<p>I’m an alumni admissions rep and here’s my take on interviews and level of interest. Please note, these are not “official” comments from Carleton Admissions, just my take. Alum Admissions Reps are not given specific training and it’s not a quantitative process.</p>
<p>Although interviews are not required, they are highly recommended. Because of the greater number of applications the College has received in recent years, admissions decisions have become increasingly more competitive. An interview allows the student to get a feel for “fit” and, presumably, if they don’t think it is a good match, they won’t apply. At the same time, the interview report provides another data point with a chance to rate the prospy as Average, Good, or Superb in the areas of Intellectual Curiosity, Personal Qualities (maturity, leadership, etc.), and Overall with a section for comments. If there is a single most important quality from the admissions standpoint, I would say it is intellectual curiosity and that can be hard to see from transcripts and scores. With so many alum interviewers, there’s no way the college can compare students “head to head” as it were; it just gives a view from a different source than teachers, GCs, etc. In ctyankee’s example, I think Candidate B shows more intellectual curiosity than A.</p>
<p>wrt interest - I can’t think of any reason that Carleton would state that demonstrated interest is not considered if it secretly was. OTOH, I would view an answer to “why carleton” to be part of the application and, as mflevity said, more an expression of fit. Someone who is only applying because mom said so isn’t likely to fit in well with a group of folks who think Carleton is the greatest school on earth.</p>