My D had a Skype interview with a Tulane alumna a couple of nights ago. D has applied EA, but has not yet been accepted. The interview was “optional” which of course means “mandatory.” Any thoughts on the purpose of such interviews at thus stage of the application process?
A friend suggests that such interviews are more about marketing the school TO prospective students than getting information FROM applicants …
They are primarily used to gauge “demonstrated interest.” If they are offered and you neglect to do one, it indicates to the school that you don’t care too much. Schools that are concerned with yield (as many, including Tulane, are) want you to show interest.
An alumni interview is not going to make or break an application, so don’t stress about how the interview went, but it’s important to take advantage of the opportunity to have one.
I’m an alumni interviewer. They also serve to help connect alumni to the university post-graduation. They don’t really count a whole lot for admissions purposes though.
Agree that they don’t count for much in the admission process other than for an applicant to show “demonstrated interest”. The fact is that alumni interviewers are largely untrained and it is not fair to judge a candidate when the quality of the interviewers is not uniform. I think someone would have to come off really really poorly (ex. can’t string two sentences together) or do something truly inappropriate (ex. wearing a t-shirt with really inflammatory wording) for an alumni interview to have a negative impact on admissions. When I did alumni interviews I always felt the purpose was to try to answer a potential applicant’s questions about the school.
From what I understand Tulane likes to see demonstrated interest from its applicants so it is good your D did the interview.
the truth, of course, is all of the above.
Some schools use the “interview” largely as a device to help alums feel connected to the U. Some use it to answer applicant questions, figuring that top students will have lots of choices and the “personal touch” may help them stand out. Many use it as a chance to have someone take at least a cursory look at the applicant; you’d be surprised at how many kids will admit they are applying just to see if they’d get in or because their parents told them to. A few use the interview as a chance to evaluate candidates. And schools can use a blend of these and other reasons.