<p>So I just had my alumni interview today. It was terrible. The guy was really nice and all, but when you ask me about something I'm passionate about, I'll just talk and talk and talk, especially when I'm stressed. I did just that and I got the impression that the interviewer was a) bored out of his mind, b) unable to get the point of what I was saying.
And then I misunderstood a question about politics he asked and said something completely and utterly stupid.
Yale is Yale, so the only reasonable approach is to expect a rejection anyway, but would it be safe to assume that the disastrous interview was the tipping point? My ECs are really good, my grades are really good, my SATs are pretty decent too, but I guess that those things are more or less the same for everyone, so I'm panicking. :(</p>
<p>Not that important - I received a likely letter without ever having an interview. However, a bad interview is not exactly conducive to admissions…</p>
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Not at all. Interviews don’t play a big role, and yours probably wasn’t really disastrous, anyway. You didn’t stab the interviewer, did you? Or tell him that you’re a Nazi? Or admit to being a heroin addict?</p>
<p>My interviewer at Yale said that the interview is not that important. But even without knowing that, logical thinking will tell you that admissions can’t hang too much on it: some interviewers are better than others. Some are engaged in the students and ask good questions, but others are apathetic, or don’t know how to ask good questions. The university can’t control that, so they can’t really not admit you just because of a less-than-stellar interview. That’s how I reason it, anyway.</p>