Interview Opportunities

While interviews are not required to be admitted, the majority of successful applicants complete an interview, and if you are serious about Denison we recommend sitting for an interview.

No major preparation necessary. You’ll be talking about yourself, a subject you’re an expert in already! Think of some questions you would like to hear the answers to, especially questions that can’t be answered by browsing our website.

For virtual interviews, we recommend testing the interview link, camera, and microphone (we want to see and hear you!), making sure you have a good stable wifi connection, and setting yourself up in a space where you won’t be interrupted for about 30 minutes.

We begin interviewing prospective first-year students as early as March of your junior year through February of a student’s senior year. Prospective transfer students are also welcome to interview, and should interview before their application deadline - either November 15 or April 15. Don’t wait until the last minute to sign up – if you plan to apply to Denison, we recommend sitting for an interview early in the process.

Our interview questions help us better understand your personal qualities. We won’t ask you to rehash your resume or activities - we’ll learn about how you spend your time through your application. In this setting, our goal is to find out a bit more about you as a person.

All applicants in a given application year will be asked the same set of questions. This helps us eliminate potential bias in the interview process and ensures a consistent evaluation across applicants from different backgrounds. And, our questions are created to help you shine.

There is no formal dress requirement. We are far more interested in what you have to say than what you decide to wear.

Our structured and evaluative interviews are only offered by members of the admission staff and Senior Admission Docents. However, alumni are great resources to help you understand the spirit of Denison, and we offer alumni chats as another way to tell us about yourself and ask questions about the Denison experience. Alumni will report back to us about your conversation, but an alumni chat is not a replacement for an interview in the application process.

To schedule an alumni chat, please reach out to Admission Alumni Volunteer Coordinator, Jasmine Wilson.

You will not be at a disadvantage. But if it’s possible for you to interview in-person, we strongly recommend it. Denison is all about personal connection, and it is just easier to connect face-to-face.

However, we completely understand that this isn’t an option for everyone. Virtual interviews take place using Zoom, and the structure and content of the interview is identical either in-person or virtually.

While optional, interviews are evaluative, so they are considered a part of your application to Denison. The admission officers who read your application will have the interview notes available to them as part of that review, and they will read those notes alongside the rest of your application.

Look, we would love to chat all day. Unfortunately, with far more applicants than we have space to admit, unless we learn how to self-multiply, that’s just not feasible, so everyone is limited to one interview.

We do ask that you turn your video on during virtual interviews. We would have loved to meet in person, and we want this experience to come as close to an in-person interview as possible.

There’s no need to do a Denison interview if you’re planning to submit an InitialView or Vericant Interview. The one advantage of a Denison interview is that you’ll be able to ask us questions about our campus community.