My dad is an alum who did interviews last year and at the end of the year the admissions office sends out stats about the people they interviewed. I live in a region with extremely competitive public and private schools which I thought would have provided a more qualified applicant pool.
Of the 40 ED applicants there was a 30 percent acceptance rate which was pretty in line with national averages. But of the 370+ RD applicants there was a 6.6 percent acceptance rate. It seems odd that such a highly competitive area would fall below the national average.
The only way I can explain it is that since these numbers only include people who did interviews, lower qualified applicants will more often take interviews in hopes of boosting their chances while more qualified candidates don’t take interviews and get in anyways.
Thoughts?
No, that is not how it works…Duke tries to offer everybody an interview and pairs up a volunteer interviewer with an applicant within a region without regard to application merit. Duke also does not have any quotas or differing standards for a particular region – they simply want the best class possible. And to your last point, very strong applicants should NOT decline an interview – that does not look good no matter how strong the application is.
I agree with @bluedog. Everyone who applies early enough is offered an interview (almost always). The decision to offer an interview is based purely on alumni availability and has nothing to do with a student’s grades (or perceived status).
I too live in a hyper competitive region. I went back thru my records. In 2014 we interviewed a total of 296 students (35 ED and 261 RD). The acceptance rate for ED was 40% and for RD 10%. In over 10 years of doing interviews, I’ve only had one student turn down an interview offer. So even if you are a strong student, most will accept an interview if offered. Our regional committee last year couldn’t offer interviews to everyone though. Of the 296 students, about 90 weren’t offered an interview (not enough alumni available). Unfortunately I don’t know the break down of the acceptance rate by interview status. But if a student was not offered an interview, then I don’t think it harms or hurts either way.
Interviews really serve as PR for the school rather than as a way to screen applicants (beyond picking up on an occasional red flag that may not be evident by the application). There is no reason to think that the interviewers would have a basis for decisions making. But a very strong prospective student who connects with the interviewer will probably be more likely to consider the school seriously. Also, it keeps the alumnae connected to the school and feeling some ownership/commitment to it.