Greetings from Houston, where I am sitting in on the spring session of Emory's Alumni Interviewing Pilot Program. For one day, 13 Emory alumni from the Houston area are interviewing prospective students as part of their application process. More than 50 high school seniors are signed up to meet with our alumni today (which adds up to about three per person).
This morning, I observed a couple of interviews led by Kumasi Adoma 01C, the local co-chair, and she was masterful. Well, first of all, before I talk about Kumasi, the students are incredibly impressive. Way more poised than high school seniors have any right to be. They are well-rounded, eager, driven and goal-oriented, yet they are flexible and open enough to consider changing course based on what a college education might bring them. I was happy just to be in the same room with them.
Now, if all alumni conduct interviews like Kumasi, the program will be in great shape for a long, long time. She asked insightful questions based on each student's interest (one was passionate about science, another about business, and each conversation was distinctive without losing one bit of its depth). For instance, when one student brought up a passion about international study, Kumasi worked in a personal story about her own Emory study abroad experience (in Japan) and off-handedly (but with definite purpose) added in statistics on how many Emory students take part in the program. Very nice.
Now a little about the program itself. Houston is one of three cities hosting the pilot, which is a partnership between the Offices of Admission at Emory and Oxford and the EAA. The two-year pilot kicked off in 2007 in Chicago; San Francisco and Houston were added for the 2008-09 academic year. By the end of the spring, the Class of 2013 will be chosen and the pilot evaluation will begin. That's when the decision will be made whether to expand the program.
We'll have a lot more news about alumni interviewing, including a podcast featuring several of our alumni, photos, and a story in the April issue of EmoryWire. Stay tuned.
I'll be in Texas for a few more days meeting with (and writing about) alumni, so I hope you'll continue to EAAvesdrop. The last day of the World Championship Bar-B-Que Contest is tonight. It's a big subject of discussion among our alumni. How could I possibly pass that up? Some brisket is sounding pretty good right now.
I'll write more later. Talk to you soon.
Eric Rangus, director of communications, EAA
Awesome! We would loooove to interview students here in Atlanta. We're very jealous of our friend in Chicago who has interviewed several students. Such a great idea!! Please expand!
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