to the applicant.
I have the same pet peeve for my alma mater. It’s especially bad in the ED round since reports need to be submitted so quickly and Thanksgiving is in the middle of the month.
Lol, doesnt make a good impression when an interviewer can only write, “No response to request(s.)”
People fuss over what “demonstrated interest” is. Optional or not, ghosting an interviewer isn’t smart.
Hi
We have not received any interview request . Does this mean that our application is not considered or anything negative?
Thank you
Every source I have seen says the alumni interview does not help in the admissions process. If this is true, how much does it hurt to politely decline and/or ignore the interview request?
S20 had one today and another (for a different school) lined up for Saturday. The one this afternoon told him the interview will have no bearing on his chances of admission. If true, couldn’t he have just skipped it and the end result have been the same?
Part of me wants to hope that the interview isn’t a big waste of time. Is it possible it has at least a 0.3% effect or something?
It is rude not to respond to a volunteer who is offering his/ her time to you. The applicant is free to decline the offer, but that would be noted in the record, as would a failure to respond at all. I expect different admissions officers would view things differently.
NM - I didn’t realize this was a Stanford room. I’ll save my questions for a non-specific room.
I don’t think the school differentiates between ignoring and turning down the interview invite, just be polite to a busy person offering up their time. I know of no official source from the school that says an interview makes no difference. However, not having an interview puts you in a huge pile of apps in which there is no interview information, I think they are confident they can make rational decision on such students. Interview is just an additional data point for those that have one, I believe but do not know for sure that it can be a slight positive or a negative in some cases.
I had a very low response rate to interview requests this RD round, 7 out of 11 did not respond at all, even when I specifically asked for a response if not interested. I don’t think its pure rudeness, something else systematic is going on. This whole admissions business has become too burdensome and stressful. If Stanford can admit a large proportion of its class without interviews, then they should just give them up altogether.