<p>In the next month or so, my juniors will be finalizing their lists. Each will most likely be ED'ing to one school and EA'ing to others (of course, all within the appropriate rules) - and if not admitted in ED I, will have ED II selections. As you can see, this is all front-loaded to the first part of senior year (ideally, between ED I and ED II they'll nail it!), so they will want to accomplish a decent amount over the summer.</p>
<p>They will need to start looking on the websites to schedule local-area interviews with alums. (No, this isn't the debate on whether they should meet at Starbucks or the interviewer's home.) </p>
<p>Is it a bad idea to do this over the summer? Should they wait for fall to make contacts?</p>
<p>And any advice on how to prepare? How to practice, what they'll be asked, etc.?</p>
<p>They will have visited all the schools on their lists by this point, except maybe one or two.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>In my experience alumni interviews aren’t scheduled until after applications have been submitted. On-campus interviews have been available during the summer, but admissions offices send out alumni interview requests after the application has been processed. I suspect this has been done so as not to overload alumni with interviews for kids who won’t end up applying. There is a limited number of alumni who agree to interview. YMMV, but this has been my experience times 3.</p>
<p>I think it all depends on what they anticipate their fall schedule to look like. If they are involved in an activity that is top-heavy in the fall, it’s just almost near impossible to try to schedule anything that’s not school related. Some people don’t have the option of waiting until the fall. I know of one girl who had all her college applications/interviews/etc. out of the way by the time her senior started in mid-August because she knew what her fall was going to be like.</p>
<p>Agree with post #2. At most of the schools I’m familiar with that do alum interviews, it’s the alum or school that contacts the applicant to schedule the interview - after application is submitted.</p>
<p>If the interview is at the school, it’s usually scheduled by the student.</p>
<p>There’s a large sticky thread on interviews on the College Admissions forum. I also like this one, while it is specific for Y, the general parts apply to all alumni interviews:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/804985-alumni-campus-interview-faq.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/804985-alumni-campus-interview-faq.html</a></p>
<p>Unless extremely positive or negative, alumni interviews usually don’t make or break an applicant. Tell them to be themselves, have fun and look at it as a way to find out more about the schools; compared to job/scholarship, etc. interviews, these are a breeze!</p>