All first-year applicants, including international applicants, are required to have an interview with an alumnus as part of the admissions process unless it is geographically impossible.
Interviews for transfer students are optional.
No interviews are available for Special Student Applicants.
Please note that no interviews take place here on campus and we do not ask (or expect) students to travel to other cities/countries for the interview.
If you live in a city/country where no alumni interviewers are available, the interview will be waived.
Rest assured that in such situations, the lack of an interview will not negatively impact the final decisions rendered on applications.
The Georgetown University Alumni Admissions Program (AAP) is responsible for interviewing all undergraduate applicants to Georgetown.
The interview will be conducted by a member of one of the Alumni Admissions Program committees, which are located in all fifty states
and in many foreign countries.
Once your application is received, the Admissions Office will provide you with contact information for an alumni interviewer in your area.
You are expected to make arrangements for that interview.
The interview provides you with an opportunity to highlight particular aspects of your background and achievements which you would like to call to the attention of the Admissions Committee, as well as to learn more about the University from the point of view of the local alumnus.
Frequently Asked Questions about Alumni Interviews
Are all applicants required to have an interview?
All first-year applicants are required to have an interview unless it is not possible to assign the interview based on geographic area. Interviews are available in all 50 states as well as many countries. The interview need not be completed prior to the application deadline, but it should be done as soon as possible after the assignment has been received.
For transfer students, the interview is optional.
Where do interviews take place?
All interviews are conducted in the local area of the applicant.
No interviews are given on campus.
Upon receipt of Part I of the application, applicants are assigned to a local interviewing committee in their region based upon their school year address.
Local chairmen will notify each applicant via mail or e-mail with contact information for their individual interviewer, and it will be up to the student to contact their interviewer and set up a meeting.
Interviews may take place at any mutually agreeable location, and they often occur at the home or office of the interviewer.
Students who attend residential schools are often assigned to committees that work specifically with those schools and are able to accommodate the needs of students who are unable to travel to meet with their interviewer.
When should applicants hear about their interviews?
The first interview assignments each year are sent out to the local chairmen in early September.
Students who send in their applications over the summer should expect to hear something about their interview by early October. Thereafter, interview assignments will be made regularly and students will typically receive the name of their interviewer within 2-4 weeks of receipt of their application.
Those who have not heard anything after a month should attempt to contact their local chairman listed on their confirmation receipt or else call the admissions office at (202) 687-3600 to speak to an admissions officer.
Who conducts the interviews?
The Alumni Admissions Program (AAP) is a volunteer network of over 4,000 Georgetown alumni who interview all undergraduate applicants around the world.
The AAP is divided into over 200 regional committees and has been interviewing students for over 35 years.
AAP interviewers may be alumni of any school at Georgetown, graduate or undergraduate, and they range in experience from the most recent graduates to alumni of the 1950's.
They are a dedicated group who are there to help the admissions committee learn more about Georgetown's applicants as individuals.
What is the purpose of the interview?
The interview is an opportunity for applicants to express themselves to the admissions committee.
Interviewers are not looking for any specific information about the applicant, rather they seek to have a general conversation about the applicant's thoughts and interests.
Each interview will be unique based on the interviewer and the applicant, but some topics that may come up include: academic interests, extracurricular activities, summer experiences, family background, future plans, and exposure to Georgetown. Those topics are not an exhaustive list, merely a few examples.
In addition, students should view the interview as an opportunity to express anything they think important the admissions committee know about them that they did not fully articulate in the application.
Finally, students should use the interview to learn more about Georgetown and the Georgetown community from the perspective of an alumnus.
An interview report will be submitted and becomes part of the admissions file.
While the interview report is used as part of the admissions committee's consideration process, it rarely "makes or breaks" an application, and much more often than not it works in the applicant's favor.
|