Our interviews are designed to help students stand out in the admissions process. There are multiple ways they accomplish this:

Our interviews are unscripted—applicants will be asked to talk about themselves. While one might be able to prepare for a surface-level question, one cannot predict how the interview will unfold. This mimics exchanges in college and provides applicants with an opportunity to demonstrate this key aspect of college-readiness. It is the only part of the admissions process where admissions officers can be 100% sure that it is you (and not ChatGPT or someone else helping you) who is answering the questions.

Our interviews are conducted by interview experts like former admissions officers—We are one of the largest hirer of former admissions officers. Many of our interviewers have had years of experience in admissions and are well- known in the industry. Most of our interviewers have conducted thousands of interviews with college applicants.

Our interviews are not graded and are not a test—Applicants try to game “tests” in the admissions process. This distorts incentives and wastes the resources of parents. It rewards those who know the tricks of the test. In contrast, our interviewers are tasked with ensuring that each interview is focused on the applicant and provides them with a chance to demonstrate their authentic self in the most compelling format possible.

Our interviews are video—Each interview is recorded and provided to admissions officers in an easy-to-process format. You probably would admit that you spend too much time on your phone looking at video apps. As it turns out, admissions officers are drawn to video as well.

Our writing sample holds unique value— Admissions officers don’t need to confirm that you are Amanda Gorman; they just want confirmation that you can put together some sentences yourself. That’s why they rely upon our writing sample—they just want to make sure that your application hasn’t been made up. Our writing sample is simply a 20-minute response to an open-ended prompt. Like our interview, it is also not graded. If you typically write in school, you’ll be fine. For most applicants, the writing sample simply validates the other parts of your application.

We have the best interviewers—Over many admissions cycles, we have developed a proprietary training and Q&A process that ensures that our interview provides each applicant with an effective opportunity to present themselves in a compelling, conversational format. Unlike a robo-interview, each interaction is live with one of our trained interviewers. Most of our interviewers are former admissions officers who are well-known in the admissions world.

We know from feedback from admissions officers that students who submit an InitialView interview tend to do markedly better in the application process. In other words, every cycle we are literally conducting thousands and thousands of life-changing conversations.

We are trusted in the admissions process—Not only is there a video record that can be referred to at any time, our interviews are all unscripted and require students to think on the spot. We have years of ensuring accessibility to all students all over the world (you wouldn’t believe the interviews we have pulled off—we have never had to say no to a student because of connectivity issues). We partner with the top CBOs in the world to offer fee waivers to those who need them.

We are the strongest signal of a top applicant—Our process draws top students from all over the world. They want to talk about their experiences, they look forward to interacting with our interviewer, and they want to prove that they are ready for the next level of education. This is why admissions officers from top institutions tell us off the record that they typically will not admit a student unless they see an InitialView interview.

We charge 265 USD for our standard interview. Your own interview may be more or less if you are paying in a currency other than USD. See additional pricing information here. Students for whom the cost of the interview is a financial hardship may request a fee waiver from the school to which they are applying.

All you can send! You may send your interview (and writing sample, if applicable) to as many schools as you request—there is no limit to the number of schools.

Almost all schools accept the interview. Please check with us if you have any question about a particular school, since new schools are confirming each week. You may ask the school as well!

After your interview is processed, you will be able to select the colleges that you would like to receive your interview within your portal. Interviews will be sent to colleges via the InitialView platform, which is already integrated with most prominent colleges and universities.

If you have any question about a particular college, feel free to email us at contact@initialview.com.

You may do the interview more than once, but only 14 days after the date of the previous interview (and you will have to pay again). Please note that it will be with a different interviewer and therefore different questions. The most recent interview (and writing sample, if applicable) becomes the interview (including the writing sample) that we provide to admission officers.

In other words, you cannot do the interview twice and then elect to send the first one. Please consider carefully before doing the interview again, as your second interview (including the writing sample, if applicable) will not necessarily be better than your first.

Our standard processing time is within 10 business days. We can process the interview in as little as 2 business days for an additional fee (so plan ahead to avoid extra charges). See our pricing information here. . If you need it fast, we can make it happen.

Applicants have 20 minutes to write a response to an open-ended prompt. It is not graded and there is no word limit. If you have been working on your writing as part of your schooling, then you will think it is very easy. In the age of ChatGPT, admissions officers want to make sure that you can craft a basic response to a question, even if it is not polished and not what you would do if you had more time. For most applicants, the writing sample simply validates the other parts of your application.

You are allowed to change your reserved time, for a fee (95 USD / 770 RMB), as long as you do so three days in advance of your scheduled time. We schedule our interviewers in advance, and as a result of the volume of demand for our interviews we are not able to switch around our interviewers at the last minute. We strongly recommend you look closely at your schedule before signing up so you will not need to change times.

Many of our interviewers are admissions officers and respected members of the U.S. admissions community.

Each interview is unscripted, with significant back-and-forth between the student and interviewer. Even we don’t know the questions we are going to ask before each interview. At the end of each interview, however, we give the student a chance to say whatever they would like.

You should think about a few things that make you unique (it may be interests, accomplishments, or experiences), with a particular emphasis on academic experiences, and then look to mention them during the interview. Most of all, you should just be yourself.

Unfortunately, due to the demand for our interviews, we are not able to offer refunds (we are concerned that if we did offer refunds, many would sign up and then cancel without consequence, which would prevent the more serious students from receiving the times/locations they want). If you miss an interview, you may sign up and pay right away for another interview (in other words, the 14-day rule only applies if you did the interview). We are sorry that we are not able to be more flexible with this—our ability to provide thousands of students with interviews for a reasonable price relies upon students taking responsibility for the interview time and place that they select.

In the case of interviews for K-12/boarding school and undergraduate admission (including freshmen and transfer), we do not use any outside materials for the interview. In the case of interviews for graduate or professional schools, the student is asked to provide a brief resume in advance that our interviewer will refer to during the interview.

Yes. The interview is not sent without the permission of the student, and we only send the interview to the schools as requested by the student (similar to other standardized tests).

We do not rate your interview or provide any written evaluation. You will see exactly what is provided to admission officers. We believe that admission officers are most interested in seeing the personalities and communication skills of each individual, not in just getting another “number” (and in most cases they don’t trust numbers because it is unclear what the “numbers” mean). Many admission officers have told us that InitialView allows them to go beyond the numbers, and that they have used our interviews to admit students that they otherwise would not have.

After December 15th, you will receive—along with your interview—the opportunity to provide two Virtual Stars to two colleges of your choice as a way to signal your preference during Regular Decision. Being able to demonstrate your preference to colleges is often appreciated during Regular Decision because it is challenging to determine how serious applicants are about a particular college. While one small factor among many in the application process, the Virtual Stars provide you with a trustworthy and simple way to express your preferences.

You will also receive a “Single Yellow Rose” later in the process that you can provide to one college if you are waitlisted at that college.

While the particular deadline for each college is different, we recommend that you submit your interview within a week after submitting other application materials for such college. This is because the submission of an application often starts a review process within a particular office, and we want your interview to be included with your materials when they are first reviewed after submission.

If you require any disability-related or other accommodations for your interview or writing sample process, please contact us at contact@initialview.com with the subject line: "Accommodation Request". We are committed to working with you to ensure an accessible experience.