Ellie Park, Multimedia Managing Editor

As regular decision applicants await their admissions results, many have received invitations for alumni interviews, offering them a final opportunity to share more about themselves with the admissions committee. 

According to Wendell Wallace-Juedes, director of the interviewing program, the admissions office may request an interview for any student for whom additional information might be helpful in the review process. These applicants meet with an alumni interviewer or a current Yale senior hired by the admissions office for an informal conversation to share more about themselves in a new context. 

According to a News survey of the class of 2028, of the 537 respondents, 91 percent had an interview as part of their application process to Yale. Wallace-Juedes explained that not all admitted students are invited to interview, and many students who are interviewed are not admitted.

“The interviewer leads a relatively unstructured conversation designed to allow the applicant to share insights about their interests, activities, aspirations, and priorities in their college search process,” wrote Wallace-Juedes.

Wallace-Juedes explained that the main difference between interviews with alumni and interviews with Yale seniors is that local alumni interviews may be conducted either in person in a public space or virtually. Interviews with seniors are all strictly virtual and are primarily offered to applicants living in regions without a large local alumni presence.

According to Wallace-Juedes, admissions officers do not prefer one type of interview over another. After an interview, the interviewers complete a short evaluation report that is shared with members of the Admissions Committee.

The members of the Admissions Committee consider the qualitative remarks from the interviewer’s report alongside the other pieces of the application, according to Hannah Mendlowitz, director of the First-Year Process.

During an episode of the Into the Yale Admissions Office podcast, Dara Norwood, a senior assistant director of Admissions for Yale College, said that an interview can help show how essay content, numbers and other aspects of an application come to life when an applicant is holding a conversation with someone. 

“We see a lot of numbers that are connected to the student, mainly on your transcript, but the interview itself is a spontaneous interaction with a member of our community,” Norwood said on the podcast episode.

Mendlowitz wrote to the News that the most successful interview reports reinforce qualities about an applicant that were apparent in other parts of the application such as the personal statement and teacher recommendations.

In this way, the interview primarily serves to establish consistency through the whole-person review process.

However, Julie Turaj ’93, an interim director of the Alumni Schools Committee, or ASC, for part of New York, believes that in some cases, interviews might not make a noticeable difference. 

In her role, Turaj matches applicants with alumni interviewers. She said that almost any Yale College alumni interested in becoming an interviewer will have the opportunity to serve in the area where they live or work.

Interviewers have to undergo training, which includes online video material, extensive checklists and written guides. According to Turaj, new interviewers tend to be well-prepared for their interviews even if they are new to the process.

During each admissions cycle, the ASC receives a list of applicants to be interviewed divided by region. In the state of New York, where Turaj works, multiple interviewing groups are responsible for different areas. Turaj is in charge of schools on the West Side of Manhattan.

Turaj stated that she tries to be intentional about how she chooses pairings. She shared that she often uses information available on the internet about both the interviewee and alumni to ensure that they have some form of shared interest. The only information presented to the ASC is basic logistics and the students’ prospective major.

“If I see a kid who’s done extensive extracurricular work in an area, I might try to find an interviewer who matches that or who’s interested in a more niche area,” Turaj said.

Turaj added that the interview process can flow much smoother if the student feels they have something in common with the alumnus and vice versa.

Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid, explained that the interview reports the alumni interviewers write often provide “invaluable insights to the Admissions Committee.”

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is located at 38 Hillhouse Ave.