MIT Admission Interview by Dave McOwen
Tick tock!
The deadline for Early Action (EA) application, November 1st, is just around the corner. While I hate to distract you from the application, essays, standardized tests and teacher recommendation letters (not to mention school and real life), I do need to mention one vital part of the application process that should be at the top of your To Do list: the interview.
Every student in the MyMIT database is assigned an alumni interviewer, aka Educational Counselor (EC). The interview itself is usually conducted in your home town – or someplace close – in an informal setting like a coffee house or book store. It’s not a test, and your EC won’t throw a Rubik’s Cube at you and start a stopwatch. The interview is a conversation, hopefully two-way, where the EC gets to know you: what drives you, interests you, fills your dreams, fills your day, and generally makes you who you are as a person and a student.
Applicants are expected to contact their EC directly, and the contact information is listed in your MyMIT account. You don’t need to finish the application before setting up, or even having, an interview, so there’s no reason to wait until the last minute. Just like the teachers you’ve asked for letters of recommendation (you have asked them, haven’t you?), our ECs can be busy. Getting in touch sooner is better than later.
The deadline for setting up the interview with your EC is October 20th, which is a mere twelve days away!
We’ve sent out an email reminder* for those students who’ve already indicated in MyMIT that they intend to apply EA. For those of you who haven’t told us about your EA plans, or for those who haven’t visited MyMIT to start the application process, consider this your friendly post-it note to the forehead.
If you have any questions (or burgeoning phobias) about the Admission interview, you should probably go read Kim Hunter’s post about the interview process.
* In some cases more than one, with apologies.
Thanks for the reminder! All set up for my interview on the 18th. Lookign forward to it.
I’ll be visiting MIT this weekend though.
I have a kind of unrelated question. If I want to send in a brief (2 minute) video clip, how should I submit it?
Val: I am 99.9% sure it is the set-up deadline, not the completion deadline.
@ Val
It’s the setup deadline.
@ Liz
Question #23 on the application allows you to give us links to any other content you’d like us to see. That’s the easiest way.
@ Luka
You can do the interview at any time. Feels good to have that out of the way, doesn’t it?
@Anonymous and Dave: Great, thank you! I’m so excited to meet my EC!
I have just emailed my EC.Now im waiting for his response.i just hope he contacts me by today.i’ll be leaving for my school by tomorrow!
I’m applying regular action and I already had my interview last week. Was that too early?
I think I’m in one of those rare situations where the interview happens over phone. Apparently my interviewer isn’t in the country.
Ordinarily I wouldn’t have been nervous about the interview, but I’m afraid I might not send the right message across over the phone. It never really is the same as meeting face to face.
Am I just panicking, or is there really reason to worry?
@ Southpaw
No need to worry. I had my interview via Sykpe video call and everything went smoothly.
So, we have to complete the interview by October 20th? Or just have it set up?
Thanks.
There’s no email address given. Just a mobile number. What would be an appropriate time (and day) to call me EC?
I have been contacting my EC for over a month now but i haven’t received any reply. HELP!!! am really worried and besides her phone no wasn’t listed in my account. what should I do?
I already had my interview.Applying regular action.
Interview went pretty smooth. Really liked the conversation!
Question!
I had my interview in mid-September, and my EC sent her input last week; however, it doesn’t appear on the Application Tracking page. How long does it usually take to process interviews?
Thanks in advance!
@ Anon
Business hours should be acceptable.
@ Nissi
Please email interview-at-mit with the details.
@ Natalia
There was a delay in the system that’s been corrected. If you don’t see a change in the next week, check in with your EC.
So, October 20th is the deadline if you are applying EA. What is the Regular Action deadline to set up and interview?
@ Dave
I took the TOEFL on August 1st. I listed MIT to receive my scores, but they still haven’t appeared on MyMIT account. Is that normal?
@ Madeline
Interview setup deadline for RA is December 10th, but remember that you don’t have to wait.
@ Luka
Well the short answer is no. Send me an email (dmcowen at) and I’ll look into it.
@ Dave
I’ve just mailed you. Hope you can help…
@Val,
The date of 20 October is the official deadline for contacting your educational counsellor (EC) to arrange the interview. The interview can take place after that deadline, so long as the EC can submit your interview report in time for the review process. Most EC’s will try to accommodate somebody who calls after the deadline if they reasonably can, but there are no guarantees.
That said, the sooner you contact your EC, the better. All EC’s are alumni volunteers who, in true MIT fashion, have to fit your interview into their schedules — which, in true MIT fashion, may well be even busier than yours! The sooner you contact your EC, the easier it will be to find a mutually convenient time for your interview. Also, bear in mind that some EC’s may be away on vacation or business travel over the deadline so you might have trouble reaching them if you wait until the last minute.
Basically, there are four (4) things that you should do as soon as you decide to apply to MIT.
>> 1. Submit Part I of your application with either the application fee or the waiver form.
>> 2. Contact your EC to schedule an interview.
>> 3. Fill out your part of the evaluation and transcript forms and give them to your teachers and your guidance counsellors. They also need time to write decent evaluations for you, and they won’t have it if you wait until the last minute when they are inundated with forms from all of your classmates.
>> 4. If you did not designate MIT to receive your test scores on the SAT or ACT when you registered for the test, submit the form to send your test scores to MIT.
These four items take only a few minutes, so there’s no reason to put them off. Once you complete these items, you can — and should — take the time that you need to do a good job on Part II of the application.
EC Norm.
@ Sawyer
Don’t worry. You contacted your EC long before the deadline. Just be a little patient, give your EC a day or two to get back to you, and then schedule the interview. You’ve got plenty of time before we’ll need to look at it.
I emailed my EC when I started the application, and he said he’d rather I wait until finishing the application to contact him again and set up an interview. I finished about 5 days ago (now just waiting for my college counselor to review it) and emailed him again, but no response yet. Today I tried calling him twice, a few hours apart, but no answer and no answering machine. He’s probably on vacation or something, but I’m getting pretty worried about the deadline. Any suggestions?