Yale Interview with a Senior

Hey all!

I had my Yale interview a few weeks back. I haven't seen anyone on here talk about interviewing with a current senior, so I thought I'd share my experience. I also wanted to ask if these interviews mean anything different than the alumni interviews? I know all Yale interviews are on the basis of "learning more about the applicant" but should I take it as a good sign that they went out of their way (and alumni pool) to make sure I got an interview? I also know that this year seems to be the first in a new direction for Yale (given the recent podcast ep), so answers on this might not be truly available.

As for the interview itself, she seemed really focused on my academics and leadership ops as opposed to me as a person or why I wanted to go to Yale (which seemed kind of out of the ordinary given the common wisdom of interviews and reading some of y'all's post interview writeups) (she didn't even ask Why Yale!). I know Yale doesn't give their interviewers much information, but my transcript is really weird (2 years of high school, 2 years of UNCW focused on International Studies and Spanish (local 4 year uni through my HS), and some more Uni classes through Harvard Summer School). None of that is super clear when looking at my transcript, which in combination makes me think they might've wanted some clarification on all of that?

I kind of appreciated the way the interview went because a lot of my essays were spent talking about my specific field (International Relations w/ emphasis on Europe), but in the conversation I was able to emphasize the necessity of a Liberal Arts education when learning this field, (which is good for Yale specific reasons I hope). I also got to describe in more detail how I was able to grow a club at my school aimed at building community (and the reasons behind it) which was really nice.

It's also really eyebrow raising looking back on the interview because they placed me with an interviewer in a similar field of study (Yale's equivalent of race/ethnicity studies). I know its probably a coincidence but if it was purposeful my hypothesis is that they wanted someone who would understand the topic if/when I mention research I've done (to make sure I actually know what I'm talking about maybe?)

Just for the sake of giving y'all all the knowledge:

Gay white M from the south

GPA: 4.0 UW; 4.675 W. (3 reg, 17 honors, 21 Uni on HS transcript; 23 taken) (the 3 reg and 17 honors are req at my school. No APs offered)

ACT: 33

Rank: 2/48

Major: Global Studies (double in French)

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Hope this was helpful and if you have any questions, ask away =)