If she definitely knows that she will not attend those schools because she was accepted somewhere she prefers, I do think it helps ease up the competition a little. But she has to be sure. There might be other kids from her school that are still waiting to hear from those schools and it might help. Most colleges say that they don’t limit the number of acceptances by HS which might be the case, but some may have to because there just aren’t enough spots. Even if it doesn’t help someone in her school, it still might mean one more person gets in from somewhere else that really wants to go there. But she has to be sure. Good luck!
Hey Guys,
I got an email on Jan/ 5 saying that my interviewer will contact me soon. However, I haven’t heard from either the university or the interviewer ever since. What should I do?
@chipshark Even I got an email about “my interviewer contacting me soon” very early, but was only actually contacted last week. I’d say wait it out for a while longer.
@samc24 Thanks man, I was kinda worried
@chipshark I haven’t been contacted either
Hey, does anyone know when the decision is supposed to come out? I know it’s before April 1st, but any speculated date according to the previous pattern?
All lvy’s are releasing their decisions on March 30th
I had my interview on the 26th of January. It was over skype. I guess they couldn’t find anyone near me, so they just assigned someone oos to interview me. It went well and lasted for exactly an hour.
My S had his interview last week. Even though she also had children who had done sports at the HS, she was frustrated by the fact that he wasn’t available until 5:30 PM on weekdays. (She was not available on weekends.) He arrived a few minutes early; she arrived late and announced that she had less than 20 minutes. Given the fact that my wife and are both graduated from Penn and have in past years done interviews, I could not be more disappointed.
^I conduct interviews and that is definitely disappointing behavior on her part. In such a big group of alumni interviewers though, you are bound to have a few who are less than great. Or maybe she had a really bad/busy week. Still that is no excuse. I had a similarly bad experience when interviewing for another ivy as a high school senior, and it is definitely disheartening. the good thing is that the interview does not count for much.
I also think this year the alumni interview program is a bit overwhelmed. They have over 40,000 apps and are very intent to surpass last years 90% interview rate, so they load each interviewer with significantly more interviews than they said they could take on.
Hello! I haven’t received any emails from Penn pertaining to an interview, just an email saying I’m “likely to get contacted for an interview” on January 2nd. Have not heard from anyone in Penn since then. I live in Southern California close to LA, so I’m fairly certain there would be interviewers close by me. Three kids from my high school (who live in the same area as me) already got their interviews done within the first week of January. Should I be worried? I know interviewers may have excess people (esp. in Southern California) but I haven’t heard anything from Penn.
@Penn95 I agree that the alumni are a bit overwhelmed this year. Last year they kept giving us new kids to interview all the time. (We are not interviewing this year since we have a child applying.) The number of applicants this year is just astounding!
We just reassured my son that clearly there is a lot going on in her home and life right now and that he should trust his gut that said it went well. And the reality is he is a kid that will either get in or get rejected based on the strength of his essays. 
I have my interview tomorrow. I have no idea what to expect. I hope I don’t have a panic attack
@Nimisha99 Don’t worry, you’ll do fine. Just try to have a regular conversation
My son has a Penn interview next week. The email he received had this info in it that others may find helpful:
“This interview is a great opportunity for you to discuss your interests, including your reasons for applying to Penn, and to ask questions of a Penn graduate. More information about the Alumni Interview can be found on the Penn Admissions website http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/whatpennlooksfor/interviews
and I would be happy to share my Penn experience with you.”
@chipshark I think it was really good. We spoke for almost an hour. 56 minutes to be exact. My counselors say that it’s good that we spoke for an hour
@Nimisha99 I think the longer it is, the better
^ Not necessarily. All interviewers have different styles so the length of the interview does not necessarily denote quality.
My son had his interview and it was a bit troubling to him:
Son: So what was your typical day like?
Alum: Mostly I studied.
Son: What else did you do?
Alum: Sometimes I would get together with a group of friends and study.
They did not exactly hit it off.
Hey guys, is it just me or is there no way to check the financial aid documents needed? There’s generally a section on portals for FA, but this one only has application stuff (aside from the PFAS). Am I missing something? I want to make sure my app is 100% complete!