RD Applicants: Interview Advice

<p>How do you figure whether or not interviews are offered in your area?</p>

<p>twiggerific--It all depends on what's going on in your Alumni Schools Committee territory. People who haven't had an on-campus interview get first dibs in my area.</p>

<p>spiritus--Wait it out a couple weeks then call Yale and ask for your ASC Director's name and contact info. Interview reports are due December 1, but you want to give your ASC Director time to call you first.</p>

<p>AdmissionsAddict-</p>

<p>First of all, thanks so much for taking the time to answer everyone's questions! I was curious as to what I can do if time passes and it doesn't look like I am going to get an interview... I am very passionate about Yale but I am not the strongest applicant they are going to see. I need an interview to distinguish myself because I am fairly articulate and speak comfortably with adults. What can I do to make sure I get an interview?</p>

<p>Thank you thank you thank you!</p>

<p>P.s. I live in Los Angeles and go to a school that Yale takes at least 10 or 12 kids from every year...</p>

<p>Fringey--See post #102 of this thread regarding calling your local ASC director. FYI, interviews don't count for much, so it won't be the thing that really sets you apart from the pack.</p>

<p>Right :-) should have looked at the other posts more carefully. I know that they don't count for much, I'm just trying to do everything I can to increase my chances.</p>

<p>Hi AdmissionsAddict,</p>

<p>I just read through all the previous posts, and they've been such a great help. I have two questions.</p>

<p>Firstly, when are the interview reviews due for SCEA Applicants this year? And, secondly, if an interviewer interviews two people from the same school, is it likely that the admissions office will directly compare the two reviews?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Interview reports are due 12/1. </p>

<p>No idea if the admissions office will directly compare interview reports by the same interviewer of two candidates from the same school. My hunch is that they won't. I think they take each interview report for what it is.</p>

<p>Hi AA (and all)</p>

<p>I wanted to follow up on some advice from AA. I had googled my D's interviewer and had thought to give her his resume prior to her interview. AA cautioned me about the risks of knowing too much and the "stalkerishness" (my word) of the act.</p>

<p>After consideration, she and I agreed that she would not look at the resume prior to her meeting on Monday.</p>

<p>Everything went fine, and I think she was actually more relaxed without the burden of extra and clandestine knowledge!</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice, AA, and please, other interviewees, if you saw my previous post about googling your interviewer, RESIST THE TEMPTATION. Is this like saying "don't think about chocolate"? Sorry, but I made a mistake in my enthusiasm to help! </p>

<p>Best of luck with your interviews.</p>

<p>my interview is supposed to be next week, but i think i know who my interviewer is. I am about 90% sure she goes to my church and her kids go to my school. Is this okay? Am I supposed to not know her? On the flip side, I don't think she knows me.</p>

<p>Interviewers are not supposed to know their interviewees whenever possible. It sounds like if she knows you, it would only be a superificial recognition that you're at the same church and same school as her kids. Not a conflict of interest situation. I'm assuming that she does not have a child applying to Yale this year. That would be a problem. Interviewers with children applying are supposed to recuse themselves.</p>

<p>Your knowing who she is is not a problem.</p>

<p>Admissions Addict,
Thank you so much!</p>

<p>I just had my interview last night and I think it went pretty well. It went pretty well and my interviewer was extremely nice.</p>

<p>I haven't gotten an interview notification but another person who is applying from my school has, even though we both live relatively close to each other. What does this mean?</p>

<p>It doesn't mean anything. Did the other person send his/her application in before you did?</p>

<p>Hi AA,
A friend of my D's had her Yale interview this week. It was not good. The interviewer had tried to cancel because of a last minute change in his schedule, and was unable to get in touch with the student. She came to the interview, but rather than rescheduling, he told her to stay and that he would just do the interview quickly. The interview was over in less than 15 minutes. The interviewer did all the talking and the student listened. Finally the interviewer asked what she would like him to write about her in his rec letter. She was flustered by this question, and by the "hurry up" nature of the encounter, and didn't respond well. She was very upset by this
"interview", although she is aware that it won't be a "deal breaker" in admissions. Do you have any advice about reporting these kinds of interviews to Yale? I'm sure this isn't typical, and I would think it isn't the way interviews are supposed to go, but should the student just shrug it off or take some other action?</p>

<p>Tough one.</p>

<p>If I were the student, I wouldn't report anything about the interviewer until after the decision on the student's application has been made. I think the best person to then report the problem to is the ASC director. Admissions isn't going to kick an interviewer off, but the ASC director might. The ASC director might also know the interviewer and realize that he was just having a bad month and normally doesn't behave this way. I can't imagine that the ASC director wouldn't want to know about a lousy interviewer.</p>

<p>If the person feels they must take some action now, I'd report the problem to the ASC director and ask for a second interview. If you annoy the ASC director, it won't hurt your app. The worst that person can do is say that you can't have a second interview.</p>

<p>Thanks AA. I'll pass this along.</p>

<p>I don't believe so AdmissionsAddict, though I could be wrong. I guess the best thing to do is wait. How do they make ~6000 decisions so quickly? Does the whole admissions committee vote on everyone or just a few select cases?</p>

<p>A lot of cases make it to committee and a lot don't. </p>

<p>Kyzan--what don't you believe to be so? I think riverrunner posted a tough question and it would be great to hear some dialogue on it.</p>