With the fall 2025-26 application cycle approaching, it's important to keep an eye on interview requirements for the schools on your list—especially if they're looking for evidence of demonstrated interest.  

For example in cases like Hillsdale College where interviews are encouraged and demonstrated interest is very important, it's a good bet that taking advantage of an optional interview — in-person or virtual — is worth your time and may more strongly weigh on your candidacy for admission.

To compile this list, we first surveyed every school in our coverage universe where the latest Common Data Set entry for "level of applicant's interest" was reported as important or very important.  We then identified the schools where interviews are offered, encouraged, or required. 

 The devil is in the details, so to help you figure out your strategy we've also included a link to each listed school's interview policy.  Do keep in mind that interview requirements may often vary by major.   Also note that the Common Data set defines four options—very important, important, considered and not considered—and that inconsistencies are likely to exist in the way colleges define these terms.

This information is current as of 6/10/2025.

College Kickstart subscribers: this information is already available to you in the Summary and Requirements views.

 

Click on Continue Reading for the list.

Georgetown announced today that afer reviewing their undergraduate admissions processes that it will be launching a three-year pilot program where applicants can use the Common Application in addition to Georgetown's own application. 

Click here for additional details on Georgetown's updated admission processes

 

We're putting the finishing touches on the next edition of College Kickstart for High School Counselors and thought we'd give you a sneak peek.  In addition to expanded school and departmental coverage, we've added minimum GPA enforcement, several requested features and a host of new capabilities to CK 360™, including custom groups and a new score submission visualization.

 

We're putting the finishing touches on the next edition of College Kickstart for Independent Consultants and thought we'd give you a sneak peek.  In addition to expanded school and departmental coverage—including University of California admission rates based on residency and honors course count—we've added minimum GPA enforcement and several optional features you've been requesting.

 

We're putting the finishing touches on the next edition of College Kickstart for Students and Parents and thought we'd give you a sneak peek.  In addition to expanded school and departmental coverage—including the latest University of California profiles based on academic discipline—we've added a new tag for great nursing programs and introduced minimum GPA enforcement to call out situations where your GPA may be particularly weak for a school on your list.