questions about interview

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm planning to apply ED to my top choice. If I would be rejected, I am going to apply to a number of schools. I noticed that many of my RD schools require interview. The question is how exactly does interview work. Do they look over you application before you set up an interview? Or do you set up your own interviews even before you submit your application.</p>

<p>I am applying to a number of far-reach schools and I wouldn't really want to go to the college for an interview unless the college themselves think I have a solid chance(I'm from a poor, low-income family). I can't really afford to go all over the place for interviews.</p>

2

<p>It's different at every college. Some (most of the top ones) wait till you've applied and have local alumni interviews for the people who have any chance whatsoever. Some schools allow you to set up an interview before you apply and you usually have the option of doing it on campus or with a local alumni. The best way is to check out each schools site and/or e-mail admissions.</p>

3

<p>hmmm... generally, do most schools ask you to come for an interview after they review your application or they generally have you do that before hand so they could review your entire file as a whole. I'm mostly going to apply to colleges that take common app for RD with an exception of some state schools.</p>

4

<p>Lots of schools are only interview optional. You request the interview, they do not solicit you to come and interview. The reason to interview would be to demonstrate interest in a school, to get specific questions you have answered, to give your application a bump if you feel you are the kind of person who will interview well. Do what Clendenenator said and check each school website individually.</p>

5

<p>I can't speak for other schools, but at mine the interview is done before looking at your app and just becomes part of your file. But I go to a small school. Bigger schools may not be able to afford to do that with the amount of applicants they get.</p>

<p>NOTE: Some schools that claim to be interview optional really aren't. Ask the school if they recommend having an interview. If they say yes, DO IT! Unless the school is too far and there's no alumni interviewer in your area (which the school will understand), not doing an interview at a school where it is recommended is viewed as a lack of a show of interest.</p>

6

<p>"I'm from a poor, low-income family"</p>

<p>What is most important is that you find a college that you can afford. If you're brilliant and have sky high stats and such excellent ECs that you have a chance to go to a place like Harvard or Princeton (both of which accept about 1 in 10 applicants), you are lucky because both places provide some of the most generous financial aid in the country, particularly for low income students. Being low income also could be a plus in admissions for schools like that, which want diverse student bodies, but have a hard time finding qualified low income students. </p>

<p>Harvard and Princeton also don't care whether or not you visit the campus. Perceived interest isn't important because the majority of their accepted applicants will accept their admission offers.</p>

<p>Regardless of where else you're applying, more than likely your best chance for having an affordable education is a local public university where you could live at home (and depending on your stats), you may qualify for merit aid plus need-based aid. In state public universities basically make admission decisions by your stats: It doesn't matter whether or not you interview. ECs also tend not to be important.</p>

<p>If there's no in-state 4-year public within commuting distance, your local community college may be your best bet for a financial safety -- a school where you know you'll be admitted and also can afford. If you choose this option, make sure that you take the coursework at the CC that will lead to your being able to transfer to a 4-year college. Often in-state 4-year public universities have excellent merit aid for students who have done well at in-state community colleges.</p>

<p>While some private colleges base admissions decisions on perceived interest, I haven't heard of any public universities doing this. </p>

<p>Anyway, my suggestion is to seek colleges that guarantee that they'll meet 100% of accepted students' documented financial need, and also look for in state public universities where you're likely to get merit aid or can live at home and commute to. (I don't think that any public universities guarantee to meet 100% of students' documented financial need because public universities don't have the financial resources that the wealthiest private schools do).</p>

<p>Also check out the financial aid board here at CC.</p>

<p>There's no need to worry about traveling to interview because any college that would hold the lack of an inteview against a student who is low income probably is not a college that would be generous with financial aid.</p>

<p>I also think that you're probably wasting your time to apply to far reaches. What's the point? What you're probably doing is using time that you could better spend applying for outside merit aid and making sure that your applications to reasonable reach, match and safeties are as good as possible. </p>

<p>Realize, too, that probably the financial safety schools -- in state public universities -- are on rolling admission and provide financial aid on a first come, first served basis. The earlier you get your application in, the better.</p>

7

<p>I also notice that you're planning on applying ED. That's a bad idea since you're low income. It will keep you from comparing financial aid offers.</p>

8

<p>You should definitely do EA or SCEA especially though.</p>

9

<p>I found the below from an earlier post. My advice is to find a safety in Oregon where you would be happy to attend, and also know that you can afford. I also think that you need some match schools. </p>

<p>I also suggest that you check out this thread about a student who applied to all reaches, one safety, only was accepted to his safety, and now is unhappy: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=229850%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=229850&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>"Heres my Stats as well as college I would like to apply. Also please give me recommendations to other colleges. Parents didn't attend college.</p>

<p>Asian Male. Poor Family. Born in USA, but speak Chinese at home. Living in Oregon and attending a public school.</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 (UW)
Rank: 1 out of 587 (Share rank with around 20 students, but 2/3s of the students are taking easy classes)
Work Load: Most demanding</p>

<p>SAT: Composite Score= 1880
Math: 740
CR: 600
Writing: 540 (Highest MC score is 54 and highest essay score is 9)</p>

<p>Took test twice, but didn't study. I'm expecting my writing score to definitely go much higher. I'm expecting around a 650 on writing and a 650 on CR on the October test. I haven't taken my Subject Test yet, but will take it November)</p>

<p>Award (not sure which one to put on the app and which one to leave out):
Straight A's Scholar
Symphonic Strings Rookie of the Year
Student of the Month
Social Studies Poster Winner
NHS Scholar
Link Crew Leader
Highest upper classmen AMC score in HS
Symphonic STrings State Qualifier 3 years in a row
Gold Metal Presidental Volunteer Award (haven't received yet, but expecting to)</p>

<p>EC:
Volunteer at Hospital (Over 250 hours and I've been Dispatcher, Escort, Pharmacist Assistent, Gift Shop, around 8 hours a week for since 10th grade)
Tennis (around 6 hrs/wk commitment, JV/Var, Started Junior year)
Math Club (founder/president 2 hours a wk commitment, Started Junior year)
Job Shadow with Head Pediatric Surgeon at OHSU (around 10 hours)
Interned with a General Surgeon at a Local Hospital (around 25 hours)
Science Club( around 1.5 hours a week started 11th grade)
National Honor Society (2 Hours a week started 11th grade)
Link Crew (3 hours a week, started 12th grade)
Symphonic Strings (Varsity letter since freshman year, 4 hours a week commitment since 9th grade, expecting concertmaster 12th grade)
Pit Orchestra (1st violinist, total of 90 Hours of work during school musical season, Junior year)</p>

<p>Work Experience:
Private Violin Teacher (around 2 hours a week)
Helped parents with small local market business( around 16 hours a week during weekend, worked during 10th grade year)</p>

<p>I expect my recommendation to be decent, but not impressive.</p>

<p>Essay:
Haven't started, but I'm a fairly strong writer and I might use my internship and job shadow as essay topics, because I was able to see lots of surgeries.</p>

<p>So those are my stats. Here comes the colleges I have in mind.</p>

<p>Johns Hopkins University (Applying ED)</p>

<p>If rejected, deferred, waitlisted, I will apply to:</p>

<p>Harvard
Yale
Stanford
Brown U.
Northwestern
Washington U. at St. Louis
Berkeley
University of Washington (hoping to use this as a safety)"</p>

10

<p>well my list would be much more larger when admission comes. One question I would like to ask. I heard that low-income family generally has an edge in college admission. How would adcoms see your low-income status on the college app. I can't seem to find an area where they ask for your financial state.</p>

11

<p>bump for question above this post.</p>

12

<p>Though not entirely accurate they will attempt to get an idea based on your parents' occupations, your city of residence and possibly the school you attend.</p>

13

<p>would they use your SS # during the application process?</p>

14

<p>Putting your SS #on an application is always optional [or at least from all of the application forms I have seen], nonetheless the only thing that I've personally seen that they use SS# for is another means of privacy when contacing the school so you can prove it's you but it really does not have any effect on your admissions.</p>

15

<p>One also can figure out a lot of income info by zip codes.</p>

16

<p>Most schools have need blind admission don't they? Meaning they do not look at your financial information when reviewing application? This is why it is not wise to apply ED if you need financial aid. That has always been my understanding but if I am wrong, someone correct me.</p>

17

<p>Need blind admissions is actually uncommon, and is mainly used by the top ranked schools. And actually, need blind admissions helps, not hurts generally poor [$] applicants because it protects them from being rejected because (a) the school will have to give them plenty of money to attend and (b) they will risk hurting their yield if they accept plenty of poor applicants who won't attend because they can't afford. Thus accepting poor applicants can be very costly either financially or statistically for colleges and thus lessens your chances. Also, the main reason you shouldn't apply ED when you're poor is because you won't have financial aid packages to compare.</p>