bball wrote:
Virflo wrote:
A friend of mine who conducts interviews for Kellog confirmed that interviews really do not play a big part in the selection process. He told me that on a few occasions, he strongly advised the admissions people NOT to accept an applicant and he/she was accepted, and (unfortunately) the other way around as well....
This might be specific to Kellogg though since they interview every applicant (am I correct?). I can easily see that if they interview everyone, that it wouldn't count much. However, for a place like HBS that only interviews 20% of its applicants and all interviews are conducted by adcom, I have to believe it counts for more. I do believe Kellogg and HBS are at the opposite ends of the spectrum though.
bball i believe you are right on. kellogg interviews >90% of applicants. HBS (assuming ~4000 R1 apps), interviews 850, or about 20% of applicants. Of those 850, it can offer admission to approximately 450 (again, assuming a 450/450/100 split by round). So, 450/850 = ~53% chance mathematically.
The reality (I think) is that each candidate walks into the interview with either a "Ding" or "Accept" over his/her head. The interview is just the final data point to make sure that the adcom's initial judgment is correct. Just my opinion, however.