<p>I submitted my Tufts application around December 15. I read on Tufts website that, the earlier you submit your application, the more likely you are to have an interview. Can anyone comment on receiving an interview after applying at a later date? I know a lot of it depends on how many interviewers are available in the area.</p>
<p>Also, can anyone speak to how they decide who will receive an interview? I wonder if the rigor of my academics is up to par, not my GPA, so if not, are they not likely to offer me an interview? Thanks</p>
<p>Don’t overthink this. First, whether you get an interview has nothing to do with the strength of your GPA or rigor of your curriculum. Second, the interview is just not that important a factor in the overwhelming majority of admissions decisions, and the absence of an interview will not hurt one’s chances of admission.</p>
<p>All I know is that a few years ago my son sent his application in hours before it was due and had an interview. It was his least favorite of the interviews he had, but he got in anyway.</p>
<p>Neither of my two Jumbos had an interview, nor did any of their friends in the area. I think it it depends more on the number of alumni interviewers in your neighborhood than when you submitted an application. That is probably a big part of the reason that a lack of an interview does not impact your chances significantly.</p>
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<p>It’s both, but if you live in an area with very few alums, then it’s unlikely to matter when you submit at all. The same is true if you live in an area where every interview possible gets completed. For those that live somewhere in between - which is most of the applicant pool - earlier gives you a higher chance. </p>
<p>The alumni interviewing committees receive exactly <em>zero</em> information about your academics, deliberately, so your GPA won’t have any impact at all on the likelihood.</p>
<p>Interviews committees are organized geographically, and how the chair assigns interviews varies by committee. We are all volunteers, so, while we have some rules and standards, there also a lot left up to how much we can do and when we can do it. While some chairs assign applicants to interviewers as soon as they come in, others wait a bit, and for those committees, there is no advantage to the early applicant. In some areas, there are only enough interviewers to meet the requests of half the students, while in others there are much higher success rates. In any case, I’ve seen a lot of data, and I believe the admissions officers when they say that having an interview is NOT required. If you want an interview and don’t get one, you should feel free to contact your local chair and share the information that you’d wanted to convey in the interview. He or she will be glad to pass it on to the admissions office. Te admissions office is VERY receptive to communications from our volunteer pool.</p>
<p>And a little more on how chairs assign interviews. As Dan says, we have no access to your academic record. Instead we have a few words about your academic interests and extracurricular activities. Some chairs assign to try to match that little bit of info, assigning potential engineers to engineering alums, for example. Others might do it by neighborhood–if you live just down the street from an interviewer, you might be more likely to get that interview than someone who lives far away from anyone on the committee. For others, it might be totally random. Do you worry that it’s unfair? Well, so do we, and we do our best so that it’s not. I know how stressful the whole application process can be, and I hate it when interviews add to the stress rather than alleviate it. But maybe it can be helpful to all of you to know–we really aren’t trying to add to the stress at all! If you do get an interview, it’s supposed to be fun. And if you don’t take heart in the fact that you had an extra hour to do something during your senior year besides college apps.</p>