<p>The interviewer basically started off by saying: "I'm going to write a report about you and if you want me to write about something particular, just let me know." Then he put his hands on his chin and stared at me.</p>
<p>I answered blah blah blah and asked him about blah program and told him my interest in blah program and some more blah blah. </p>
<p>50 minutes later, he basically said sounds good, we're done. </p>
<p>This was about 3 weeks ago. </p>
<p>Lol. Does this bode well?</p>
<p>Just sounds like a straight-forward interviewer. What program was this for?</p>
<p>Your interview doesn’t sound at all interesting. I’m not sure what you’re asking.</p>
<p>Yeah, dude, your interviewer sounds like a creep. It’s a shame someone like that interviews for Cornell. There are so many nice, out-going alums out there that would be happy to do alumni interviews.</p>
<p>I don’t know why it sounds strange or interesting. He asked questions and you answered.</p>
<p>Agreed, sounds like an average interview. Definitely won’t hurt you, but won’t help you too much as well.</p>
<p>berke – here’s the thing</p>
<p>Unless you come off as having two heads, it’s unlikely that a Cornell interview will hurt your chances.</p>
<p>And … as Cornell interviewers know – in all but a few cases, it’s unlikely that a Cornell interview will help your chances much either.</p>
<p>The real purpose of these things is to provide you with another source of information and provide the interviewer (alum) with a chance to feel that they’re part of the process. (sorry if I’m sounding cynical).</p>
<p>There are a couple of exceptions – if there’s something that comes out in the interview that wasn’t on the application it may make a difference (MANY years ago, a professor said that this could be something like a serious illness or death in the family to explain sub-standard grades for one year). Similarly – the interviewer’s recommendation of you really stands out (i.e., the person has interviewed 100 candidates and yours is the best recommendation she’s ever written) it may or may not make a difference.</p>
<p>Overall, as I said – won’t make much difference either way.</p>