Should I ask for a second Duke interview?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

I just had a horrible phone interview for Duke. I think the woman who interviewed me sabotogued it.

First she told me to meet her at her house, which was a little weird but I said OK. Then she backed out of our in-person interview and decided she would just call me. Then she called a half hour before she said she would and asked why I wanted to go to Duke.

I gave her very specific reasons: an especially close relationship between Duke and Chapel Hill in the department I’m interested in (classics) which would be useful in a lot of concrete ways plus an emotional connection from having attended the Duke Splash events since I was in middle school.

She rejected all my reasons and then said I had to come up with something else. So I was stumped for a bit. Then started asking her some questions about Duke but I was so flustered by then that I couldn’t get a conversation started at all.

Then she just ended it.

What do you think? I’m local to Duke so there should be plenty of alumni around to do an in-person interview. Can I ask for a different interviewer? Should I?

2

I think that you should contact Duke Admissions and share what you have shared here.

3

What stands out to you from what I posted? What would the admissions office be interested in hearing about from this story? I don’t really know people who do interviews like this or who have ever had to go on a college interview so no one can really help me figure out what’s going on.

4

All I can do is repeat what I wrote above. Duke Admissions wants to know how their alumni interviewers are representing the school.

5

Alumni interviewers for all schools are supposed to be trained to certain standards. If the account above is true, then the alumna was extremely unprofessional and should not be allowed to interview prospective students.

Duke admissions needs to know ASAP so that other students don’t have the same experience.

6

How could I tell the school without seeming whiney and entitled? I don’t want to make things worse.

7

Alumni interviews don’t really matter. Don’t worry.

Let the admissions office know that she acted inappropriately.

8

Good observation. Combined with OP report, there are a couple good data points here.

  1. Don’t mention Chapel Hill/UNC
  2. Duke Splash events don’t help.
9

Alumni interviews are supposed to be more for information than evaluation. I would probably email Duke and let them know what happened, and emphasize that you were flexible to her needs but you felt it didn’t go well because she was not interested in your authentic responses.

10

My D has been expecting an interview, but she hasn’t been contacted yet … This means she won’t have it, or still has a chance for that?

11

I would not “Ask for a second interview” but would contact Duke admissions and let them know what happened. In the first place, the interviewer is NOT supposed to suggest to meet in her own home. That is totally against policy. That alone would be enough to call them.