<p>Make sure the local alumni interview coordinator knows about this. He or she will want to take the interviewer out of the pool and might not hear about the problem from the busy admissions office. I'm sure the local coordinator would be horrified; you would be doing that person a real favor, although it would be tough to lose a volunteer.</p>
<p>Yale offers no training for alumni interviewers, although there is a quarterly newsletter and a detailed website for interviewers. </p>
<p>As an interviewer, the worst interview was the one where a father and daughter showed up at my house, the father introduced the daughter, handed me a list of his daughter's accomplishments, and started talking about her various strengths. The daughter didn't say anything for the first couple of minutes and the dad was perplexed when I asked him to sit in another room while I talked to his daughter.</p>
<p>I agree that the call should be NOW, not later, not after decisions are out. No sane admissions officer will reject solely on the basis of a thoughtful complaint about a very bad interview situation. Some people may consider it a good trait - the student is proactive and cares enough to take the time to call and register displeasure. </p>
<p>I'm an alum interviewer and usually spend about 1.5 to 2 hours with my students. If they want to take the time to interview with me (and if I'm going to drive like two hours each way to interview them!), they can unwind and get to present themselves and their accomplishments in the best possible light.</p>
<p>I've had some pretty rough interviews. Notably, I had an interview for law school with someone who was downright degrading of me - could not understand why an engineer wanted to go to law school, told me that my research was bad, and basically treated me like I was lying or crazy or both. I let it slide; in retrospect, I wish I had complained. Strongly complained, because it was completely out of line.</p>
<p>I agree with Quiltguru about one and not so much the other. Women in engineering are a hot commodity, even for an Ivy, and I would guess that the admissions office will be happy to hear about he interviewer telling prospies "no girls necessary".</p>
<p>As for the dentist, I think Chocoholic has the right of it - he was just insensitive and unthinking in the boyfriend comment - the more pressing reason to notify the admissions office is that he interviewed 2 candidates together. To me that would throw all his interview reports into question - maybe he did some in groups of 3?!</p>
<p>S had an Ivy interview last year that - while not a particularly 'bad' experience for him- was, in my view, weird. The interviewer told him about how his college roommate had had an assignment to build a structure out of an edible substance and he had constructed it with hash brownies. Not quite sure why he would choose a college interview to share this.</p>
<p>My daughter flew across country by herself to interview at her top pick Wesleyan spring of her Junior year. While waiting in the admissions office lobby for her first ever interview, already feeling nervous, she watches the next tour group assembling in front of her. Her eyes pick one face to focus on, trying to steady her nerves. As the face comes into focus she realizes it's Kevin Costner, there with his daughter. Gulp. Not only is she star struck but she also feels totally inadequate compared to the daughter of Kevin Frickin' Costner. Long story short, both my daughter and Lily (she now has a name) must have done well enough in their interviews, cuz they both are Wes students now.</p>
<p>my daughter had a terrible experience with a upenn interviewer who does interviews in westchester county(new york).my daughter's high school is around the corner from where the interview took place and the interviewer insisted she had never heard of the high school.she also criticized my daughter's choice of schools to which she had applied.</p>
<p>See the humor in this one...I once interviewed two students at once.</p>
<p>When one the road for another school, I'd interview all day on Saturdays (and most weeknights). I would give students one hour slots, but told them it was a 45 minutes interview (people always ran over). These were LONG days. </p>
<p>One time, a student showed up with a friend. They had driven four hours to see me. The problem was that the boy's slot was in the middle of the day and there was another student coming in behind him. I offered to give them each 30 minute interviews. They decided to have one, one hour interview! </p>
<p>It was the strangest experience I ever had, but it worked out. They're both at my old school right now. I just saw the girl last weekend. :)</p>
<p>In the past, when I've trained interviewers, I've explained that we're supposed to be tossing softballs, hoping the kids hit them out of the park. We're looking for reasons to admit a student; clues that they belong at our school. No matter how many training booklets are sent, no matter how many times someone talks to some of them, a few interviewers will still intimidate kids.</p>
<p>Here's my own best worst interview story. Some twenty-five years ago as a college senior I had my alumni interview for an ivy league school. It took place at the home of a rather elderly alum, although a somewhat younger alum was also there. The older man expressed surprise (and alarm) when I walked in for the interview. The younger alum had to explain that yes, indeed his alma mater was now a co-ed institution and had been for quite a few years!</p>
<p>Unless misread some of the posts, all of the true horror stories involved interviewers who were not admissions staffers. While some alumni or student interviewers are undeniable great, I have heard many troubling stroies about "rouge" alum interviewers (my favorite: an alum who administered writing tests to applicants). Even if some alums were better interviewers and submitt superior write-ups, I have always suspected that there was at least more consistency among the adcom interviewers.</p>