What the Interview Report Actually Says
Most students think the interview is a test. Get the right answers, impress the interviewer, walk out with a gold star. That is not how it works.
The report I submit after each interview is about 300-500 words. It covers three things: intellectual curiosity, personal qualities, and fit with the school. That is it. There is no scoring rubric. There is no checklist of right answers. I am writing a character sketch.
The single most important thing I am trying to assess is whether this student is genuinely curious about something. Not "I am interested in biology because I want to be pre-med." I mean genuine, cannot-shut-up-about-it curiosity. The student who tells me about the research paper they read last week that challenged something they learned in class. The student who taught themselves to code because they wanted to solve a specific problem. The student who disagrees with something their teacher said and can articulate why.
That kind of curiosity is very hard to fake. And it is the thing that separates a positive interview report from a neutral one. A neutral report says, "Polite, well-prepared, articulate." A positive report says, "This student lit up when talking about [X] and I think they would be a genuine intellectual contributor to campus." Admissions officers notice the difference.
By the Numbers
Alumni interview reports are typically 300-500 words covering three areas: intellectual curiosity, personal qualities, and school fit. There is no numeric score or checklist.
The Two-Minute Impression
I know within two minutes whether an interview is going to be a good one. Not because I have made up my mind that fast -- I have not. But because students telegraph their preparation level almost immediately.
The student who walks in (or logs on) and says, "Thanks so much for taking the time to meet with me" and then asks me a question about my experience at the school? That student is going to be fine. They are relaxed. They are treating this like a conversation between two humans, not an interrogation.
The student who sits down, makes limited eye contact, and waits for me to start asking questions? That student is going to have a harder time, because they have put themselves in a passive role. The interview will feel like a deposition -- me asking, them answering, both of us watching the clock.
Here is my number one piece of advice: treat the interview like a coffee chat with someone you are genuinely interested in talking to, not like a job interview. Ask me things. Be curious about my experience. Disagree with something I say if you have a reason. The best interviews I have conducted felt like a conversation between two people who enjoy talking about ideas. The worst ones felt like oral exams.
One specific tip: prepare three things you genuinely want to know about the school that you cannot Google. "What surprised you most about your experience there?" is a good one. "What is the student culture actually like outside of the brochure?" is another. These questions show genuine interest and give me something to work with in my report.
The best interviews I have conducted felt like a conversation between two people who enjoy talking about ideas. The worst ones felt like oral exams.
The Questions I Ask and What I Am Really Listening For
Every interviewer has their go-to questions. Here are mine, and what I am actually evaluating with each one.
"Tell me about something you are learning right now that excites you." I do not care what the topic is. I care about how you talk about it. Do your eyes light up? Do you go on a tangent because you are genuinely enthusiastic? Or do you give me a rehearsed answer about your favorite AP class? I can tell the difference.
"What would you do with a free afternoon where you had no obligations?" This reveals character. The student who says "probably read" and then tells me what they are reading is giving me a genuine window into who they are. The student who says "catch up on schoolwork" is telling me they have been coached to sound diligent.
"Is there anything about your application that you wish you could explain better?" This is a gift question. If there is a dip in your grades, a gap in your activities, a story that does not come through on paper -- this is your chance. The students who use this well are the ones who are self-aware enough to know what their application looks like from the outside.
"Why this school specifically?" I ask this last because the answer tells me whether you did your homework. "The academics are great and it is in a good location" is a nothing answer. "I read Professor Chen's paper on X and it connects to what I have been exploring in my independent study" is an answer that goes in my report.
Pro Tip
When asked "Why this school?" give an answer that could only apply to that specific school. If you can swap in another school's name and the answer still works, it is too generic.
The Mistakes That Make Me Wince
In 400+ interviews, I have seen patterns. Here are the things that consistently hurt.
Reciting your resume. I have your resume. I have read it. If I ask about your activities and you list them in the same order they appear on your Common App, you are wasting our time. Instead, tell me about ONE thing and go deep. Why you started it. What went wrong. What you learned. The story behind the line item.
Name-dropping. "I spent last summer at the Yale Young Global Scholars program." Okay. What did you learn there? If the answer is basically "it was prestigious and I met interesting people," that is not a story. If the answer is "I took a seminar on international trade policy and it completely changed how I think about X," now we are getting somewhere.
Parent answers. I know when a student has been coached. The tells are obvious: the answer is too polished, the vocabulary sounds borrowed, and when I ask a follow-up question, the student stumbles because they only memorized the first-level response. Parents, if you are reading this: prepare your kid by having conversations, not by giving them scripts.
Not having questions for me. When I ask "What questions do you have?" and you say "I think you covered everything," my heart sinks. It signals disinterest. Always have at least two questions ready, and make them genuine. I would rather you ask something slightly awkward and real than something polished and hollow.
Watch Out
The biggest interview mistake is not having questions for the interviewer. "I think you covered everything" signals disinterest and always weakens the interview report.
Virtual Interviews: The New Normal
Most alumni interviews are now conducted over Zoom or Google Meet. This is actually an advantage for students if you handle it correctly.
Camera placement matters. Position your camera at eye level, not below your chin looking up your nose. Sit in front of a neutral, well-lit background. These seem like small things, but they affect how present and engaged you appear on screen.
Do not read from notes. I can see your eyes moving. A few bullet points taped next to your camera is fine for reminders, but reading a prepared answer while pretending to make eye contact is obvious and it undermines your authenticity.
Dress one level above what you would wear to school. You do not need a suit. A clean, put-together look signals that you take this seriously without being over-the-top. I once had a student show up in a full suit and tie on Zoom and it was distracting -- he looked like he was interviewing for a banking job, not chatting about college.
Test your tech beforehand. Log in five minutes early. Have a backup plan if your Wi-Fi drops (a phone hotspot, a different location). Technical difficulties are not the end of the world, but they eat into your limited time and they add stress to an already nerve-wracking situation.
How Much Does the Interview Actually Matter?
Let me be honest with you: at most schools, the interview is a minor factor. It is not going to get a weak candidate admitted or a strong candidate rejected. It lives at the margins.
But margins matter in selective admissions. When two students are comparable on paper -- similar grades, similar scores, similar activities -- the interview report can be the tiebreaker. An enthusiastic interview report that says "I would love to have this student as a classmate" is a small but real plus in your file.
Conversely, a negative interview report (which I have written maybe 5 times in 15 years) can raise a red flag. It will not sink your application alone, but it can prompt the committee to look more closely at other aspects of your file. The bar for a negative report is high -- it takes genuine rudeness, dishonesty, or a total inability to engage in conversation.
The students who benefit most from interviews are the ones whose personalities do not come through on paper. If you are warm, funny, deeply curious, or unusually passionate about something, the interview is your chance to let that show in a way that a 650-word essay cannot fully capture.
My honest advice: prepare enough that you feel confident, but not so much that you sound rehearsed. Know why you want to attend this school specifically. Have a few stories ready about things you genuinely care about. And then just be yourself -- that is the whole point of the interview, and it is the one thing you cannot fake.
The students who benefit most from interviews are the ones whose personalities do not come through on paper. This is your chance to be three-dimensional.
Key Takeaway
Treat the interview as a genuine conversation, not a performance. Go deep on things you actually care about, ask real questions, and let your curiosity show. The interviewer is writing a character sketch, not grading a test.
