<p>I have several questions about interview.
When is the best time for us to ask questions?
How does the interview begin? Begin with questions from the interviewer?
I should talk a lot about each question or just answer it briefly?
Do you look for certain qualities in applicants during the interview?</p>
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>There is no set playbook for interviews. Every interviewer has a different modus operandi. I ask people if they have questions after I’m done with my questions. Some questions require more detail than others. I think you’re overthinking the interview.</p>
<p>I look for passion, intellectual curiosity, and hang-out-ability, among other things.</p>
<p>Yes because as a side note when I was saying my thank yous and goodbyes the assistant said…“He will see you then, actually he will see two of you then”</p>
<p>AdmissionsAddict,</p>
<p>I have a friend who submitted her Yale application on the same day I did but immediately received a call from an alumni interviewer; it was coincidentally because her sister was at home when they called her.
I still haven’t been called or contacted in any way. Would it be okay if I contacted the Yale admissions office about this? Is there a specific day when all interviews must have already been scheduled?
I know lack of an interview shouldn’t hurt an application, but Yale is my dream school and I would love this opportunity.</p>
<p>Thank you!
Fryda</p>
<p>If you’re going to contact anyone, wait until February 1. The reports are due February 15. There is tons of time for you to get a call or email.</p>
<p>Even though you and your friend submitted on the same day, if you submitted on the deadline or the day before, over 10,000 people were submitting on the same day or two (given the number of applicants, I think it’s safe to assume this). Her application could have been processed before yours. Or her alumni interviewer was more on the ball than the one the ASC director assigned to you.</p>
<p>Thank you.
That’s relieving; I will definitely take your advice.</p>
<p>actually, that’s a Decleration of Independence joke ;)</p>
<p>I have my Yale interview scheduled for tomorrow. I’m not too nervous…I’m okay at talking about myself without bragging. I do have a question though, which I don’t think has been asked yet. </p>
<p>When my interviewer called me, I asked him if I should prepare anything, to which he replied that it was casual, and just to come ready to talk about myself as a person. No academics, no scores, just ECs, family, etc. Then he mentioned that that shouldn’t be a problem, since he could see from whatever info he had that I was involved in lots of ECs and stuff besides school. From what I’ve read on this thread, aren’t interviewers not supposed to have that information? It sounded like he already knew what sort of extracurriculars I’m involved in! Just wondering. </p>
<p>And btw, thanks, AA and T26, for answering all our questions! Just reading through the thread has calmed any anxiety and answered all the questions I might have. :)</p>
<p>I have my interview for tomorrow too :-)!</p>
<p>I got my Yale interview notice through email a couple days ago. We scheduled a place and time, and then after two days she emailed again saying that the ASC director would be joining us, meet this time and place instead. Has this happened to anyone? Why do I have two interviewers…</p>
<p>@Morgan
best of luck! Let’s compare notes afterwards. ^.^</p>
<p>Hey, Serfinity. How are you? Okay so, I just came back from my interview. It lasted for a nice, healthy hour. We talked about the Yale community, its libraries, student-to-teacher ratios, the new musical (tee-hee), and of course I had to go in depth about myself.</p>
<p>Serfinity–I can’t imagine how your alumni interviewer would get access to any info about you other than your high school and intended major. The admissions office simply does NOT give it out.</p>
<p>Vortar–Only explanation I can think of is that it’s a new alumni interviewer and the ASC director is there to watch his/her interviewing techniques and coach on how to be better for future interviews. Totally bizarre.</p>
<p>vortar: I had an interview with two people, though not for Yale (that’ll be on Wednesday!) There, the second person, whom I was surprised to see, only made a few comments, most of which supported my opinions, so it seems he was there in the supervising position described above. Just don’t freak, it’ll be fine.</p>
<p>@AA and Millancad
My interviewer is, in fact, new. So I guess the other interviewer will simply be supervising. Thanks for the responses!</p>
<p>First off, thank you thank you thank you AdmissionsAddict for answering so many questions. They’ve helped me immensely. (: Secondly, does anyone know if it’s a good sign to have the interviewer reply to you so quickly? For those who have received their interviews before others in the area, does that signify that you may be more interesting to the admissions office or does it indicate nothing?</p>
<p>Andrea: there’s no pre-sorting of any type. Quickness, lateness or even the event of having an interview or not having one are an indications of …</p>
<p>nothing as far as your likelihood of admissions goes.</p>
<p>A small question regarding the interview process. </p>
<p>I’ve had my Harvard and Princeton interviews (<em>gasp</em>) and I’ve had a pre-interview with the ASC director (but not real interview yet). And here’s something interesting I’ve noted.</p>
<p>The Harvard interviewer explained to me after the interview how it affects my decision. She said that the Harvard club tries to push as many people to acceptance as they can. It was unclear whether her evaluation would go to Cambridge or stay at my Harvard club in case admissions called back telling the club how many it was thinking of accepting. “We try to push everyone as much as we can, but we really concentrate on who we think are our strongest candidates.”</p>
<p>This statement bothered me. Let’s get to the Princeton interview, later that day.</p>
<p>After the pretty good and pleasant Harvard interview, I had an equally pleasant Princeton interview. She, however, mentioned that she would mail her evaluation letter to Princeton itself to become a part of my official applicant file with all of my other application pieces. I considered this much more egalitarian, and I liked it better.</p>
<p>So three weeks ago, I had a lengthy conversation with the Yale ASC for my pre-interview, before all this happened. He asked for my test scores, GPA, class rank, etc. Asked what other schools I was applying to, and all of the questions interviewers aren’t supposed to ask. He said that when my regional adcom calls in March, he’ll ask about the people he was thinking about accepting from my area. ASC Director: “And if there’s an name he doesn’t mention that I think is strong, I’ll say ‘what do you think of John Doe?’”</p>
<p>So here’s my question: To what extent to Yale ASC directors or interviewers decide the admission results? It seems very similar to Harvard’s process, and it’s contrary to all of the information I’ve heard about interviews. I’m used to hearing that the interview is the least important part of an application, and it usually confirms the adcoms’ suspicions. I’m just afraid that, to an extent, my decision will be partially made by someone who shouldn’t be involved in the admissions process.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading this long post!</p>
<p>I think the ASC Director is puffing. Maybe the admissions officer for his area is somehow playing to his ego and gives him a courtesy call because he’s an older ASC Director who is from an era when the game was played differently. So what if the ASC Director says, “What do you think of John Doe?” The admissions officer can flatter him by letting him think he makes a difference, but he really doesn’t. I would be very tempted report his practices to the admissions office because they would be VERY displeased by his asking questions that are on the “do not ask” list in the interview guidelines. That it’s the ASC Director and not just some random fogey is very disappointing. As an applicant, I know you’re really in no position to tattle on your ASC Director, but stuff like this drives me crazy.</p>
<p>I concur w/AA’s assessment. I’ve known three regional officers and three local ASC directors. I’d say that every one of them have been very forthright about the relative weight of ASC interviews and the “weight” that we local alumni can exert in the decisions process. Maybe I’ve been fortunate to have ASC Directors who are very secure in their roles, who serve Yale and the applicants w/o ego, who really want to assist Yale in securing its best possible class without a provincial bias, who urge us volunteers onwards w/o regard for the % of admittees we may or may not get each year… I dunno. The regional officers don’t unnecessarily cater to our ego or desire to have our interviewees admitted either. They’ve all been extremely grateful and profoundly understanding to us volunteers – and our ASC region, in turn, has one of the highest % rates of completed interviews in the world. They are quick to explain without puffing up as AA said. Their level of professionalism and how they conduct themselves as Yale representatives makes me very secure even in the face of 0-for-15 admittees to interviewees last year. I’m totally good with that and I’m headlong into my list of students for this year.</p>