The (In) Significance of Facetime
With decisions coming back this week from the Ivies, tensions are running high, but not among whom we’d expect. Alums are feeling the stresses too. Turns out those interviews we worried over for days beforehand– painstakingly picking out “appropriate” outfits, wondering, “How will I know it’s them?” at the crowded Starbucks– meant as much to us as it did the kindly latte-laden alumni. Why?
Surprisingly, they’re not too pleased with our shiny new admissions rate. Although they’re not the ones applying, the dedicated men and women who donate loads of time and money aren’t seeing the students they vouch for get in. As Penn grad Andrew Ross said in this Bloomberg piece, “Is it worth it to interview if I’m not going to have any influence on the students getting in? If it doesn’t mean much, then they should find a better way to use our time.” Several alums are saying that they have stopped interviewing for their alma maters and even stopped donating.
Do you think more kids should be let in to please their alumni interviewers?
Tags: News, acceptance, alumni, cash money, freshmen, hype, ivies
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By Sarah Beth McKay on April 1, 2011 at 11:33 am
What I’ve heard is that, because Penn doesn’t have the resources to train its alumni interviewers and standardize the interview process, it has little to no influence on the applicant’s chances.
Is this true?
I was the person quoted in the article and I think you’ve missed the boat. A low admittance rate is great and makes my degree more valuable. I interview for my company all the time and talk in person rather than hiring right off a resume to verify if the person, who from a resume looks good, actually is good. I don’t interview every person who sends a resume as that would be a ridiculous waste of time both for me and for those who have no chance at being hired. But for some reason colleges like penn choose to interview everyone, thereby wasting a ton of time that could go to other initiatives. I’m sure the author of this article wouldn’t want to get dressed up, do his research, spend an hour talking to some guy like me if he truly had no shot.
I’m pretty sure Penn does not interview everyone (they didn’t when I applied four years ago and applications have only increased) and I imagine interviews for Penn are not about finding the great candidates, there are too many great candidates to admit them all, it is about interviewing people to find those applicants that you don’t want. I don’t think a good review from an interviewer helps you much, but a bad one almost certainly tanks you.
Out of the 3 I’ve gotten in, I wrote unfavorable revs for two of them. Everyone is offered an interview (or should be) and I think they mean nothing for the large majority based on thei raw stats.
I applied to Penn in 2009 (class of 2013) and was not offered an interview. I thought the fact that I had applied early, been deferred and got in regular might have had some bearing on this, but I’ve talked to other people, both early and regular decision-ers, who’ve had interviews. I’m almost positive that not everyone is offered an interview.
I’m a freshman and applied Early Decision. I was never offered an interview. I also know five others that applied this year (class of 2015) and weren’t contacted for interviews.
Maybe Cath can check the facts on this. I’ve been told that Penn tries to accommodate every applicant with an interview. With more and more applicants, I understand there just aren’t enough willing alumni to meet this goal (the Bloomberg article did say that Princeton interviewed 99% of all applicants as if that’s a great achievement). Either way, I’m told Penn does not make a decision to interview only “borderline” or “likely” students . Perhaps a call to the Dean of Admissions would get the answer?
I’m a freshman who applied regular decision. I went out of my way to try to get an interview, but they said there weren’t enough interviewers in the Chicago area. Clearly, it didn’t matter. I bet the only way an interview can affect your chances is if you totally bomb it and get a negative review. It seems like a positive review is pretty worthless. So I’d say that it’s in prospective students’ favor to not waste time on an interview.