More On The Interview… by Stu Schmill '86
The deadline has passed, but if you're an EA applicant who has not yet contacted your EC, you should still do so!
Please note that, as of August 2018, our process for assigning interviews has changed (though Stu’s observations on the demands of our interviewers remains accurate). A description of the current interview process is posted here.
The deadline to contact your EC has passed for early action applicants. But if you are an early action applicant who has not yet contacted your EC, you should still do so! Your EC will still conduct an interview with you, write a report, and submit it as part of your application. With the deadline having passed, we cannot guarantee that your interview will be considered at the beginning of the early action round – but it will be reviewed and added to your application when we receive it.
Remember that our alumni interviewers are volunteers and have jobs, families, and other commitments. They sometimes travel or are otherwise unavailable for brief periods, and this can happen unexpectedly. If you have been trying to connect with your EC for some time and have been unable to reach him or her, please write to [email protected] and tell us; we will assign you to another EC who is available.
Some of you may live in areas where we don’t have alumni (or enough alumni so that we can accommodate everyone’s request for an interview). In these cases, your interview may be waived. (You should know that we pull out students whose interviews have been waived from the admit-rate statistics for applicants with interview vs. applicants without interview.) If your interview has been waived, you do have another option. If you will be visiting campus sometime this fall or winter, you can interview with an alum in the Boston/Cambridge area. You should write to [email protected] and tell us that you will be coming to campus – we’ll assign you to an EC in the vicinity of MIT.
Note that you don’t need to make a special trip here; this is only if you are planning to visit anyway. You should only take advantage of this if your interview was initially waived; if we have an EC available for you near your home, it’s best for you to interview with them.
If you haven’t yet contacted your EC – whether you are applying early or regular – you should do so soon! And have fun with it!
If you know an EC who is in your area but not for your school could you still interview with that EC instead of the one that is assigned to your school?
When you send an e-mail to request an interview with your assigned EC, it would help if you included your name, address, and phone number. I have received e-mails from [email protected] that say something like “Hi, how about an interview?” That does not give me very much to go on. Remember that your initial request for an interview is the first impression of you that your EC receives.
When you send an e-mail to request an interview with your assigned EC, it would help if you included your name, address, and phone number. I have received e-mails from [email protected] that say something like “Hi, how about an interview?” That does not give me very much to go on. Remember that your initial request for an interview is the first impression of you that your EC receives.
Dear Stu, I’ve got a little problem here. My friend who resides in a nearby locality has been assigned an EC, but I got a message saying that since no EC is assigned to my area, my interview has been waived off. I’m in a real dilemma as to what to do. Should I contact the EC that my friend has been assigned to?
Hi Ankur. I am a prospective student like you; but I think I have an answer to your question. Maybe, there are no enough ECs in your area to interview each prospective student. ECs have other businesses to do and families to take care of; they might not be able to interview a large number of people. If your interview has been waived you will not be disadvantaged; you will be considered to have taken the interview. Lets meet at MIT Ankur next September!
Thuita Maina’
Kenya
Hello
Once the interview is completed, does the applicant need to send a conducted interview form or do anything else other than turn in aprts and part2?
Although I’m assigned an EC, every time I phoned the number provided on MyMit account, I was told wrong number. Now I find myself slowy go insane!
To blizz: Yes you can do that. It is often helpful for you to interview with the EC assigned to your school, as they will know your school and context more, but you can interview with someone different without problem.
Ankur: Yes you can do that, that is fine, but as Thuita says, if it does turn out that our EC there is overburdened and your interview is waived, you will not be disadvantaged.
Michael: You should contact that EC whom you are assigned to; he is our regional coordinator. He will be able to refer you to someone closer.
Anonymous: Once you do the interview, you need not do anything more. If you find that it has been a few weeks and the interview is still not posted, you can check in with the EC and see if he has sent the report yet. Or you can fill out the “conducted interview” report form on the my.mit.edu site to let us know that you had the interview.
Mary: Your EC may have simply been trying to be helpful; be careful not to read much into what he or she was trying to tell you. No, the interview is not supposed to be a hurdle or a test of any kind. I find that often students do misunderstand some comments that our alumni interviewers make as to their chance of admission. The ECs do not at all see your file or application and have no idea about your admission chances.
Anonymous: If you are having trouble contacting your EC, please write to [email protected] and we can help you.
—Stu Schmill
I am wondering. Is it the role of the EC to suggest other schools to the applicant during the interview process? It seems as though my EC was not too positive about MIT and I wondered if it was a set-up to see how passionatie I was about MIT. Anyone with answers, please respond. I am confused.
I’m an international student and I was wondering whether my interview could be waived because my E.C lives in London, some 400 miles away from me. Would an E.C meet halfway? For example, Exeter.
Hi there,
I was interviewed yesterday with one of MIT alum.
I was really nervous because my friends who did an interview before had such a long interview like two hours (the longest). However, the shortest interview is only fifty minutes. And this is a lot different.
Well, it turned out to be fine. My interview was last two hours as well.
Good luck for you guys.
Evening Everyone,
I have an interview scheduled for this next weekend and I was wondering how long they typically last?
And what are the interviewers really looking for in an applicant? Just open frankness? Connecting with the applicant? or just seeing if the applicant could make it at MIT?
Thanks.
Reece
Once the interview is completed, does the applicant need to send a conducted interview form or do anything else other than turn in aprts and part2?
I was wondering if I will be penenalized if I missed the Monday, October 23 deadline because I couldn’t reach my EC in time, like he would not answer the phone or respond to emails until just now.