Questions about interviews

[Caprica6]

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I was wondering if anyone knew if interviewers are assigned to students at random?

Also, in speaking with candidates that have interviewed at the same schools, it seems that some people get really easy questions, while others get quite difficult questions. Do you think this is purely chance due to the person that interviews someone. Or might it say something about the quality of an application, i.e. an applicant thats on the fence may get tougher questions.

I have no idea how it works.

 

[LizzyM]

I'm not sure (and I'm an interviewer) but it seems random. Sometimes it is engineered so that the person who looked at the application at the start & recommended an interview isn't the same person who does the interview (it's better to have different people giving opinions). Some "special" applicants (big time political situation, etc) might be interviewed by the highest ranking interviewer rather than the lowest ranked/least experienced.

Some interviewers work every session and some are only tapped a few days per year (it is a lot of work and pulls someone away from their usual responsibilities).

 

[RogueUnicorn]

I'm not sure (and I'm an interviewer) but it seems random. Sometimes it is engineered so that the person who looked at the application at the start & recommended an interview isn't the same person who does the interview (it's better to have different people giving opinions). Some "special" applicants (big time political situation, etc) might be interviewed by the highest ranking interviewer rather than the lowest ranked/least experienced.

Some interviewers work every session and some are only tapped a few days per year (it is a lot of work and pulls someone away from their usual responsibilities).

what do you mean by this?

 

[casillas]

this is a good question... at one place i was interviewed by the dean of admissions which was kind of scary when everyone else that day had regular MDs. I also wondered if this was thought out or random?

 

[LizzyM]

big time political stituation

what do you mean by this?

Campus politics, university politics, national or local politics....

If a relative of a high ranking person (US Senator, University President, multi-million dollar donor etc) is coming for an interview, there is going to be some attention paid to who does the interview particularly if the applicant is not strong and admission is not likely (someone is going to have to answer to someone about why this applicant wasn't admitted and that conversation is going to be easiest if someone at the top can say, "I interviewed him myself; the admissions committee considered my comments and chose ....")

This might happen in 0.1% of all interviews.

 

[mvenus929]

this is a good question... at one place i was interviewed by the dean of admissions which was kind of scary when everyone else that day had regular MDs. I also wondered if this was thought out or random?

A couple of people at the school I interviewed at on Monday were interviewed by one of the Deans, but it was only because the person who was originally assigned to them wasn't able to come that day.

As far as the difficulty of the questions, I think it depends on the interviewer. For schools with more than one interview in a session, you can compare two candidates who had the same interviewer, and they'll generally give the same impression.