As an applicant, if you applied to schools in the Ivy League, February is a big month. February is usually when these schools will have their alumni reach out to you for an interview! These Ivy League Alumni Interviews may seem of marginal value to an applicant, but they’re actually extremely useful.
Not only do some of the Ivy League schools place significant weight on them, but they also are a great way for the applicant to get insider information about the school.
Misconception
A common misconception about Ivy League Alumni Interviews is that they don’t carry any weight and are just a way for the colleges to make sure there isn’t anything terribly wrong with the applicant. In reality, all the Ivy League schools actually take their respective Ivy League Alumni Interviews into heavy consideration. It’s true, the exact weight they put on the interviews will vary from school to school. But interviews are all factored into the final admission consideration.
The evidence
Just looking at the Common Data Sets (see example PDF’s below) released by all 8 Ivy Leagues, every school ranging from Dartmouth to Harvard has interviews put down in the “considered” section for college factors. Some schools such at the the University of Pennsylvania place an even bigger impact on interviews. They cite their respective Ivy League Alumni Interviews in the “important” factors category.
How to prepare
Given their importance, any applicant should go into their Ivy League Alumni Interviews very prepared. That means ready to answer questions on why they want to go to the school; and also, responding with questions of their own to ask the alumni. A college admissions counseling service can help you prepare for this sort of interview process. It’s often in the best interest of the applicant to research their interviewer (usually via LinkedIn or other social media). See if you can discover the program he or she was in during his or her time at the school.
Doing this beforehand shows an alumni that the applicant has done due diligence and really wants to attend the school. Finally, at the end of each Ivy League Alumni Interview, the applicant may ask questions. This part is really important, as applicants can use this part to get valuable information about the school. From the alumni’s undergraduate life, to parts of the school an alumni wished would’ve been better, any applicant can learn something new about the school that isn’t found easily on the web.
Simply put, Ivy League Alumni Interviews are important and should be taken advantage of if given the opportunity.
The Ivy Leagues themselves put significant weight on them and they are another way to learn about the schools that the applicant has applied to. Given their prestige, any applicant who wishes to go to an Ivy League needs to put their best foot forward on all fronts to stand out. These interviews are the perfect opportunity to do so. Empowerly, a college admissions counseling service, can help.
