The option for Stanford applicants to interview with alumni volunteers will graduate from the pilot stage to a permanent program this coming year. The change follows approval in April by the Faculty Senate Committee on Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid.

As before, the program will be optional; applications will be considered complete with or without an interview and students who do not to participate will not incur a penalty. Alumni will continue to contact applicants directly if an interview is available in their region, and applicants still cannot request one.

As previously reported, the interview option has been overwhelmingly popular. During the 2010-11 application season, alumni volunteers interviewed roughly 3,000 students, which met the pilot program’s goal. The program was introduced to provide the Office of Undergraduate Admission information about applicants that might not show in paper applications and offer candidates a more in-depth chance to learn about Stanford.

The program started in 2008-09, initially with 378 alumni interviewers spread between Atlanta, Denver, Portland, New York and London. For 2010-11, the number of interviewers grew to 1,061 and locations expanded to include Philadelphia, Portland, Raleigh/Durham, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Washington D.C., Massachusetts and Virginia.

According to a press release, Dean of Admission Richard Shaw said the University intends to roll out the program in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Singapore, Oregon and Minnesota for the 2011-12 application cycle. He added that Stanford will expand the program worldwide over the next few years, in the meantime “focusing on refining our infrastructure to support global expansion.”

–Tyler Brown