Guides · Updated 3 November 2026

Which Colleges Offer Interviews? 2026-27 List (and Which Ended Them)

For 2026-27 admissions, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, Duke, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Swarthmore, and Wake Forest offer live interviews with alumni, current students, or admissions staff. Brown ended alumni interviews in the 2019-20 academic year, while UChicago, Vanderbilt, WashU, Caltech, and Carnegie Mellon do not offer live admissions interviews. Across all 16 colleges reviewed below, 10 offer live interviews, 4 use video profiles or third-party video supplements instead, and 2 use written applications only.

2026-27 college interview list and video policies

AdmitMock is an AI mock interview app for Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and US college alumni interviews: an AI interviewer asks the questions out loud, follows up, and shows you what to fix.

Most of the 10 live-interview colleges contact you after you apply, while Swarthmore and Wake Forest require you to request or book your own slot through your applicant portal. Colleges with contradictory official pages (such as Emory, whose 'Before You Apply' FAQ states it does not offer evaluative interviews while its 'Test Optional' FAQ mentions leaning on Alumni Interview feedback) are omitted from the table below so you only get verified rules.

Colleges that offer live alumni, student, or staff interviews

When a college offers a live conversation, an alumnus, senior student, or admissions officer meets with you and writes a summary report that goes into your admissions file. At Yale, Georgetown, Stanford, and Swarthmore, the official pages explicitly confirm that the interviewer submits a written report for the admissions committee to read alongside your application.

Here is how the 10 live-interview colleges run their programmes for 2026-27, grouped by how you get an invite.

• Harvard University: Submitting your online Common Application as early in the fall as possible opens your admissions file and allows Harvard to set up a possible alumni interview. Read our guide to the Harvard interview for what to expect.
• Yale University: Alumni Schools Committee (ASC) volunteers and current Yale Senior Interviewers conduct evaluative interviews that last between 30 and 60 minutes by invitation only. You cannot request one. Because capacity is limited, Yale prioritises students for whom the Admissions Committee would value additional information. In Yale's 2025-26 Common Data Set (Section C7), the interview is rated as 'Considered' for first-year decisions and 'Required of Some' for transfer applicants. See our Yale alumni interview guide for details.
• Princeton University: Offers optional 30-45 minute informal conversations with Princeton Alumni Schools Committee members after your application arrives. You can opt out in the Princeton-specific Questions without any disadvantage. Princeton does not offer on-campus interviews, forbids recording by either party, and notes that QuestBridge National College Match participants cannot complete an interview due to the timeline. See our Princeton alumni interview guide.
• MIT: Offers interviews with a member of the MIT Educational Council (EC), a network of MIT graduates worldwide. Interviews are held in person whenever possible, or virtually if agreed upon with your EC, and typically last an hour (ranging from 30 minutes to two hours). If MIT cannot offer you an interview, it is waived without penalty.
• Stanford University: Offers optional 40-minute in-person or video interviews with trained alumni volunteers depending on whether your high school is in an eligible interview area (which covers all 50 US states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and listed international locations). Interviewers cannot view resumes, transcripts, test scores, or your application, and recording is prohibited.
• Duke University: Offers optional virtual or phone alumni interviews. To be considered, you must check the appropriate box on the Duke application supplement. Duke prioritises applicants where additional context is helpful. Alumni do not have access to your application or academic records, and recording or posting on social media is prohibited. Read our Duke alumni interview guide.
• Dartmouth College: Volunteer alumni admissions ambassadors or current students contact you by email after you apply to schedule a virtual (phone or video) or in-person interview, depending on availability.
• Georgetown University: Begins assigning in-person or virtual alumni interviews in September each year. Interviews can be assigned as soon as you submit Part 1 of the Georgetown Application or Georgetown's portion of the Common Application (even before you submit the writing supplement). The alumnus writes a report on your academic interests, activities, summer experiences, family background, and future plans for the Admissions Committee.
• Swarthmore College: Offers optional 20-30 minute Fellow (current student, virtual or on-campus) or Alumni (virtual) interviews only to first-year applicants attending high school in the United States. You must register yourself in Swarthmore's Interview Portal or Alumni Interview Portal, and you may request only one interview.
• Wake Forest University: Offers optional 20 to 25-minute online Zoom interviews with admissions representatives on weekdays for high school seniors applying for Fall 2027 entry. You must request your slot through your status portal within 5 days of submitting your application, and no later than 18 November 2026. In-person interviews are not offered. See our Wake Forest interview guide.

Colleges that replaced live interviews with video profiles, Glimpse, or InitialView

Several selective universities in our dataset do not conduct live alumni or staff interviews at all. Instead, they ask you to record a short video in your applicant portal or use a third-party service such as Glimpse or InitialView. Live-interview colleges such as Duke and Swarthmore also accept these videos when you cannot get a live slot.

If you are applying to several of these schools, check whether you are attending high school inside or outside the United States. Glimpse is restricted to students at US high schools, while InitialView and Vericant are built for international applicants or non-US citizens.

• Brown University: Ended alumni interviews as of the 2019-20 academic year to ensure equity of experience and opportunity. Applicants may instead submit an optional 90-second Video Introduction via their portal to share who they are and why they want to attend Brown.
• University of Chicago: Does not offer on-campus or alumni interviews. Instead, UChicago strongly recommends an optional 2-minute video profile uploaded to your UChicago Account under 'Portfolio' (or accepts Glimpse or InitialView interviews in lieu of it).
• Vanderbilt University: Does not offer interviews through the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. US citizens and undocumented students attending high school in the US may submit an optional 60-90 second Glimpse video. Students attending high school internationally or non-US citizens at US high schools may schedule an optional InitialView video interview.
• Washington University in St. Louis (WashU): Does not conduct or offer evaluative interviews for admission, but strongly encourages students to submit third-party interview supplements such as InitialView to further demonstrate English proficiency.
• Duke's video alternative: If you do not receive a Duke alumni interview, US high school students may submit a 60-90 second Glimpse video, and international applicants (particularly students attending schools in China) are encouraged to arrange an InitialView interview.
• Swarthmore's video options: Because Swarthmore cannot accommodate live interview requests from students attending high school outside the US, international applicants are strongly encouraged to record an optional Portal Video Response (you get 30 seconds to think and up to 2 minutes to answer a random prompt, with one retake allowed on a new random question) or submit InitialView or Vericant. US high school students can also use the Portal Video Response or submit a Glimpse video.

Colleges that do not offer interviews

Some universities do not use live interviews or video alternatives, preferring to read your voice solely through your written application.

If a college is on this list, you do not need to book a slot, wait for an alumni email, or film a video.

• Caltech: Does not have an interview process. Caltech states that its supplemental essays are where you speak directly to the admissions committee and faculty reviewers.
• Carnegie Mellon University: Explicitly states in its undergraduate admission guidelines that it does not offer admission interviews and does not consider demonstrated interest.

2026-27 interview timelines and request deadlines

Check each college's portal rules early so you do not miss a fall request cutoff. Wake Forest, for example, closes its live Zoom interview requests in mid-November even for Regular Decision applicants.

Use this chronological calendar to track every request window, video upload cutoff, and alumni outreach period across the 2026-27 cycle.

• September each year: Georgetown begins assigning alumni interviews to applicants who have submitted Part 1 of the Georgetown Application or Georgetown's portion of the Common Application.
• Mid-October: Swarthmore application portals open for recording the optional 2-minute Video Response.
• Late October through early November: Duke Early Decision alumni interviews take place.
• First few weeks of November: Stanford Restrictive Early Action alumni interviews take place.
• November: MIT Early Action interviews mostly take place.
• 6 November: UChicago's recommended upload date for the optional 2-minute Video Profile for Early Action and Early Decision I.
• 9 November: Duke's deadline to submit a Glimpse video for Early Decision consideration.
• 18 November 2026: Wake Forest's final day to request a virtual Zoom interview (must be requested within 5 days of submitting your application, meaning applications submitted between 14 November and 18 November have fewer than 5 days to request).
• 20 November 2026: Wake Forest's final deadline to submit the optional 2-3 minute video for Early Decision I and Early Action (must be sent within 5 days of applying).
• Late November and early December: Yale Early Action evaluative interviews are scheduled.
• Early December to late February: Duke Regular Decision alumni interviews take place.
• 5 January 2027: Wake Forest's final deadline to submit the optional 2-3 minute video for Early Decision II and Regular Decision (must be sent within 5 days of applying).
• 10 January: UChicago's recommended upload date for the optional 2-minute Video Profile for Regular Decision and Early Decision II.
• 11 January: Duke's deadline to submit a Glimpse video for Regular Decision consideration.
• January: MIT Regular Action interviews mostly take place.
• Mid-January to mid-February: Stanford Regular Decision alumni interviews take place.
• January, February, and early March: Yale Regular Decision evaluative interviews are scheduled.
• Late January until mid-March: Swarthmore transfer interview request window is open (for transfer students currently located inside the US).

Checklist: what to do before and after you submit your applications

Our team put together this step-by-step plan so you can handle both invitation-only alumni interviews and self-scheduled portal interviews without missing a cutoff.

Follow these steps in order from September through February.

• Step 1 (September to October): Submit Part 1 of the Georgetown Application or your Harvard Common Application early in the fall so your file opens and you enter the alumni assignment queue.
• Step 2 (Before clicking submit): Check the interview opt-in box on the Duke supplement, and make sure you do not accidentally tick the opt-out box on Princeton's or Stanford's application questions.
• Step 3 (Within 24 hours of applying to Wake Forest or Swarthmore): Set up your applicant status portal immediately. If you want a Wake Forest Zoom interview or video submission, you have a strict 5-day clock from the day you apply.
• Step 4 (Daily from October to February): Check the email inbox, spam folder, and voicemail tied to your Common Application. Stanford, MIT, Yale, Duke, Princeton, and Dartmouth interviewers contact you directly, and Stanford requests a prompt reply to accept or decline.
• Step 5 (Before the conversation): Review common alumni interview questions and prepare specific questions for your interviewer. Leave your transcript, test scores, and resume at home, as schools like Stanford and Duke bar alumni from viewing them.
• Step 6 (Right after the interview): Send a brief thank-you email to your alumni volunteer, and direct any formal application updates to the admissions office.

How to prepare for your interview (and a practice question)

Across these schools, the format is an informal conversation rather than an interrogation. Wake Forest notes that its interviewers ask about your classes, your academic interests, your most treasured books, and what makes you intellectually curious, while Yale advises you to elaborate on your ideas, intellectual curiosity, character, and values rather than giving one-word answers.

Practise your interview out loud on AdmitMock. You should also prepare thoughtful questions to ask at the end, since Yale notes that interviewers learn about candidates from the questions they bring to the conversation.

Practice question

Question in the style of US college alumni and staff interviews (written by our team): Tell me about a book, project, or question outside your required schoolwork that has held your attention recently, and why you kept digging into it.

Example written by our team. The applicant is invented. 'After reading a chapter on urban heat islands in my environmental science class, I started mapping afternoon temperature differences between tree-lined streets and paved parking lots in my neighbourhood using a cheap infrared thermometer. That led me to read historical municipal zoning codes to understand why tree cover drops so sharply across neighbouring ZIP codes.'

Instead of listing a generic hobby, this teaser names a specific starting spark, shows independent action outside class requirements, and gives the interviewer an easy thread to follow up on.

AdmitMock is not affiliated with Oxford, Cambridge or any other university.