College interview frustrations

[rbk mama]

So DS was stood up for the second time by his interviewer just now.  After the first time, the interviewer apologized later and said he was having trouble with Skype (it was a strange email back and forth and frankly didn't really make sense), and he suggested a different time.  DS waited for him online just now, and he never showed up, and hasn't yet responded to email.  We're telling him to request another interviewer.  DH is saying that for future interviews, DS should send them an email reminder the day before.  This seems potentially insulting to me, though.  What do you think?

So DS was stood up for the second time by his interviewer just now.  After the first time, the interviewer apologized later and said he was having trouble with Skype (it was a strange email back and forth and frankly didn't really make sense), and he suggested a different time.  DS waited for him online just now, and he never showed up, and hasn't yet responded to email.  We're telling him to request another interviewer.  DH is saying that for future interviews, DS should send them an email reminder the day before.  This seems potentially insulting to me, though.  What do you think?

 

First, are these alumni interviews, or with school officials?

 

In any case, I think if worded carefully, a double-check email the day before or the morning of can look very professional.  It should say something like

 

"I just wanted to confirm that I have you on my schedule for tomorrow, Tuesday the 19th of November from 1 to 2 pm EDT, and I will call you at your skype name xxx.  I'm looking forward to learning more about college xyz."

Edited November 29, 2017 by GGardner

[rbk mama]

Yes, alumni interviews.  Thanks, that sounds good!

[catz]

I would report it to admissions to politely as well.  And yes, I'd probably confirm 24 ahead in the future. 

[rbk mama]

Yes, I think we should - after decisions come out. :laugh: 

[catz]

Yes, I think we should - after decisions come out. :laugh:

 

I don't know, I'd be worried the interview would never happen and if it did, this interviewer might "forget" to follow up with admissions.  I might make a gracious call with something like "Hi admissions.  I have set up a skype interview with Joe Johnson a couple times and for some reason it hasn't worked out.  I hope everything is ok for him or maybe he has internet difficulties.  I'm wondering if there is someone else I could schedule an interview with?".  I'd make it about you wanting to follow through with the interview process and maybe if the school gets a couple calls about this person's lack of follow through they will decide not to use him/her as a admissions interviewer. 

Edited November 30, 2017 by WoolySocks

[rbk mama]

Well, this guy got back to DS a few hours later and was very apologetic.  Ended up doing the interview spontaneously right then.  It went fine, but we were pretty upset beforehand - this person should not be an interviewer (the email response after his second time standing up DS referred to a time two hours later than scheduled and was something like - yes, we're meeting at XX time, right? -- Seriously?  You can't read the preceding emails to see the time you agreed upon?). 

[Bootsie]

That does sound frustrating.  I have found the quality of alumni interviews to vary quite a bit from school to school and interviewer to interviewer.  Using alumni interviewers puts an admissions office in a difficult position because often the alum has work or other commitments that will, at times, take priority over this service they are doing for the university.  Often alums will be enthusiastic at first, offering to volunteer the time, but they really don't realize the commitment they are making.

 

Is it at all possible the time difference is because of differing time zones?  Working with people across differing time zones, I know this sometimes becomes an issue.  Some of the scheduling/calendar software will adjust the time to local time, but I have had trouble if I am traveling across time zones that sometimes a "double correction" results in the wrong time.  

It wouldn't surprise me if the main goal of alumni interviews is engagement and fundraising with the alumni, and only secondarily about admissions.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

It wouldn't surprise me if the main goal of alumni interviews is engagement and fundraising with the alumni, and only secondarily about admissions.

 

This varies greatly by institution.  I know that interviews with my alma mater carry a good amount of weight.  

 

You can see on the Common Data Set how an interview factors into admissons (with the caveat that things like this may mean more for a homeschool application than for one from a traditional school).

[daijobu]

That does sound frustrating.  I have found the quality of alumni interviews to vary quite a bit from school to school and interviewer to interviewer.  Using alumni interviewers puts an admissions office in a difficult position because often the alum has work or other commitments that will, at times, take priority over this service they are doing for the university.  Often alums will be enthusiastic at first, offering to volunteer the time, but they really don't realize the commitment they are making.

 

  

 

Not only that, if alumni are misrepresenting the quality of the university by failing to show up for interviews, the admissions committee risks losing qualified applicants who are turned off by the lack of consideration.   

 

Applicants may not be savvy to understand the relationship between alumni and the admissions committee they volunteer for, so may mistakenly infer that they are not valued by the university and enroll somewhere else.    

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I interview for my alma mater. It is definitely a labor of love. I typically spend 5-6 hours for an interview with prepping, travel time and writing it up at the end.

 

Sometimes it takes me some time to think about the student and how to best communicate my impressions. I know my interview is considered by admissions so I try to be clear and give local context (such as describing just how small the town one candidate live in was or giving info about the community college system here). This does not include time talking to students outside the interview or responding to emails.

 

Sometimes life presents stiff competition for my attention. I've done interviews the month I was packing up for cross country and overseas moves. I had to shift some candidates when my mom passed away this year.