Chicago c/o 2016 Applicants (2012-2013) Forum

[GoodTimes]

I just had an interview with Jayme, the direct of admissions I think she said? She was incredibly nice. As other posters mentioned, the questions were pretty straightforward.

So excited about UChicago!

[mtrrw]

I just had an interview with Jayme, the direct of admissions I think she said? She was incredibly nice. As other posters mentioned, the questions were pretty straightforward.

So excited about UChicago!

I had an interview today as well. The interviewer was very nice and it was of the more relaxed admission interviews I've done. It was very straightforward and enjoyable. Feel free to PM with any questions.

[nodame]

So I have been complete since 11/14 and it hasn't gone under review yet... is that a bad sign?

[moneyball026]

So I have been complete since 11/14 and it hasn't gone under review yet... is that a bad sign?

I'm complete since 10/12. Can't say as to whether its particularly telling of chances but I consider myself to be a borderline/low end candidate anyway. Being complete since 11/14 is probably fine though, not a lot of time has passed.

[Anonymous4444]

Had a wonderful interview. Was already heavily considering Chicago, and now even more so.

Feel free to pm for specifics.

[20141023]

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[Rahviveh]

I also had my interview this week, and don't have a lot to add to what everyone has already said here. The interviewer was very friendly and the questions were all things I had expected to answer. (To be honest, I think that if someone isn't naturally able to do well in these interviews then they probably shouldn't be going to law school because it means that they 1) don't know why they want to become a lawyer and 2) are unsure why they want to spend a quarter of a million dollars to go to a particular institution.)

Makes me question the point of the interview. Most of the questions they ask are answered in the essays. I guess there's not much else they can ask you about other than to let you expand.

[spicyyoda17]

I also had my interview this week, and don't have a lot to add to what everyone has already said here. The interviewer was very friendly and the questions were all things I had expected to answer. (To be honest, I think that if someone isn't naturally able to do well in these interviews then they probably shouldn't be going to law school because it means that they 1) don't know why they want to become a lawyer and 2) are unsure why they want to spend a quarter of a million dollars to go to a particular institution.)

Makes me question the point of the interview. Most of the questions they ask are answered in the essays. I guess there's not much else they can ask you about other than to let you expand.

I think there are three main points to the interviews (as has been discussed already):
1. To evaluate borderline candidates. An interview will obviously give them more information for evaluation's sake.
2. To evaluate the sincere interest of auto-admits. Because Chicago has such a low yield rate, interviews should be able to help them, even if just a little, identify better those auto-admit individuals that aren't that interested, and therefore might get a WL come January.
3. To evaluate candidates for scholarships, like the Ruby.

Points 2 and 3 also coincide b/c I'm sure they are disappointed with the # of applicants who have been offered the Ruby and subsequently turned it down.

Personally, my application did not contain a Why Chicago essay, and even though my interest is definitely sincere, it does not jump off the page when reading my application. I'm sure there are lots of applicants like this. And I bet there's even more that applied but don't have too much interest in actually attending. But after my interview, I'm confident that they can feel better about my interest in attending Chicago. And while you can obviously feign interest in an interview, like I said above, I do think it might help a little in judging whether an applicant would seriously consider attending if admitted.

Make sense?

[reallysearch]

EDer checking in...

Just curious, how many EDers here? Only saw 6 on LSN...

[20141023]

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[2014]

I think the main goal is to get the yield higher.

If I were doing admissions though I would absolutely interview. The fact is that awkward people are significantly harder to place in jobs. If I were an adcomm with a limited number of spots in my class, I would definitely favor individuals who were well spoken, know how to dress appropriately for an interview, etc. Those people are going to be way more likely to be hirable come OCI and are also the ones who might be likely to self select away from Chicago because of our misguided reputation.

[20141023]

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[Anonymous4444]

I think the main goal is to get the yield higher.

Getting a higher yield is most likely one of the goals of the interview, but I am not sure if it is the main goal. The fact that they are including ED applicants in the interview process attests to this fact - YP isn't an issue for them because it is either the University of Chicago or the University of Don't-Go-To-Law-School. Also, the fact that a majority of the interviewees are borderline means that they likely won't get into someplace "better" than Chicago, so YP isn't really an issue here either. (As several others have previously stated, the only YP concern is probably for the few overqualified applicants.)

However, like you stated, I think that the interviews are really just to gauge each applicant's interpersonal skills - something that cannot be determined with just some scores and an essay. Just as you mentioned, having a class full of awkward smart people won't help their placement rates 3 years from now.

hmmmmmmmmmmm

[djwjddl]

I think the main goal is to get the yield higher.

Getting a higher yield is most likely one of the goals of the interview, but I am not sure if it is the main goal. The fact that they are including ED applicants in the interview process attests to this fact - YP isn't an issue for them because it is either the University of Chicago or the University of Don't-Go-To-Law-School. Also, the fact that a majority of the interviewees are borderline means that they likely won't get into someplace "better" than Chicago, so YP isn't really an issue here either. (As several others have previously stated, the only YP concern is probably for the few overqualified applicants.)

However, like you stated, I think that the interviews are really just to gauge each applicant's interpersonal skills - something that cannot be determined with just some scores and an essay. Just as you mentioned, having a class full of awkward smart people won't help their placement rates 3 years from now.

so any guesses as to the likelihood of admission from going through an interview as a "borderline" candidate, or the consequences of not getting one if you are?

perhaps one of the most interesting facts to me is that all those interviewed so far (and contributed to the spreadsheet) submitted in September.

[Anonymous4444]

a few hours after my interview my status checker went back to application under review. Just curious if that is what happened to everyone else?

[tyler.durden]

a few hours after my interview my status checker went back to application under review. Just curious if that is what happened to everyone else?

Yeah, same here.

[Shooting4TheStars]

EDer checking in...

Just curious, how many EDers here? Only saw 6 on LSN...

I am an EDer as well! When did you submit?

[mtrrw]

a few hours after my interview my status checker went back to application under review. Just curious if that is what happened to everyone else?

Yeah, same here.

+1

[reallysearch]

perhaps one of the most interesting facts to me is that all those interviewed so far (and contributed to the spreadsheet) submitted in September.

My thought exactly.

It feels like the interview is at experiment stage for now, they are just trying to figure out which group's interview will yield the most helpful info so that in the future they can target a more specific group for interview...

for example, if interviewing the over-qualified group will give the adcomm a better idea whether they have a genuine interest in attending, then they might interview more over-qualified applicants in the future cycles as a measure of YP

or if the adcomm finds interviewing borderline applicants will make the decision easier, they might use interview as a mechanism to make decision on borderline cases in the future...

all these being said, I am yearning for an interview...

[reallysearch]

EDer checking in...

Just curious, how many EDers here? Only saw 6 on LSN...

I am an EDer as well! When did you submit?

11/17, completed 11/21

[lawschoolboundfuture]

When do they add you on skype prior to the interview?

[tyler.durden]

When do they add you on skype prior to the interview?

Like 1 minute prior in my case

[shntn]

When do they add you on skype prior to the interview?

Like 1 minute prior in my case

+1

[sinfiery]

Got an email informing me I went complete! Sent in Nov 20th.

[reallysearch]

On the UChicagoLawAdmission twitter

Interview invitations for the next round of ED applicants just went out. We've added some additional interview spots next week.

7 hours ago...

Anyone got that?