Should I do an admission interview?

Should I do an Admission Interview?

Whether or not to do an admission interview is a question you’ll likely ponder during your college admission process. It’s understandable that you might wonder if it is worth it to do one and if it will actually help you in your application process.

I think that interviews are a great opportunity, and there are three big reasons why.

1. An interview allows you to share a little bit about yourself to the people who are reading and reviewing your application.

Typically, schools that offer interviews do something called a "holistic review." This

means they're looking at and considering every piece of your application to get a big picture of who you are, what you might bring to the institution, if you’d be a good fit for them (and vice versa), and what your chances of succeeding might be.

Before you’ve even done an interview, the college has already learned quite a bit about you through everything that you've already submitted. Your interview, however, is something that you have more power to control and dictate, because you're providing answers to the questions in a personal, face-to-face setting, you get to tell us who you are, show us a little bit of your personality, and add a little bit of color to your admission file.

2. Participating in an interview is a great opportunity for you to ask questions of the people who represent the college.

Most of the folks doing the interviews are people who have worked at the college for a long time, or like at Grinnell, people who attend or even graduated from the college. So, these people are very familiar with the workings and atmosphere of the college and may have lived the experience of being a student at the college. This experience allows them to answer questions that an interviewee hasn’t been able to completely answer by searching the Internet.

You should think of an interview as an opportunity to ask questions to which they can provide knowledge- and experience-based answers or connect you with others who can provide you those answers.

3. It is a strong indicator of your interest on in that college, which can mean a lot to those making admission decisions.

An admission interview is a unique opportunity to demonstrate your interest in a college. A lot of colleges — Grinnell included — receive thousands of applications.

Among these thousands of applications, we are looking for demonstrations of interest from potential students so we can be sure they will accept an offer of admission.

So, in short, if given the opportunity, and if you really like the college that is offering an interview, I think you should go for it!