My DD had a Skype interview but she found out today that her close friend will have a “real” live, in person interview next week. Why would this happen and does it have an bearing on admissions? Is the student who gets a real interview a more viable candidate?
DD’s stats are higher by far than her friend but of course, we don’t know about her essays and wouldn’t begin to judge her application. Honestly, they are both good candidates and good fits for Brown from what I know. It just seems odd that the two students live just one block from each other, submitted their applications the same day and go to the same high school.
DD is worried now so I thought that I would ask here. It does feel like she got the short end of the stick so I can see her point. Her interviewer was somewhere out of state and while the interviewer could see and hear DD fine, DD was not permitted to see the interviewer which I thought was very odd. DD thought the interview went well considering she was talking to a blank screen and really liked the woman but geez, she would have much preferred an in person interview. I think everyone would rather talk to a real person than a blank screen.
I know no one here has a crystal ball but what would you make of this situation? It just seems “unfair” and I hate feeling like that but really, it is! Thanks in advance for your replies!
@fidoprincess As far as I know the type of interview isn’t based on the candidate’s strength. It is really based on the interviewer’s personal preference and their ability/inability to meet the student in person. Also some dont get interviews at all since there are not enough alums in the area. I know of a lot of candidates with much better stats than my son’s and havent heard at all. I dont think there is anything to worry.
Thanks just-nag for your reply.
I understand what you are saying but it just “feels” wrong to me and really does make me wonder how there could be an interviewer available for one kid but not the other. We live in a tiny, almost rural town and very few kids at her high school even apply to private colleges so I’m pretty confident that the interviewer didn’t have a ton of kids to see that she couldn’t fit my dd into her schedule.
It’s really awkward to that they are practically best friends both applying to Brown and this happened. If we were in a big city with tons of applicants, it would just slide by and we would have never even known about it but this town is too small for this kind of thing. We all hope for at least a level playing field and an equal opportunity to put our best foot forward but I know colleges don’t really work that way. The fact that she had to talk to a blank screen didn’t sit well with me and now, this almost feels like a slap in the face, a “done deal.”
DD is much more open minded and hasn’t jumped to any conclusions like I did but she thought enough of it to mention it to me and say she was a bit worried and didn’t understand. Of course, I told her it’s just random, luck of the draw but I don’t believe that myself!
I’m writing Brown off at this point (but I won’t tell DD that.) I’ll just keep my fingers crossed for the other schools on her list. Thanks again for your reply!
@fidoprincess I didn’t realize that it is the same interviewer. In that case it is strange. However, I don’t think the interview has any bearing on the ultimate decision. All the articles on the web point to the interview being an opportunity to learn something about the school that is not evident from their website. Good luck!
No, they are not the same interviewer. The girls are from the same school, same street and applied on the same day but one got a in person interview in town and my kid got a Skype interview from a different interviewer in another state.
I agree that it sounds like the interviewer’s preference, I wouldn’t read into it.
Thanks for the replies. I have been “reprimanded” and told in no uncertain terms that interviews are simply randomly assigned by clerical staff in the office. There is no “prescreening” done before applicants are assigned to interviewers so I’m not supposed to worry. If that is indeed true, then there is no vetting of applicants to decide who gets an in person interview vs. Skype. In fact, some applicants would prefer a Skype interview over a real live person so it’s not a factor in admissions.
It still feels wrong to me in our circumstances of a tiny town where everyone knows everything. We tried to keep all the college conversations private so the kids wouldn’t compare things but that went out the window at some point. I will just keep an open, optimistic point of view and withhold any more judgments about Brown’s interview practices. Still feels like getting the short end of the stick…grumble, grumble. Good thing my kid is smarter than me.
fidoprincess – if you read the FAQ pinned at the top of this forum, you would understand how the Brown interviewing goes. But I’ll explain.
The interviews are NOT randomly assigned by clerical staff in the office. They are assigned by alumni volunteers. If you live in a rural town, chances are that there aren’t enough local alumni volunteers to do local interviews. Perhaps the one interviewer who did an in-person interview could only do one interview. In that case (which happens all the time), other applicants have to be assigned to alums who may not live in the area.
We have many many students who are interviewed long distance. I just did one this afternoon and have another one scheduled tomorrow. Both of these students live in rural communities where Brown simply does not have enough alums in the area to do in-person interviews.
I’ve been in charge of assigning applicants. We don’t know the students’ grades, SATs – we know absolutely nothing about them. We take the first kid on the list and give it to the first alum on the list. It has absolutely, positively NOTHING to do with your daughter’s chances of acceptance or when she applied. And you shouldn’t write off Brown just because she had a Skype interview.
Thank you so much @fireandrain. I really appreciate the detailed information about how the interviews are assigned. Like I said in my last post, it’s a good thing that my kid is so much smarter than I am! I told her it was just random, luck of the draw and she walked away happy because she really liked her interviewer and thought her interview went “great!” In the end, that is the part that really counts, isn’t it? DD learned a lot, she enjoyed speaking to her interviewer and the interviewer gave her positive feedback throughout the interview so DD was left feeling great about Brown.
By the way, thank you for all of your hard work! It must be disappointing to see some grumbling parent complaining after all the time you invest as a volunteer so I apologize to you for my behavior. If she is lucky enough to be accepted to Brown, I will certainly “get over it”-haha! JK, I really do feel very reassured that my initial response was not justified.
Again, thank you so much for your reply! It does mean a lot to me. I wish I could just “chill” like my dd but it’s as though I am sitting on the edge of my seat just waiting and waiting…May 1st can’t come soon enough for me.
@fireandrain “I’ve been in charge of assigning applicants. We don’t know the students’ grades, SATs – we know absolutely nothing about them.” – When you assign an interviewer to an applicant, the person assigning does not know anything about the student but what information is then provided to the interviewer by either the person assigning or Brown?
Both the area chair making the assignment and the interviewer know the high school, student name and contact info, very basic info about EC (“sports” “music” “community service”) and academic field of interest. Again, absolutely NO information about grades, rank, scores. And we’re not supposed to ask anything about those.
Can confirm. Have interviewed students both in person and once via Skype. I know nothing and the skype interview was someone who lived in a far away rural area of my state. For all I know she was the most qualified person I interviewed.
I understand now. The interviewer does have some information just not the grades, rank and SAT scores. I asked because my son’s interviewer, in reaching out to schedule the interview, offered locations because the locations were near his school or our neighborhood. This was very kind and thoughtful and they are actually meeting at a mid-way point now but I just wondered how she knew these things if the interviewer knew nothing about the student but your explanation makes sense to me. Thank you!