<p>My son applied RD to Vassar and has not been contacted for a local alumni interview and he would definitely like to have one. I know there are alums in this area because a friend of his, going to a different school here, has already had his alumni interview.</p>
<p>I'm wondering if we should check with Vassar admissions to ensure that this occurs.</p>
<p>many people get accepted without an interview so dont worry about it.</p>
<p>Did your S check the box on the application supplement indicating he wanted an interview? I believe there was one, and my S went back and looked to make sure he had. Within hours of looking, he received a friendly phone call from a local alumna. (At least I'm pretty sure Vassar was the school where you indicated on the supplement if you wanted an interview.) If your S forgot to check it, he probably can email admissions. Sometimes alumni indicate that they're willing to interview a specific number of applicants, and it just turns out that there are more applicants than there are available interview times.</p>
<p>I am an alumna interviewer, and I just received two names yesterday. I won't be contacting them until Monday. Please don't get anxious -- although this is of course more easily said than done!</p>
<p>Interviews are allocated through the local Vassar Alumnae/i association. All the admissions office can do is forward the names of applicants to the appropriate association.</p>
<p>Best wishes to your son!</p>
<p>Thank you all for your posts. My son said he did check the box on the Vassar supplement asking if he wanted an interview. I'll just sit tight and hope for the best as far as him getting contacted. I realize that kids do get accepted without an interview, but if it's available it would be great to get one.</p>
<p>Thanks again for your posts.</p>
<p>What area are you in? Call the admissions office and tell them that you have not been contacted and would really like an interview. It is true that there may be more applicants than available interview slots but it will achieve two goals:</p>
<p>let Vassar know of his continued high interest
possibly get Vassar to contact the local club and move him up on the list.
But don't worry, it is definitely a "nice to have" but not critical at all to his success. They may also put him in touch with a current student if the interview can't happen and he has questions.</p>
<p>Do you think that it matters who calls the Vassar admissions office? I got a little spooked by something I read that said at this point in the admissions process, colleges like to hear directly from the applicant with any questions.</p>
<p>I know that I'm the definition of helicopter parent so I'm very aware of not stepping over the boundaries and actually making my poor kid look worse in the eyes of the admissions team.</p>
<p>So, to recap: does it matter if I call admissions about the interview or should I have my son make the call himself? Thanks again for any thoughts on this.</p>
<p>Your son should make the call, not you. What area are you in?</p>
<p>In the Baltimore area.</p>
<p>you know - i've read that also, that they prefer if the student calls -- but how many students have time to call during the admissions' office's office hours? certainly not those with ec's keeping them busy every afternoon!</p>
<p>Exactly. My kid's school day doesn't end until 4:15 and then he's got stuff after school, too. I'm almost forced to meet him in the lobby when he's on lunch or something and make him dial the number! :-D</p>
<p>Only half kidding, actually. Between catching up with friends and EC meetings during the few breaks they have in the day it's darn difficult to carve out even a few minutes for a call to the admissions office.</p>
<p>I suspect if it's important to your S, he'll find the time to call during the day. The sort of call people are suggesting here shouldn't take a lot of time. He could even leave a voice mail after hours and explain why he was calling, if it's impossible to place a call during business hours. </p>
<p>He could also email them, perhaps the person in the admissions office who handles his geographic area (if they divide applicants up that way.) If the admissions office sees the time stamp of 2 a.m., they'll surely understand why he emailed instead of calling. </p>
<p>I do think the important thing is for him to be in charge of the correspondence, whether by phone, email or snail-mail.</p>
<p>Do it by e-mail and do it soon because the reports are due Feb. 29th back at Vassar.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for this great information. He's going to send the email today.</p>
<p>I live in Baltimore County and my Vassar alumni interview was on January 22nd. She contacted me on the 15th (a phone call, in the evening) to arrange it.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you and your son. :)</p>
<p>Well, my son called the admissions office and was told by the person answering the phone not to worry yet, but if he had not heard from an alum in one week to call back. He was very polite, identified himself by name and location and said he was very interested in being able to get an alumni interview.</p>
<p>What do you make of that? I'm so paranoid; I hope they're not blowing him off for some reason.</p>
<p>I don't think you should be paranoid about that response at all. I think they may want to check with alumni in the area to see if someone is available to interview your son. Keep in mind that the interview has multiple purposes, one of which is for Vassar to sell itself to your son.</p>
<p>My son was accepted ED2 a couple of weeks ago. We were pretty pro-active about the interview(s). A teacher at his school who is an alum will interview kids she feels are a good match, so he interviewed with her. She wrote him a great rec ( and even called them after he'd been accepted to tell them that they had made a great decision). Prior to his acceptance, a (younger)friend of my mom's who had never met my son, but felt like she knew him from all the proud grandma stories over the years, also offered to interview him, so we figured, why not. Her rec was great also, but got to the admissions office by fax the day before they were making ED2 desicions. She was nice enough to call them prior & they encouraged the 2nd rec even though it was close toor after their deadline.
Anyway, I guess my point is that we didn't wait to be paired with an alum interviewer ,we sought 1 or 2 out. I was rather unsure whether or not this was OK or would **** them (admissions) off. However, both interviewers made contact with the admissions office prior & it seemed to be just fine with them. Ask around, see if anyone who teaches at your son's school is an alum & would be willing to do an interview. I think it was helpful that 1 of the interviewers had acrually had him as a student. Good Luck!</p>
<p>I was contacted yesterday for an interview at Vassar. Actually met with her today at a starbucks. She told me that she just recently got the list of applicants in the area wanting interviews so I wouldn't worry about it. Vassar probably is just backed up with applicants requesting interviews. I live 20 minutes from campus and it still took this long!</p>
<p>Ditto all of these responses. The interviews are still going on and new names were just mailed to alumni and if it doesn't happen it is not critical. I am sure they are not "blowing your son off". My son is a freshman and I have been interviewing for years and it is not that important if everything else looks good to Vassar. If you were in my area, I would jump in and do the interview for him but I am in another state.</p>