<p>D went to first interview. It was a top Math/Science school. Went well and glad D feels confident. Interviewer recommended D put more reach schools on her list. Is it typical or unusual for an interviewer to make recommendations regarding college list?</p>
<p>Probably unusual, but hey, who says the interviewer knows what she’s talking about? After all, she’s an alum interviewing for her school, not anyone with any expertise in building college lists – and she may not be aware of how competitive admissions is these days. I would take it like any free advice – Take the advice if it sounds reasonable, ignore it if it doesn’t.</p>
<p>They’re people. They’re people who care enough about college and young people to spend time interviewing. They’re like the adults on College Confidential. If they run into a kid they like, they give advice the best they can. And they only shill for their alma maters a little.</p>
<p>I would say that this is a good sign.</p>
<p>If the interviewer had said to put more match or safety schools on the kid’s list, that would have been an indication that he/she thought your kid was not good enough for his/her school, and was over-reaching.</p>
<p>Once my husband interviewed a candidate who had a lot of trouble scheduling the meeting. Eventually her mother called and set it up. The student, a double legacy, told my husband in the first minutes of the interview she had no interest in the legacy school, and that her dream school was a very different school. So my husband told her what he knew about that school and what schools he thought were similar. They talked about the school the student was actually interested in and what appealed about it to her.</p>
<p>Student was wait listed at the legacy school. I hope she got into the dream school or one similar to it.</p>
<p>I think it is really hard to know what is going on in these interviews :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree with JHS. I’ve been tempted on several occasions when conducting an alumni interview to ask about what other schools the student is applying to and offering my advice, but have managed to stop myself all but once. That one time was for a first generation student, and she seemed unknowledgeable about the whole process, so I couldn’t resist suggesting a few other colleges for her to consider. </p>
<p>Just consider it as one more piece of unsolicited advice about colleges, and don’t read too much into it. Interviews don’t really have much of an impact on admissions.</p>
<p>In my experience, and as far as I can tell, alumni interview reports make no difference to the colleges. (I know, I know, some will disagree) They are good practice for students for future interviews which will matter. And there are some interviewers (like JHS and sacchi) who will be helpful to individual students trying to navigate the process.</p>
<p>op: don’t sweat the interviews :)</p>
<p>I do think it’s a good sign. My son told his Harvard interviewer he hadn’t applied SCEA because he preferred MIT and Caltech. The interviewer spent most of the rest of the interview trying to sell my son on Harvard. He was a good candidate and did get in, but I had to wonder at the time if he had shot himself in the foot! (Ironically both MIT and Caltech deferred him to the regular round and then rejected him.)</p>
<p>“The student, a double legacy, told my husband in the first minutes of the interview she had no interest in the legacy school, and that her dream school was a very different school. So my husband told her what he knew about that school and what schools he thought were similar.”</p>
<p>Funny, my stepnephew did the same thing, and got the interviewer to make sure he was rejected. He ended up at what he thought would be his dream school (actually, very similar to the legacy school, only with better basketball.)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t blame a student at all for trying to torpedo an interview or application!</p>
<p>Returning to the question about an interviewer’s giving advice about an applicant’s college list: I don’t believe I’ve ever done it, for a couple of reasons. One, I think it would be overstepping the boundaries of my role as an interviewer. Two, when I consider how out-of-date my information about my own college has become, I feel even less confidence in my ability to talk accurately about other colleges and universities.</p>
<p>I’m sure it’s nice that the interviewer did this. I’m sure it does mean that the interviewer really liked your daughter, and wanted her to wind up some place “good.” But I’m not sure it has very much practical value.</p>
<p>alh - difference might be with MIT.</p>
<p>[Interview</a> | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/freshman/interview]Interview”>Interview | MIT Admissions)</p>
<p>Interviews are strongly recommended. In fact, last year, of eligible applicants, we admitted 12.4% of those who had an interview (or who had their interview waived) but only 1.4% of those who chose not to interview.</p>
<p>Like mathmom my kid didn’t get admitted to MIT. It was his first choice and he applied early. Also visited the campus for overnight and made some new friends. Interview was at the interviewer’s home. It seemed like the interviewer loved him! The interviewer asked to keep some of his resume materials and went and got his 13 yr old son so my son could tell him about some project he was working on. The interview lasted several hours.</p>
<p>He was at the top of the “stat” pool for MIT. He got into other equally competitive schools with the same application and I assume the same interview skills.</p>
<p>alh - I am sure it has nothing to do with his interviewing skills or profile. When they say the admit number is 12.4%, there is a still a vast number getting rejected (87.6%) despite the interview, no different from other selective schools. </p>
<p>Is he still in school?</p>
<p>^^almost through with graduate school</p>
<p>I don’t know why I am still here :)</p>
<p>I am sure you are paying it forward helping us parents (assuming you got good advice yourself) with no kids in college yet!</p>
<p>Based on the timeline, was Ms. Jones in charge of admissions at MIT when your son applied?</p>
<p>yes…</p>
<p>Thank you. We’re first time going through this and appreciate all the help we can get!</p>
<p>It seems like my son had interviewers that asked about other schools. That allowed them to have some compare/contrast conversations.</p>
<p>My younger daughter applied to 4 colleges. All 4 interviewers asked what other schools she was considering. The three privates school interviewers then told her why their school was the best for her (two are less than twenty minutes apart and compete for the same students and professional practice sites, the third about an hour from the other two). The state school told her that they didn’t expect her to attend there because she’d be sure to be acceptances at the better schools and wooed with scholarships… it was really odd because they told her how much they wanted her but would understand when she didn’t come.</p>
<p>Older daughter only interviewed at one school.</p>