Interview

what school is in question? Generally alum interviewes tend to be less formal, more conversational and when i was in yoru shoes, I oten received advice to go with alum interviews if possible.

In my personal experience student interviews have been the worst because students generally are not that good at interviewing, often are too rigid in following their list of questions, and I not great listeneres/ not good at picking up subtle messages (I was often asked a question that I felt I had already answered indirectly and a better listener would have picked up on)

If you can get an interview with a memebr of adCom and you are good at interviewing, than take that over an alum; otherwise I'd probably go with an alum. Schools weigh equally alum and student interviews and if you already visited that school on a separate ocasion than you have nothing to worry about.

so in my ever so limited experience:

AdCom = great interviews, they know what they are doing and can "fight" for you come decision time if you impress them

Alum = good interviews, not clear how important in the decision making

Student = weak interviews,not clear how important in the decision making

Theres one other argument for student vs alumn though... student interviews are set at 30 or 40 minutes, alumni interviews can drag on much longer. If its not going well, an hour and a half an be brutal.

very true. my one alum interview was 2+ hours but it went very well. I thought that was rare though

On the other hand, alumni interviews can be stunningly brief!

True True.

I had a 90 minute interview with the Dean of Admissions and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Just make sure that you strike the right chord with your interviewer and ask insightful questions.

I interviewed with an alumn who had not interviewed that many applicants since his graduation (maybe 1 other interview in 5 years). After going through the standard questions, I asked him a typical question on the particular program and this triggered about a half hour of pleasant chat on all the things he did during the program and how much he had enjoyed it. I think that going back to these happy memories left him with a much better feeling about me and my commitment to the school and my potential fit. On the other hand, there are no feelings with adcoms.

Cheers. L.