<p>I’ve interviewed for Yale since the summer after my own graduation (yep, they recruit us alums very quickly). This winter will be the 24th class I will be interviewing. My experiences is this:</p>
<p>1) I’m fully cognizant that I only see one thin (and very polished) part of the applicant. My “great” students, may not be that great in the entirety of the application. This may explain some of the comments above where interviewers feel their write ups have little correlation to eventual results. I get that. But I also know the numbers. I’ve interviewed 17 this last year and 15 the season before. None. No admits, no WLs. The numbers are just that tough. And I’m 100% OK with that even though I’ve met some fantastic kids who I know will do wonderful things at their colleges.</p>
<p>2) it’s good PR for the college. alum volunteer interviewers generally show a good face to the applicant. Even though my alma mater has single digit admit rates, we still are courting the students. Having a real person connected means a lot when it comes to getting admitted students to matriculate. We’ll be looking for them for grad school one day too!</p>
<p>3) in rare situations, an alum report can make a difference. </p>
<p>Two solid applicants from my nearby large urban district applied a few yrs ago. On paper, they looked very good and caught peoples’ attention – but the teacher recs were bland – not negative but just poorly written as can be the case w/schools unaccustomed to writing rec letters to Ivy-type schools. Without this being a strong positive, the admissions committee remained non-committal. But both guys had great interview write ups. Based on those, the committee was tipped fwd and decided to offer admits to both guys.</p>