Guide 12 of 12 · Application · 5 min read
The Alumni Interview Guide
The interview rarely gets you in on its own, and it can absolutely take you out. It is the one place a real person checks whether the student in the file is the student in the room.
What it is actually for
Most alumni interviewers are volunteers with no access to your file. They are answering two questions: is this person interesting to talk to, and would they be good to have around for four years.
- It is evaluative but rarely decisive. Treat it as a tie-breaker you control.
- Accept every interview you are offered. Declining reads as disinterest.
- They usually cannot see your grades, so do not assume context.
Prepare four stories, not answers
Scripted answers sound rehearsed and collapse under a follow-up. Instead, prepare a small set of real stories you can adapt to whatever comes.
- A thing you built or led, and what went wrong in it.
- A moment you changed your mind about something.
- An academic interest and the specific thing that started it.
- Why this school, with two concrete details you could only know from research.
Ask questions only they can answer
Never ask something the website answers. Ask about their actual experience, which is the one thing they are uniquely qualified to talk about.
- What surprised you most in your first year?
- What would you do differently if you went back?
- Which class still sticks with you?
The basics that quietly decide it
Reply within 24 hours, show up early, dress a step above the setting, and send a short thank-you the same day. Interviewers notice all of it, and mention it.
Be curious, be specific, and let them meet the same person your essays described.
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