The college admissions process is rife with misconceptions, which we at Ivy Coach have made it our mission to dispel. One of the most prominent of these is that the college alumni interview is a pivotal part of your case for admission. The truth is that alumni interviews are actually one of the least essential parts! Alumni interviewers are rarely trained by their alma mater. Some schools — Harvard in particular — are known for interviewers who ask inappropriate and irrelevant questions. A good interview rarely makes a student’s case for admission, and while a bad interview, especially one in which the applicant shares unsavory views or makes rude comments, could jeopardize their case for admission, having bad grades or succumbing to the myth of well-roundedness is sure to do even more damage!

Nonetheless, the alumni interview still manages to strike fear into the hearts of many applicants. So what’s with this mismatch between its relative unimportance in the process and its outsized role in the imaginations of students and families embroiled in the admissions season? 

Alumni Interviews Are Anxiety Inducing, But They Needn’t Be!

For one thing, alumni interviewers are often the first living representatives of the prospective school. Even though admissions officers are the ones who really need impressing, alumni interviewers serve as a proxy for all of the hopes and wishes of the applicant. This illusion of importance often goes to the heads of interviewers, who make self-aggrandizing claims like “my interview report can make or break your case.” Don’t let this horn-tooting get to you! Even under the best circumstances, a glowing interview report will not significantly help your case for admission. But this doesn’t mean you should phone in the interview.

Whether it’s a first date, a job interview, or a Zoom with a Princeton alum who looks old enough to have graduated in 1845, face-to-face communication with a stranger is daunting. It’s a basic human instinct that high schoolers go all jittery at the prospect of facing the scrutiny of someone with a relative position of power over them for 45 minutes. These nerves can get the best of you and cause you to say things you didn’t mean or draw up blanks when asked a question you came well-prepared to answer. It’s okay to feel this way, and it’s normal. How does one mitigate this anxiety?

3 Tips for Keeping Your Cool During Alumni Interviews

Hopefully, the knowledge that your interview is relatively insubstantial will reassure you that everything will be fine. Remember that your interviewer was also once a dazed teenager unsure of their educational fate. Remember that hundreds of thousands of alumni interviews are conducted nationwide each year. The worst that can happen is failing to impress someone you will likely never see again!

Now for the practical advice:

1. Get a good night’s sleep the night before, eat a healthy breakfast the day of, and ensure you know how to get to the coffee shop or that your internet connection is stable if your interview is virtual.
2. If you feel yourself getting jittery, practice deep breathing exercises. If caffeine tends to create this reaction, avoid it at all costs.
3. Wear something snazzy that you feel confident in, and then go about your day as usual in the hours leading up to the interview.

If you’ve followed Ivy Coach’s ultimate guide for your interview, you should be good to go. But if you’re still feeling on edge, remember that the best interviews flow easily and establish a pleasant rapport between the alum and the student. While you don’t want to be the kid who got too comfortable and started asking inappropriate and personal questions, you also don’t want to overcorrect and turn frigid and lifeless. Colleges want to admit likable, socially apt individuals. The next four years of your life will thrust you into the educational spotlight — consider the interview like a screen test for your future!

How Ivy Coach Helps Students Ace Their Alumni Interview

If you would like to be as prepared as possible for the interview process, fill out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form, and we’ll contact you to outline our services.