How are interviews utilized in the admissions process?

InigoMontoya
Sun, 02 Feb 2014 20:45:29 +0000

Some schools don’t do interviews at all. Some only conduct interviews with alumni. Some conduct interviews with admissions counselors. Some schools will tell you, even if you’re interviewing with an actual school employee, that the interview is informational only. Other schools “highly recommend” personal interviews (Providence College is one). Generally speaking, the most selective schools don’t place a lot of weight on interviews - if they even offer them. These schools also aren’t concerned with demonstrated interest. The least selective schools don’t care much either. It’s the schools in the middle that are most likely to care about campus visits and interviews - they want to know a student is genuinely interested, rather than just looking at them as a safety.

Your interviewer taking pages of notes may have meant lots of information got back to the school, or it may just have been that person’s style and not really mattered at all.