It’s late July 2026, and if you’re an international student applying to US colleges this cycle, there’s one item on your list that’s easy to postpone and expensive to postpone too long: the third-party interview. Early Decision deadlines land on November 1, and interview slots with InitialView and Vericant fill up fast as that date approaches. If you want a calm, well-prepared recording rather than a rushed one squeezed in during your ED crunch, late summer is the window to act.<\/p>\n
Most students spend the summer polishing essays and finalizing test scores, and treat the interview as an afterthought \u2014 something to schedule “eventually.” That’s a mistake, because the interview now plays a more specific and more scrutinized role in an international applicant’s file than it used to.<\/p>\n
Generative AI tools have made admissions offices more cautious about how much of an essay reflects the applicant’s own voice. When every submitted essay reads polished and grammatically clean, admissions officers increasingly look for an independent point of comparison \u2014 a live, unscripted conversation that lets them hear how you actually think and communicate in real time. A 12-to-15-minute interview with no script serves exactly that function: it’s much harder to fake than a written essay.<\/p>\n
For non-native English speakers specifically, the interview doubles as evidence of spoken English proficiency. A TOEFL or IELTS score tells admissions officers about your test-taking performance, but it doesn’t fully capture whether you can hold a natural conversation, participate in a seminar discussion, or navigate dorm life in English. A relaxed, back-and-forth conversation does that job in a way no test score can.<\/p>\n
If you’re mapping out your full application calendar, our related post on the Common App 2026 summer timeline<\/a> is worth reading alongside this one, so the interview slots into your broader schedule rather than getting squeezed out.<\/p>\n International applicants generally run into three kinds of interview opportunities, and they aren’t mutually exclusive \u2014 you may end up doing more than one:<\/p>\n The rest of this guide focuses on the first two categories, since these are the ones international applicants most often need to actively schedule and prepare for well in advance.<\/p>\n InitialView is one of the most widely used third-party interview platforms among international applicants. The format has two parts: a 12-to-15-minute unscripted conversation, plus a 20-minute proctored writing sample. Both are recorded, and you choose which of your applications receive the resulting video.<\/p>\n Almost all selective US universities accept InitialView submissions as supplementary material. Boston University officially recommends that applicants submit an optional InitialView or Vericant interview. The University of Pennsylvania states that applicants are welcome to submit one, though it isn’t required. And schools that don’t run their own interview programs \u2014 including Georgia Tech, the University of Virginia, and Boston University \u2014 have noted that these videos are genuinely helpful during file review, giving admissions committees a fuller picture of the applicant beyond the written materials.<\/p>\n Because the format is unscripted, InitialView interviewers follow up on your answers in real time. If you walk in with memorized responses, that rehearsed quality tends to show \u2014 and it works against you rather than for you. The format is designed to reward genuine, conversational English, not recitation.<\/p>\n Vericant is the other major third-party interview provider, and it’s owned by ETS \u2014 the same organization that administers the TOEFL. Schools that use Vericant interviews as part of their review process include Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Notre Dame, the University of Virginia, and Washington University in St. Louis.<\/p>\n USC handles it a bit differently: the school explicitly frames third-party interviews as optional, non-evaluative supplementary evidence of English proficiency \u2014 not something that factors into the formal admissions score. That makes it a useful option for applicants who already have solid TOEFL or IELTS scores but want an additional data point supporting their English communication skills.<\/p>\n One practical detail worth knowing: a university-level Vericant interview remains valid for one year from the interview date. If you record over the summer, that interview stays usable well into the following cycle \u2014 useful if you’re applying across multiple rounds or your timeline stretches longer than expected.<\/p>\n Alumni interviews work on a different logic than third-party platforms \u2014 they hinge on volunteer availability in your area. Harvard and Yale both offer alumni interviews at the school’s discretion, depending on how many volunteer interviewers are active where you live. Both schools are explicit that your application is considered complete without one, and that not being offered an interview carries no disadvantage.<\/p>\n Princeton’s process runs in the opposite order: the school contacts you after you’ve submitted your application to arrange an interview. It isn’t required, but Princeton recommends accepting if you’re offered one. MIT states that its goal is to offer interviews to as many applicants as possible, though this is still constrained by regional volunteer capacity.<\/p>\n For students based in Taiwan or elsewhere in Asia, alumni interviews are typically conducted virtually rather than in person. Whether you’re offered one often comes down to how many alumni volunteers are active in your city that cycle and how many applicants are competing for their time \u2014 factors largely outside your control. That’s exactly why it makes sense to put your energy into the interview format you can actually control: the third-party interview.<\/p>\nThree Interview Types International Students Encounter<\/h2>\n
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InitialView: A Closer Look<\/h2>\n
Vericant: A Closer Look<\/h2>\n
Alumni Interviews: What Taiwan and Asia-Based Students Should Know<\/h2>\n