Self-Initiated Interviews?

Question

What does this mean? That the person asked the Admissions Office for an interview although they weren't invited for one? I thought schools tell you NOT to contact them asking for an interview.

Any help would be appreciated!

cyrez8 · Answer

Any help would be truly appreciated

fugo · Answer

this depends on the school. some schools like duke, kellogg allow students to contact them and schedule interviews. Others do interviews by invitation. Typically, I would expect schools that allow student initiated interviews expect their applicants to actually interview as otherwise it can look like you arent a serious applicant. `1

anu1979 · Answer

If a school has self-initiated interview it means that you don't have to be invited (as in turn in your application and receive a formal notification from the AdComs that you made the "interview cut") before you go on campus and do the interview. I don't think there are that many Top 15 schools left that do this-the two I know that take it very seriously are Duke and Tuck.

My personal take on the matter is that if a school has self-initiated interview, that it's a big old sign from them that they expect you to partake of its munificence, so book the plane ticket and go. The only school (to date) that dinged me sans interview had the option of self-initiated interview, which I didn't do because a) I didn't want to spend the money and b) it conflicted with the busiest time of the year at work. I tried to play the "but I'm a do-gooder who was so busssssssy with do-goodery" card on my app* and they still didn't buy it. YMMV.

*If I remember correctly, they actually had a separate question about why I hadn't taken advantage of it.

Self-Initiated Interviews?

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