US college alumni interviews: what to expect

How it differs from an Oxford or Cambridge interview

An Oxford or Cambridge interview is a tutor testing how you think about your subject, with problems or passages you have not seen. A US alumni interview is the opposite: there are no problems to solve, and the conversation is about you, what you do and care about, and why the college. Yale’s page puts it as a chance to tell the college about your ideas, intellectual curiosity, character and values.

It usually happens after you apply, often in a coffee shop, a library or over video, and the interviewer writes a report that the admissions office reads alongside the rest of your application. Because so many applicants are never offered one, the colleges are careful to say it is not a step everyone goes through.

The five colleges side by side

The table sets out what each college says on its own admissions pages. The pattern is the same everywhere: alumni volunteers, an interview only where one can be arranged, and no disadvantage if it cannot.

MIT calls its interviewers Educational Counselors, and says interviews are held in person whenever possible, typically last an hour and can range from 30 minutes to two hours. Stanford’s interviewers are not allowed to look at or accept application materials, so you should not bring a CV, transcripts or test scores. Yale says all its interviews are evaluative, and that many successful applicants are not interviewed. Princeton lets you opt out in its own questions without any disadvantage, and Harvard says it is not possible to request an interview.

What do they ask?

None of the five publishes a list of questions, and the pages we read describe a conversation rather than a script. Expect to be asked about yourself and how you spend your time, what you might study and why, the activities you mention, and why this college in particular, and to be followed up on whatever you seem most interested in. MIT suggests thinking of stories that show your passions and goals; Yale asks you to come prepared to be an engaged conversationalist, using each question to say more about yourself rather than giving a one-word answer.

The interview usually ends with your questions. Yale says interviews include time for you to ask your interviewer about the college, and a question about their own time there, or about something you could not find out from the website, is a better use of it than one the admissions pages already answer.

How much does it count?

Less than most applicants fear. Every college here says an application is complete without an interview: Harvard that it will still receive a full evaluation, MIT that a waived interview will not adversely affect it, Stanford that declining one carries no penalty, Princeton that not having one will not put you at a disadvantage, and Yale that many successful applicants are not interviewed. Where there is an interview, the report is one more thing the admissions officers read, so it can add to what your application says about you, but it is not a test you pass or fail.

How to prepare, lightly

Reread your application, especially the essays, since you will be talking about the same things, and think of two or three things you would want an interviewer to know that the application does not show well. Have an honest answer to why this college, with something specific to it: a course, a programme, a way of teaching. And write down a couple of questions you would like to ask.

Then practise talking rather than answering: a friend or teacher asking follow-up questions for half an hour is closer to the real thing than a list of model answers. With an account, cookie’s Interview prep also has practice alumni interviews for Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Princeton and other US colleges with an AI interviewer, and writes a report at the end. It uses credits. On the day, the colleges’ own rules apply: Harvard and Princeton both say the interview must not be recorded.