In some ways, the admissions interview is a dinosaur in this age of high-tech “touches.” To conduct interviews is to devote time, money, and cranial energy to the old-fashioned task of listening to another human while taking a hand-cramping amount of notes.
When that’s all done, evaluations must be coded and filed for a later date. In the end, what’s gleaned from an interview might help an applicant get an admission offer—or it may make no difference at all.
In an admissions world that spins faster than ever, are these grueling exercises worth all the toil and trouble?
Like so much else in this complex field, the answer depends on where you stand. In an article in this week’s Chronicle, my colleague Beckie Supiano and I write about the many meanings of the admissions interview, which remains a fixture in some corners of higher education. As evaluations go, interviews are notoriously unreliable, especially without structure and training; at their worst, they’re essentially useless.
Yet, as we heard from many people, the interview serves various goals that go beyond evaluations of applicants. In an age when many colleges struggle to predict their yield, some institutions use interviews, in part, as a yield tool. Moreover, the interview is a two-way street: a conversation that allows admissions officers to share messages about the college.
And then there are alumni. On some campuses, enlisting graduates in the recruitment of applicants is considered a crucial form of alumni engagement.
Love it or hate it, the admissions interview is a complicated creature, one that shows no sign of going extinct.
One Response to The Many Meanings of the Admissions Interview
honore - May 17, 2010 at 9:16 am
EricHaving done more than my share of these gratuitious exercises in fake outreach and “inclusiveness” at Ivy League schools, I can tell that the back room chatter just before one of these sessions goes something like this…”So, do you think you’ll be finished in time to meet us at Star Buck’s by 10:30a?”"Oh, yeah. I’ll just wait till s/he makes reference to CATCHER IN THE RYE, then tell her/him that s/he has obviously (Yawn….) presented a (fill-in-the-blank)………….(formidable?, fantastic?, insightful?…….) application, close my her/his folder and thank them for making the trip in such inclement (or use…”nasty”, “unpleasant” or “challenging”) weather. “But could we stop by the Land Rover dealership after Star Buck’s? I just want to check on that Elle Magazine color scheme the floor mats I ordered.”