Recent articles in the news media have suggested that interviews don’t hold the same importance as they once did in the college application process. This has caused some students I know to ask if these interviews even matter any more. The short answer: it depends. [Worst answer ever, right?]
The true answer to that question, like so many others involving the application process, is that it is very college-specific. While many large, public universities [flagship state schools like Penn State and Rutgers] have eliminated interviews. They don’t require them and they don’t offer them. It’s not because they don’t want to get to know their applicants personally, but due to the sheer volume of applications that they receive, interviewing everyone is impossible. [I spoke to a recruiter from PSU who told me that they were expecting over 150,000 applicants. Yikes!]
Another special category is that of the Ivy League colleges [like Columbia and Brown] and those that compete with Ivies [like Stanford and Georgetown]. Most of these college and universities offer interviews conducted by trained alumni volunteers. These local alums carry out the interviews and send reports back to the admissions staff for consideration. Because not everyone has the opportunity to be interviewed, admissions decisions don’t hinge on these chance meetings.
Many of the private, liberal arts colleges [like Davidson and Swarthmore], however, either still require or place a high value on the interview process. These colleges view the interview as a chance for both the applicant and the admissions staff to obtain more information and better insights. If you applying to one of these schools, it would be wise to schedule a mock interview with your guidance counselors. They will know the types of questions that you will be asked, and practicing them will help you prepare for the real deal.
The best bet is to check with the colleges that you are interested in to find out their position on interviews. Admission interviews many not involve the hard-nosed grilling or probing questions experienced by your parents and grandparents, but for a student on the fence, it might just be that one factor that tips the scales and influences the interviewer to advocate for the student at the admissions committee table.
