<p>My daughter recently interviewed with an alum for a highly selective west coast school. (We live in MA, so the interview was at a local coffee shop.) My D said she'd rate the interview a 7 out of 10, which is surprising, because she usually interviews very well. After hearing her account of what went on, I'd rate the interview about a 5 or 6 out of 10, because it was obvious to me she really didn't click with this woman at all. </p>
<p>She'd graduated fairly recently (class of 05, I think) and was a very athletic, type A sort of person. My daughter is a more contemplative, artistic type. The line of questioning seemed pretty scripted, but I could tell from what my daughter told me that the alum's responses were less than enthusiastic. The one positive thing was that the alum laughed a lot, although whether it was with D or at her, I can't tell. D does have a very dry wit, and I think she was just relieved someone got her jokes. However, she's also naive and super earnest, and said the interviewer laughed when she said her preferred instructional style was a lecture (the honest to goodness truth)!</p>
<p>D is pretty sanguine about the whole thing. Her view is that if the alum thinks she won't fit in, she wouldn't be happy there. I'm wondering, though, how important the interview really is.</p>
<p>FWIW, her stats make her a match for the top schools, although, of course, those schools are a reach for anyone.</p>
<p>There was another thread recently on the topic of interviews.</p>
<p>I would say, in the grand scheme of things, not that important. That is the CC consensus, especially for alumni interviews. My D has had a couple of not so great interviews, one was at a selective west coast college with a senior, and one was with a local alum of another LAC. Sometimes the student and interviewer just don’t click. CC posters who do interviews for their schools have reported results that imply the interviews really don’t have that much effect on admissions.</p>
<p>I wonder if the highly selective west coast school is the same one. My D is a very athletic type and still had a rough interview; the interviewer asked her to give specifics on papers she had written a year previously.</p>
<p>Alumni interviews rarely matter all that much. When they do matter, it’s because something negative came out during the interview. (You would not believe some of the things kids have said to me during interviews.) It’s not because the interviewer and interviewee didn’t become best buds.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about this. Alum interviews count for very little at most schools unless the student was completely inappropriate. Sounds like ‘no click’ but not bad. If it had been an interview with the admissions officer responsible for applications from her geographic area, I’d be concerned - but not for an alum interview.</p>
<p>Agree with jonri. Also, alum interviews can be a bit of marketing by the school. If the interviewee is accepted, then memories of being interviewed by an enthusiastic alum can help with yield. D1 had an alum interview for Rice where the interviewer was so horrid that D1 refused to apply. I called the admissions office on that one, not because I was worried about how the interviewer would describe D1 but because I wanted them to know this particular alum was not helping recruit students.</p>
<p>And don’t forget that this alumni interviewer isn’t the entire college - she’s just one person out of thousands, one personality out of thousands, and not representative of the entire college. In other words, turning it around, if the interviewer didn’t ‘click’ with your D, your D needs to realize that’s fine because not everyone at that college will be exactly like the interviewer - kind of like having the not so swift college tour guide.</p>
<p>Thanks for the encouraging replies. I guess we have been very fortunate in all of our dealings with the colleges she has chosen. In fact, she chose them specifically because her interactions with admissions people, faculty, students and alums were all positive, so this was a bit of a surprise.</p>