Interviewer was a no-show

[momofmusician17]

Hi,

My son showed up for his interview with a Yale alum and the interviewer never appeared. He called and left a message for him. Has anyone else experienced this? My son was so excited about the interview. As his mother, I am upset that the interviewer didn't even call him to cancel. However, I said to my son, maybe an emergency arose. When you get home, shoot him an e-mail asking him if everything is okay and attempt to reschedule.

Does anybody have any other advice?

Thanks.

[intparent]

Really there is nothing else to do... if that doesn't get a response by later this week (say, end of day Wednesday), call admissions on Thursday and let them know. Agree that it is very annoying, but people do forget/lose track/have emergencies.

[Youdon'tsay]

Also, I'd reread the email to make sure your ds didn't misunderstand.

[Muffy333]

Sounds like your son did the right thing; (make sure he left the message on the right voicemail!) There could be a good reason.

[momofmusician17]

I am certain that he was in the right place at the right time. I actually logged into his e-mail to get the phone number of his interviewer for him. I am a little calmer now. As a mom, I just could tell that he was really disappointed.

[Pizzagirl]

Things happen. One thing you might want to do is when your son calls / re-contacts the interviewer, have him indicate something along the lines of - "I thought we were supposed to meet x time / location; I hope everything is all right" before launching into the "and when can we meet again, I'm anxious to talk about Yale" piece of the discussion. It just seems more mannerly and adult, I think, because really, personal things can happen to people - a sick child, a sudden emergency with a loved one, etc. - and it just sounds nicer to acknowledge that you hope the person is ok.

[colorado_mom]

That's unfortunate. But interviewers are volunteers, and most probably live busy lives with families of their own. Hopefully the next meetup works out

[Tiredofsnow]

Barring a miscommunication or emergency, I would be upset at the lack of courtesy to call and reschedule the interview. Even though the interviewers are volunteers, presumably they wouldn't just no-show a business appointment that way. Let us know what happens!

[college_query]

We had issues with two of D's interviews. For one of them, our family drove an hour and a half to the nearest major city and dropped off D at the meeting place, a coffee shop. Then H, S and I went to a nearby restaurant to have a meal during the interview. After about 30 minutes D called us saying the interviewer still hadn't showed up. Our meal was ordered but not yet served, and since she was safe, we had her wait until we could pick her up. This was 4 years ago, so I don't remember if D had a phone number or just an email, but she attempted to reach the other person but was not successful. We eventually drove back home. A few days later she received an apologetic email stating there had been a family emergency and she had unexpectedly been out of town for several days. We re-scheduled and she successfully met up the second time.

The other interview situation was a result of misunderstanding. Instead of meeting in the major city an hour and a half away, the interviewer suggested meeting in a town about half-way between our two locations. Unfortunately while there were emails back and forth about when and where, a few typos on the part of the interviewer led us to misunderstand what day we were actually meeting. We thought the interview was on a Sunday and she thought it was the day before on a Saturday. So on Saturday we received a phone call from the interviewer wondering where she was. D wasn't showered/dressed (it was during winter break) and the earliest she could have possibly made it there was at least an hour later. We could tell the interviewer was angry about the misunderstanding; we re-read the email exchange several times to figure out how we got the day wrong. In hindsight we sort of figured it out, but it wasn't a good start.

That one was also re-scheduled (the interviewer didn't want to wait over an hour for D to get there). Interview didn't go that well; have no idea if it would have been bad anyway or if it was bad because of the misunderstanding.

[momofmusician17]

Just an update. The interviewer called my son back to say that he just forgot. Since my son was close, and the interviewer was still available, they still met today. According to my son, the interview went very well. They spent an hour together and covered a myriad of subjects. Thank you for all the advice. Next time there is a bump in the road, I will take several deep breaths and repeat to myself, life happens.

[Tiredofsnow]

Great, momofmusician17 - glad it all worked out!

[Youdon'tsay]

Glad he still got to interview after all.