Interviews? Forum

[engineer]

Is it customary or appropriate for interested candidates to request interviews (either explicitly or implicitly) with deans? When going through the admissions process initially, there was a distinct "don't even try it" feel at most schools, except for those that explicitly allowed (or required--Northwestern) interviews. However, since the number of students tranferring is much, much less, are administrative personnel more amenable to this kind of thing?

[270910]

I don't think it would make much of a difference. Just like last time around, it's all a numbers game.

[UCLAtransfer]

I don't know if they would necessarily be more amenable to interviews for transfers, but I personally don't know if an interview would even be that helpful. I found that the transfer admissions cycle was just as numbers based as the first time around (but now based on school and class rank/grades), so I strongly doubt an interview would change what might otherwise be a rejection into an acceptance.

Do you think you will be borderline at a certain school, and are just looking for a "boost"? If this is the case, I would recommend taking extra time to write in your new personal statement why you are so interested in X school, etc.

All of that to say I suppose it might not hurt to ask, but I haven't heard of interviews in my (albeit limited) experience in transferring.

[UCLAtransfer]

I don't think it would make much of a difference. Just like last time around, it's all a numbers game.

I didn't see your reply until after I posted, but I completely agree.

[AdmiralNelson]

A couple questions on HLS interviews -

1. Are the two over-the-phone interviews (often referred to as "JR"s on TLS) a necessary prerequisite for acceptance to HLS (i.e. if you're not called, you're definitively out)?

2. Why are these interviews often referred to as "JR"1 and "JR"2?

3. How long should one wait for a "JR"1 before becoming depressed? haha

*Pasted from the TLS profile:

In fact, the most distinctive feature of Harvard's admissions process, the phone interview, does not take numbers into account at all, except for the fact that, generally, only numerically strong candidates are invited at all. These interviews are more than a formality as a significant percentage, albeit far from a majority, of interviewed applicants receive a decision of either waitlist or denial, and numerous others are not included in the batch of acceptances that immediately follows. Former Assistant Dean of Admissions Toby Stock, who conducted the phone interviews at Harvard until recently, estimated interviewing 1000 potential students for the 2007-2008 cycle, more than the 800 or so students typically admitted each year. However, as Dean Stock notes in the same blog entry, “the interview should be viewed as a relatively positive sign."

[AdmiralNelson]

Sorry - realized this is probably the right thread in the wrong forum.