Interview season starts in October, and the anxiety around it is out of proportion to its weight. Of the 70 schools we read that answer the question, 42 rate the interview "not considered." Five rate it important. Zero rate it very important.
What the schools say
Section C7 of the Common Data Set asks each college to rate the interview: very important, important, considered, not considered. Across the filings we have read for the 2024–25 and 2025–26 cycles, 70 schools answered: 0 very important, 5 important, 23 considered, 42 not considered.
Sixty percent of schools have written down that the interview plays no role. It is the second-lowest-weighted factor on the form, ahead of only demonstrated interest.
The five that rate it important
Georgetown, MIT, Wake Forest, Case Western, and Lafayette.
These are the schools where the interview is a real input. Georgetown and MIT both run alumni interview programs and treat the report as part of the file. If either is on your list, prepare for it the way you would prepare for the essay.
The 23 that consider it
Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Northwestern, Rice, Vanderbilt, Emory, Tufts, Bowdoin, Haverford, Harvey Mudd, Lehigh, Michigan State, Indiana, Iowa State, Oklahoma, LSU, DePauw, and San Francisco.
"Considered" is the lowest rating above zero. At Princeton or Yale, where the filing rates rigor, grades, essays and recommendations very important, a considered interview is a tiebreaker at most — and often just a way for the school to give an alumnus something to do. Do it if offered. Do not expect it to move a decision.
The 42 that do not consider it
Columbia, Penn, Brown, Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, USC, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Virginia, UNC, Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Boston University, George Washington, Northeastern, Villanova, Amherst, Williams, and every University of California campus we read, among others.
Penn and Columbia are worth naming because both offer alumni conversations and neither counts them. If a school on this list offers you an interview, it is a courtesy or a recruiting tool — useful for you to learn about the place, invisible to the decision.
The one interview that is not optional
A handful of programs interview as part of admission itself rather than as an alumni courtesy — some BS/MD tracks, some conservatory and studio programs, some honors colleges. Those are evaluative by design and are not what the C7 row is describing. If a program says the interview is required, it is a factor regardless of what the university's general filing says. Check the program page, not just the school's.
Why interviews rate so low
Two reasons show up in how schools describe their own process. First, an interview conducted by a volunteer alumnus twenty years out of school is not a consistent instrument; schools that rate factors by how reliably they can be read across thousands of files rate it low. Second, the interview was historically a way to assess "fit" and "character," and most schools now say they read character from the essay and recommendations instead — 31 of 73 rate character very important, zero rate the interview that way.
What to do if you are offered one
Take it. At the five important schools, prepare: know why that school, have two questions, be able to talk about one thing you have done in depth. At the considered schools, treat it as a conversation and a chance to ask what the brochure does not say. At the not-considered schools, it is optional in every sense — accept if you want to learn something, decline if the timing is bad, and do not let it eat a weekend you needed for an essay that a school rates very important.
Where this leaves the "interview tips" industry
Most of the advice about college interviews is written as if the interview decides something. At 42 of 70 schools it decides nothing, and at 23 more it is one small input among many. The useful version of interview prep is narrower than the industry suggests: five schools where it matters, a short list of things to be able to say, and the rest of the time given back to the factors the school rates at the top.
If you are nervous about it
The honest reassurance is in the data: at most of the schools on any list, the conversation is not being scored. Show up, be curious, ask the alumnus what they wish they had known. If the school is one of the five that count it, treat it like a short essay you speak instead of write — one thing you have done in depth, one reason for this school, one question. That is the whole preparation.
Where the numbers come from
Every rating is from section C7 of the named school's Common Data Set, 2024–25 or 2025–26 cycle, read from the school's own published filing. Counts are over the 73 filings we have read on those cycles; three left the interview row blank. Each school page on PrepToDone shows its interview rating with the filing year and source link.
Put your list in and see what each school published about its early round — free, without an account. Which school to spend the binding application on is $9.99 through Nov 15 (regular $49), once. Run your list.
Results are data-based estimates and do not guarantee admission. This article is for informational purposes only and does not guarantee admission outcomes. All data is based on publicly available information and may not reflect current admissions standards.
Written by PrepToDone Team — data analysis on U.S. federal education datasets (IPEDS · College Scorecard).