As some of you may have already heard, this year the University of Denver has stopped holding interviews for potential students. Here at CollegeMapper we’re very in tune with all changes in the world of college admissions, and this one is definitely a doozy. Naturally, we wanted to know why, so we went straight to the source.
We asked Tom Willoughby about why the change occurred and what you can expect moving forward as an applicant. Tom has been the Vice Chancellor for Enrollment at the University of Denver since 2004.
Here’s what Tom had to say:
“For more than 10 years, the University of Denver has successfully used the Ammi Hyde Interview Program ( named after Ammi Hyde (1824-1921) professor and vice chancellor for the University of Denver (DU) from 1883 to 1911) as a step in selecting undergraduate students for admission, with the help of faculty, staff and alumni. When the University first began conducting the Hyde Interviews in 2002, it received approximately 4,000 undergraduate student applications annually. All prospective students were required to sit for an interview to be considered for admission. As our applications grew over subsequent years, the University changed the policy from requiring to strongly encouraging students to request and complete a Hyde Interview.
With an expanded national marketing effort in recent years, applications have grown to 20,000. The time commitment for faculty and staff to conduct Hyde Interviews in up to 30 U.S. cities has become unsustainable given this growth in applications. Therefore, the Hyde Interview Program was discontinued at the end of this past academic year.
We decided moving forward that our faculty and staff need to focus more time on meeting with students and parents when they visit campus. With a sizable increase in applications, we have also seen a significant increase in visitors to campus. As you know the campus visit is ultimately the best way for students and their parents to decide best fit and match.
We also decided it was critical to maintaining our holistic approach in the review of applicants. Reviewing 20,000-plus applications in this manner requires the attention of all staff for a sustained period of the time twice a year.
Going forward, our applicants shouldn’t expect changes to our application process. We are committed to giving each applicant a thorough review and consideration as we have in the past.”
There you have it, folks! It seems U of Denver wants to reallocate the time used on the Ammi Hyde interview to other critical parts of the admissions process.
We’re wondering if this will be a trend in college admissions in coming years. With the number of applicants going up every year, interviewing might not be a sustainable part of the application puzzle. What do you think?
