In Response to: The Alumni Interview Endures
The Princeton admission office sent someone to my high school, who interviewed me and said Princeton would admit me if I agreed by letter. No application form that I remember. No essay either.
Harvard and Yale did the same thing but refused to skip the application form.
My father said agree by letter with Princeton because though located in the East — uggh — Princeton had the fewest crazy Easterners because they took a lot of Southerners.
After going to Harvard Law School, I think he was largely correct.
I did have to be interviewed by an alumnus, a lawyer in an imposing office in downtown Cincinnati. I can’t remember his name, but I remember being very awed and nervous until I discovered he was not a snob.