Has anyone been contacted for an interview yet?
@dreamsofbrown
I know one kid whos been. I haven’t though. If you don’t get an interview, it’s not anything huge. They do not interview all of the students.
@aspiringgirl I was asking because I got contacted and it seems crazy-soon.
Got my application portal, haven’t been contacted for interview yet. @dreamsofbrown
I haven’t been contacted for an interview yet and have submitted my application ~2 weeks ago… should I be nervous? 
If it makes anyone feel better, I do come from an area where it would make sense for there to be a lot of Yale alumni (or alumni of any top-tier university). Additionally, as @aspiringgirl mentioned, interviews are not required and they cannot penalize you for not having an alumni interviewer in your area.
Just curious, when did you submit your application and receive your portal? @dreamsofbrown
Submitted mine the other day… SO NERVOUS!!! I’m so glad that I have other people who can sympathize with my anxiety. WE CAN DO IT, GUYS!!! 
App was submitted Nov. 1. Portal email came Nov. 2.
@mdew192837 I submitted on the 30th, got my portal on the 31st.
Wow, so you already got an interview within a day? @dreamsofbrown
@dreamsofbrown I just got emailed tonight by my interviewer asking to schedule a meeting during the week of the 13th! I live in NYC and submitted my application on the 24th.
Interviews for internationals are selective in the EA round. It means you’re in if you don’t screw up bad.
@whartonboy14 , please don’t spread misinformation. What little birdie told you that?
Even IF interviews for internationals are not randomly assigned, it doesn’t mean what you say. Be kind, please.
So my interviewer is requesting to meet at a McDonalds. I don’t particularly want to order anything as I feel that it would hinder the conversation-- what do you recommend? Also, is there anything I need to do to prepare in general in terms of questions or discussion? Could I take notes? This is my first college-related interview.
@Meaningoflife42 , just get a bottle of water, or bring it. It’s not about the food, it’s about meeting in a public place in order for you to feel safe.
If taking notes makes you comfortable, do it, but I think you should prepare for an interesting conversation with someone who attended the school you’re interested in, and note taking might give off a “non-conversational” vibe. Re questions: have some genuine ones prepared, but be open to just going with the conversational flow. IMO, the only questions that are a bad idea are those that could be answered in a few minutes using Google. Be genuine. Be engaged. Don’t overthink the process.
^^I usually do my interviews at Starbucks. I will offer to purchase the applicant a drink. Some take me up, others do not. Since my interviews generally run 45 min±, and the applicant is doing most of the talking, it might be a good idea at least to have a glass of water handy.
Don’t stress about the interview. Be yourself and steer the conversation to things you are interested in. This is my usual sequence (other interviewers may sequence differently, but our job is to convey some personal context to the paper app that the AO has):
- Introduction/small talk to put the candidate at ease.
- Ask how the school year is going – from here, I can get an idea of what the candidate is interested in academically and in terms of EC’s.
- The conversation can naturally flow from the above to a discussion about favorite subjects/classes/class projects and if that is what they want to pursue in college and as a career, or I may need to prod the candidate to talk about this. From time to time, I may ask for some details about a class or project, and at times I may challenge them about a particular viewpoint or conclusion just to see how they react. Often during the course of discussion in 3, I will ask why they are attracted to Yale given their interests.
- Similar to 3, the conversation can either naturally flow to an EC or I may ask a question to get the conversation to this topic. Here I am trying to get a sense of how deeply involved the candidate is in the activities that the candidate wants to highlight.
- If all the EC’s that the candidate chooses to talk about are school sponsored/based, I may ask a question along the lines what do you like to do outside of school, do you have a favorite hobby, what do you do to relax?
- 3, 4 and 5 will take up 80%+- of the time. Within 3, 4 and 5, the candidate may ask me questions about Yale, e.g., why did you choose Yale, what did you like or dislike about Yale. If I feel that the conversation is stagnating or the candidate is getting tired of talking, I will ask “do you have any questions about Yale?” as a break. Usually though, the questions about Yale come at the end.
- The very last question I will ask is “is there anything you would like to talk about that we have not covered?” Most of the time they will say everything has been covered, but at times they may bring up a particular interest or challenge that may be a new topic or it could be an emphasis on something we had previously just touched upon.
After the interview, I try to write my report that evening tying the specific interaction I had with the candidate to the guidelines that the AO has laid out.
Having said all of this, these interviews are not going to lift an otherwise “no” candidate into the “yes” pile or sink a candidate that the AO already loves into the “no” pile (absent something totally extreme). I think the AO uses the interviews to confirm if their read on the candidate is consistent with the interview. Also, the AO makes it very clear to interviewers that we are ambassadors representing Yale, and that we should be selling Yale as much as the candidates are trying to sell themselves. . So don’t stress, be prepared (but not robotic) to have a conversation about what makes you you and to get as much information about the college as possible.
@IxanyBob I dont think it’s a coincidence that everyone admitted to Yale from India in the EA round got an interview. While those deferred and rejected didn’t. I have raw data to validate my claim. There’s a group of Indian applicants applying abroad. Last year, those who got an interview got in. Only EA round
@whartonboy14 - so they are doing alumni interviews in India? We are living in India but are US citizens so apply as a domestic applicant.
@CValle from what I gather, you’d be considered for admissions amongst other Indian students and being an US citizen has no bearing on the evaluation. So, if adcoms shortlist you for n’a interview, you are probably in.