Did any applicants receive an e-mail from a Dartmouth alumni requesting an interview? DS24 did not request an interview, but just received a nice e-mail asking DS24 about availability for a zoom interview.
I’m curious if anyone received this, or has had this happen in the past. I’ve never heard of this happening unless an interview was requested, so I’m not sure what to make of it. She is SOOOO excited, and will definitely do the interview, but I’m trying to temper expectations properly on this. Advice?
BUT, did you request the interview, or were you contacted without requesting an interview? DS24 did not request an interview. Perhaps the process has changed?
I am an interviewer for one of the Ivies. The communication from them was that they will try to schedule an interview for as many applicants as they can, but interviews will not be needed. One of the reasons for this is the increase in the no of applicants post covid. It is virtually impossible to interview every applicant. Also alum interviews are one of the things for the applicant to know the school better but doesn’t carry that much weightage.
So tell your daughter to find out more about the school and vibe during the interview and also be her authentic self.
Tell her to read up on specific things that she liked about the school and why she wants to go there.Good luck
Thanks so much. She has been talking non-stop about Dartmouth since our campus visit last year. It is such a great fit for her, so she is well-prepared to discuss her Dartmouth interests with someone and is really excited for the opportunity. Your reply and advice are much appreciated.
S24 got an unsolicited interview request about two weeks ago and is scheduled to be interviewed this week. Interviews are not determinative as they can’t offer them to everyone.
What do you mean by “each school has an interview grading system?” Many schools, including some in the Ivy League have moved to non evaluative alumni interviews that are informational only.
I am most familiar with Cornell, and they doesn’t even have a form to complete, it’s just a check box if the meeting occurred. The rational to moving to non evaluative meetings was that there weren’t enough alumni volunteers to reach all their applicants, so this levels the playing field for students in areas without alumni. Who gets an interview is random for Cornell and not based on the application. Alumni don’t get any info other than name, HS, contact information. Cornell is not unique in this.
OP - Some schools try to reach all their applicants, even if they haven’t officially requested an interview.
I agree, I’ve never seen it documented anywhere that an Ivy (or other) offers an applicant an interview that is anything but informational, unless it is specific to a competitive scholarship or something of that nature. Based on these responses, I can also see now that my original assumption that an interview wouldn’t be offered if it was not requested is not valid.
This is my third trip through the application process in the last 10 years and it is amazing how many things change from one child to the next. I’m glad that I posted here so that I could get a better sense of reality. Receiving an offer for an interview is good, but not something to read anything into other than an opportunity to learn more. My daughter is really looking forward to it. Best of luck to all applicants!
Thank you to everyone for the replies! Very helpful.
My comment was referring to the report each school requires from it’s interviewer. That will be a good guide for what the interviewee can expect or prepare for. Some schools require interviewers to provide grading on a few parameters/questions.
In this case, wondering what the Dartmouth interviewers have to write/fill to report after completing their interview(s).
For Dartmouth it is both evaluative and informational.
That said, unless it is an outlier interview (either positive or negative), I don’t believe it will have much (if ANY) effect on the admissions process.
I can confirm that the Dartmouth Alumni interviewer will submit a report with description and ratings. Your D should just be prepared to talk about herself - intellectual/academic, personal, EC - and Why Dartmouth/the fit. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable conversation and not too high stress.
There isn’t really a standard list of questions. It’s more that there are categories to cover (in order to be able to fill out the report) and a long list of possible questions to ask (sort of as a brainstorming headstart for an interviewer trying to decide on questions), but the interviewers are free to select from those ideas for questions or not (and would never ask all of them… so no two interviewers are going to be asking the same questions…the same interviewer with two different applicants is not necessarily even asking the same questions). The guidance from Dartmouth Admissions Office is more around the kinds of things they are hoping the interviewer will pursue and be able to add some context/color to in the report, if that makes sense.
Have been an interview for another college for many years. Believe the most relevant information for an interviewee would be the exact format/grading the interviewer needs to submit to admission after the interview, as it clarifies the information the university is seeking.
Of course, every interviewer will assess differently
Alum interviews aren’t likely going to provide that… at least they are not supposed to. If ivys (etc) let exact questions (even suggested questions) and rubrics out, kids would come with prepared speeches, etc which negates the point of the interview, really. They aren’t looking for an oral essay.
The alum interviews are to meet the kid, somewhat informally, and get a sense of them as a person and how they would contribute and fit with the school community (broadly speaking).
And they matter little (though are evaluative) and are in no small part to get alumni engaged, and feel like they are part of the process.
I tend to agree. My hunch, without much evidence to back it up, is that a disastrous interview will hurt a lot more than a stellar interview will help. And no interview at all is a wash. So my advice to kids (for highly selective schools in general, not just Dartmouth) is if you’re overly stressed about the interview and think you may bomb it, better to skip it.
In my 25 years of interviewing I’ve only had one kid bomb the “interview”.
It’s a conversation. There aren’t trick questions. Students should have answers to why they are applying, what they want to study, and come with some questions.
The kid who “bombed” showed up in an offensive tee shirt, and said he only applied because his girlfriend made him. Came to the interview for the same reason. He said it was easier to just do what she said but that he was planning on going to state U. I asked if he wanted to learn anything about the school and he said ‘no’ so we ended the meeting.
I always start off interviews saying “you know all the answers to what I am going to ask, it is all about your experiences, your opinions, your plans/interests, etc”