Hi,
The title is pretty self-explanatory, but when should I be doing my interviews? Should I try to do all of them in August or in September/October? I’m going to be applying to as many schools as possible by the November 1st early action/decision deadline.
Make sure you have charted out your schools. Schools offering ED require you to limit your ED applications to their school. EA schools also often have restrictions on which schools you can apply to early. That is not to say you shouldn’t get ahead of the game and apply or have your RD apps done well before the deadlines. Some schools require the applicants to set up interviews within certain time frames. Other schools do not do interviews until after you apply and they initiate the process. In any event, interviews are not a major factor in any admissions decision, so that is the last thing you need to prioritize.
I’ll disagree somewhat with the comment that interviews are not a major factor. It depends on schools. We visited at least one top university that did not do any interviews. But at other schools, like Wake Forest, in particular, and Wash U in St. Louis, they can be very important. Schools rate the relative importance of admissions factors, like grades, test scores, etc., on the Common Data Set, which is the best source of info on how a school weights an interview. Usually you can google common data set and a school’s name.
If you are applying to several schools, it’s probably a matter of getting them done when you can, and the timeframe you mention sounds fine, any time in there, I mean. I would suggest you interview at a school a little farther down your list. Interviews tend to be much more comfortable than students anticipate, so it’s nice to get some experience, and some additional level of comfort, before interviewing at your top couple of choices. Good luck!
Whether you should interview at all depends on your interview skills. I had one kid who was GREAT at interviews. I think they helped her applications quite a bit, and bumped her into a higher scholarship category than her academics warranted at the school she ended up attending.
But I had a second kid who was a disaster in interviews – but she had great stats and ECs. After a couple of interview attempts (fortunately at schools that didn’t end up on her final list), we pulled the plug on interviewing and let her app & LORs speak for her. Our new rule was that unless the college required an interview, she wasn’t doing it. It didn’t matter if the common data set said it was important. She is borderline aspie, and pretty awkward at small talk and when meeting new people. But she had excellent LORs from her teachers who knew her. And she got in everyplace she applied, including her reaches, even the one nearby (she was on record for a visit, and attended a presentation at her HS, so they knew she was interested – but she never had an interview).
If you choose to interview, sometimes the interviews are done by students or alums, and aren’t evaluative (unless you pee on the carpet or say something really offensive, it won’t matter). Other times they are evaluative. I personally told my kids to assume they are ALL evaluative, no matter what the school says. Why take the risk of messing something up? Just like in a job interview when you should be very polite to everyone you meet, including the admin assistant who checks you in and the future “peers” who take you for lunch – anyone might give feedback on you.
Some schools don’t offer interviews or will contact you after you apply.
Note that most students admitted to most colleges don’t interview.
I agree with @TTG. I think interviews are a great way to show interest in a college. And being proactive about setting one up in Fall can make you stand out in a crowded field.
My D reached out to all the admissions counselors from her college list who were in the area visiting HSs last year to see if she could get an interview, and she was successful with several. She had positive results in terms of acceptances and merit scholarship offers from the admissions officers she interviewed with; she felt like the interviews made a positive difference.
Some admissions counselors politely declined because they didn’t have time (in reality it could be it wasn’t their policy to interviews that way), but perhaps she got some demonstrated interest credit for asking?
Of course, if a college expressly said on their website they didn’t do interviews – or laid out the process that they would take place after application, then she didn’t request one. You don’t want to seem clueless. But if interviews are something a college offers, I think requesting one in the Fall can pay off b/c it shows real interest and that you’re on top of things.
Good luck!
I do alumni interviewing and while the meetings are “optional” and not evaluative, I will say that the vast majority of accepted non hooked students in my region made the effort to have a meeting. Alumni also submit reports to the admissions committee about the meeting so if someone really shines, we have the opportunity to share. We are also told if we have nothing positive to report to say nothing at all, other than a meeting transpired, unless it’s really awful. After 20 years of alumni interviews, I only sent in two negative reports.
“I only sent in two negative reports.”
@momofsenior1 - OK, now you’ve piqued our interest. Would you please share some examples of what happened that was bad enough to merit a negative report? Help us with a “what NOT to do” list. Thanks. 
I had one student tell me he only “bothered to apply” because his girlfriend “made him”. He knew nothing about the school, including where it was located, had no questions for me, and clearly had zero interest. I’m honestly not sure why he even bothered to accept the interview.
The other student was very arrogant and told me he was going to MIT. He made it crystal clear that he was applying to my alma mater as a safety school and added that he would never stoop so low to attend. Again, not sure why he bothered to meet with me.
I meet with dozens of students every year, and again, these were the only two I felt strongly enough to submit a negative report.
That said, there were plenty of lack luster meetings that my report just checked the box for the meeting and “nothing to report”. That probably sends a message too…
Generally the good meetings are with students who are clearly passionate about the school, have done their homework about why it’s a good match, and come prepared to the meeting with tons of questions.
Quick addendum to my post above – my D learned a lot about the colleges during these interviews, and it strengthened her interest in a few for sure. What I’m trying to say is that while part of the motivation was to demonstrate interest, it wasn’t inauthentic – she only reached out to colleges she was genuinely interested in, and the admissions officers gave her lots of great insights and info to help her understand the schools better. It’s wasn’t just going through the motions for an admissions bump.
@momofsenior1 – those stories are something, but not shocking. Our state’s boarding STEM HS used to do interviews and I heard that a surprising number of kids would show up and beg not to be admitted and that their parents were forcing them to apply.
If the school’s common data set says it considers interviews, you should interview if at all possible.
Read their websites and the directions on each college’s website regarding interviews. Some colleges offer an on-campus interview. Some offer only off-campus alumni interviews. Some do no interviews at all. Some will give an informational interview but do not weigh it in the decision making process and do not consider demonstrated interest. Some have instructions that you should not call them but rather an alumnus/a will contact you to arrange an interview after you submit your application. Some recommend an interview that you would need to set up and give specific dates within which it can take place.
Have you already visited each college? If not, then a consideration may be if you want to interview when school is in session so that you may see students in class, in the dining halls, in the student center, in dorms, etc. Otherwise, there is no difference between August and September-October in terms of any admissions advantage— just in terms of convenience and campus viewing for you.
Book your interview as far in advance as possible so that you can secure a time that works well for your school and travel schedules.
I would do some now if possible. You will go crazy tryign to do them in the fall.
But…don’t go crazy traveling very far away for an interview…be reasonable.
If you have a lot of interviews that tells me you have a bunch of reach schools…make sure you have safeties that you would be delighted to attend and are affordable.
@bopper wrote,
Not necessarily! Most of my son’s reach colleges did not offer on-campus interviews. With a few exceptions, it mostly was his matches, low matches, and safeties that offered them. We therefore considered it especially important for him to “demonstrate interest” by attending these on-campus interviews. It was important that these colleges know he was serious about applying and would be delighted to attend if admitted.
And indeed he would have been very happy to attend them, if he had not gotten into his top choice.
As it turns out, he interviewed at ten colleges and ended up not applying to any of them (or withdrawing his application)! He was admitted ED to a reach college that does not offer interviews.
Thank you for all the great responses!
By general consensus it seems my timeline works; I’m going to try and get some done earlier if possible, especially with the workload that comes when school starts.
BK, thanks for the advice. I think I might have come off seeming as if I’ll have a bunch of interviews for ED/EA, but I do realize that there are limitations in place. But yeah I’ll dweinitely make sure everything else is set for admissions.
As TheGreyKing said, I think I’m going to check each schools naviance and see how they weight interviews. I’m going to interview as many as possible as I feel relatively confident that it’ll only help my application, especially when considering momofsenior1’s experience. I’m pretty comfortable in interview settings and I feel it’s better safe than sorry.
Bopper, I’m with you too. Gonna try and get them done early, and I’ll be sure to get in plenty of safeties; I’m applying to some top 20 schools but I’ll definitely make sure I have a place to go if things go wrong.
Thanks everyone!!