Vanderbilt Interview

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
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Our D just recieved an email from Vanderbilt admissions saying that alumni interviews are now available for ED2 and RD applicants. (She applied RD.) They ask you to fill out a quick form if you are interested and then you just wait to see if you are contacted. They say they are informational but also say the alum will write up a quick report and it will be part of the applicant’s file. Pretty typical alumni interview stuff.

When S19 applied, he was never called for an interview but I’m wondering if they’ll do more of these this year since they are all on zoom and because Vanderbilt is test optional and maybe it will be a way to round out some applications.

Anyone applying to Vandy and signing up in hope to get an interview? Anyone out there who has had a Vanderbilt alumni interview in past years?

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@homerdog

My D also received the email and signed up. This is our family’s first rodeo so I have no insight, but I tend to think it is because Zoom makes alumni interviews easier to schedule. Of course, there is no guarantee she will be contacted. She applied RD.

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My daughter applied RD yesterday and asked for an interview. I will let you know if she hears back. To get her ready for her Yale interview I sat with her and asked college interview questions I found online which she said was helpful. Have a few questions ready about Vanderbilt they all seem to want the kids to ask questions. My kids have done a lot of alumni interviews and they have all gone well–I think it is luck of the draw in which alumni you get. My older son interviewed on campus with seniors at some liberal arts colleges and this also went well. I have heard of them going poorly but I am not sure they make a huge difference in the process but this probably depends on the school. Good luck!

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@homerdog - S received the email and will likely sign up.

Wish we could wait until ED results come in (wishful thinking, I know).

S is our oldest so we don’t have any insight into Vandy or alumni interview format.

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D has already done a few interviews. I think she’ll be ok. I actually hope she gets one even though I know these don’t really move the needle. I wonder if there will be any coordination with admissions with them giving direction to prioritize interviewing the test optional candidates. . S19 and many of his friends applied and none got an interview with Vandy so I don’t know if Vanderbilt interviews have been very plentiful in the past.

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D has had some sort of interview with most schools (not necessarily with an alum) and has enjoyed them. Especially since we haven’t been able to visit all the schools. My understanding from CC and talking to friends who do alumni interviews is that the interviews don’t carry much weight when they go well, but a bad interview could be a ding against you. Since you’ve been through this before, do you agree with that?

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It’s hard to know. S19 had some very long alumni interviews where the 30 min expectation was blown out of the water and he spent 2-3 hours with some alums in coffee shops. Lol. He had three interviews like that - one school he was admitted and he was waitlisted at the other two. All three schools are top 15 LACs with similar acceptance rates so who knows if the interview made any difference at all. He did get in where he had interviews with student reps. I kind of think those could carry more weight that an alumni interview. Got in where he did interviews with admissions reps too. For these Vanderbilt interviews, they might count for some sort of demonstrated interest even though I don’t think they officially say that they count interest. I call BS on that, though, because they use their waitlist heavily to make their yield look better so I do think it matters to them that a candidate shows interest.

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I applied RD two days ago and got the interview email yesterday. I filled out the form to opt-in this morning. When should we expect to actually have the interview? I would normally think that it wouldn’t be until at least January but since they’re not interviewing ED1 maybe it’ll be sooner. Who knows.

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Yeah I’m guessing it won’t be until Jan or Feb.

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D21 has applied RD and opted-in for the interview yesterday.

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I’m a Vandy freshman, and my younger brother is a HS junior. Our HS college counselors (private school in NY) are heavily suggesting students interview this year. I was actually told that I shouldn’t interview- my scores, rigor, and grades were well within Vanderbilt’s sweet spot, and they felt that while my interview almost certainly would be either helpful or neutral, the chance of a “bad” response wasn’t worth it. However, with this year’s AO having much less data to go on, they need to know as much about prospective students as possible. IF you are someone throwing out a 36 or 1580, my bet is that you prob don’t need one. If, like many, you are not submitting or didn’t get to the scores you wanted…they are suggesting to interview.

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Two years ago my S requested an interview and then followed up later when he hadn’t heard anything. He was never able to get an interview even though there are many alums in our area. He was admitted RD.

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Hi!

I’m applying for ED2, I think I applied a few weeks ago (I don’t remember the exact date). Anyways, I got the invite to apply for an alumni interview email a week or two ago. I sat on it, and either last night or the night before (Sat or Sun) I was playing in the Vandy portal and saw the button to register. I saw the disclaimers that it’s unlikely, not guaranteed, etc… Sure enough, Monday morning I got an email from an alumni member wanting to interview me.

I have my interview later this week. I found a few people talking about them on Reddit, they sound like typical interviews - why do you want to go here, why your major, what’s one thing no one knows about you, etc… - although they are all a couple of years old so this might have changed, especially this year.

Wish me luck with my interview and I’ll let everyone know how it goes!

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Hi everyone!

I finished my interview today. It lasted about 30 minutes, but I definitely felt it went well. It probably would have gone on for longer, but my interviewer was a bit under the weather, so we tried to speed things up. It was through zoom, and unlike some other schools, they did not ask for a resume beforehand.

Basically they asked a few questions, like why do you want to go to Vanderbilt, what do you think you will add to the campus, what is your favorite book/work of entertainment, why your major, where do you se yourself in 10 years, what’s something you haven’t told anyone or unique about you, how did you hear about Vandy, and a couple other of the standard interview questions.

My best advice is that if you get chosen for an interview, it is SUPER casual. I wore a polo shirt and gym pants and felt slightly overdressed. You could probably get away with wearing a tee shirt and gym pants if you wanted to, but I chose a polo since it says formal but not too formal. Definitely don’t wear a suit and tie or a nice dress. That’s way too much.

Also, don’t rehearse the interview beforehand. Maybe think about your answers, but my interviewer was looking for a genuine connection and conversation. If I had come across as preppy or like I had prepared for this interview and scripted it, then it definitely wouldn’t have gone well. Don’t stress over it, it is JUST A CONVERSATION.

Lastly, while my interviewer never specifically said this, it sounds like interviews aren’t overly important to an application, so if you don’t get one and aren’t chosen, don’t worry, especially if you are well within the realm of Vanderbilt stats. They seem more like an extra way just to verify someone is a good candidate, but it felt like it would be taken very lightly. My best advice is that if you’re applying test optional, this could be a great way just to add to the sure proof that you’re a good candidate for Vandy. I would recommend that if you have the opportunity, definitely do one, but if not, don’t sweat it as it probably won’t make or break your application.

Best of luck to anyone applying to Vandy! If you have any other questions about the interview just let me know. Also, sorry for the super long message, but I hope someone finds it helpful :slight_smile:

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Just realized that I forgot to add that I was allowed to ask questions at the end too.

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I had an alumni interview last year as an RD admit. It was at a local coffee shop and lasted ~2-3 hours (very atypical for alumni interviews, most of my other interviews were ~30-45 minutes, only Rice and Brown were of similar lengths).

It was a very typical interview in terms of content: no really surprising questions other than the usual Why Vanderbilt, Why major etc. My interviewer did give me a lot of freedom in steering the conversation, but that’s definitely not true for every interviewer: just make sure your daughter “reads the room” so to speak, since some alums like brief answers and will specifically limit your interview time (though I’ve only experienced these at interview days, since they have to go through multiple students in a day).

Before the interview day, I’d recommend that she reads through her application to jog her brain about the specific clubs, departments etc. she was interested in Vanderbilt. It can also help to have a few questions (that couldn’t be easily found on Google) to ask the alum: about favorite classes, student life etc. Good luck!! :slight_smile:

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did u apply RD?

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I applied ED2, not RD

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