<p>I’m a Duke alumni interviewer and have the following advice:</p>
<p>The alumni interview is counted along with the teacher/counselor recommendations. An average score from all of the recommendations and alumni interview is used as one of 6 parts of the application (the other main parts being: Quality of academic program, achievement in school, essays, ECs and standardized testing).</p>
<p>Note that the interview/recommendations portion of the rating is given equal rating as the other 5 categories. Although the alumni interview has probably less weight applied to it as compared to the teacher/counselor recommendation, it will still be important.</p>
<p>For this reason I suggest that you take the interview, it can only help you. In fact declining the interview serves as a big warning flag to the admissions committee that Duke is not high on your list.</p>