When I applied to MIT a million years ago, I also had an interview with a local alumnus. Essentially it was just going over to his home one evening and talking

When I applied to MIT a million years ago, I also had an interview with a local alumnus. Essentially it was just going over to his home one evening and talking about what my plans were and so on. I got to ask him about what the experience there was actually like, etc etc. He was a fairly successful engineer in a big house, which I assumed was an intentional part of the show on their part. It wasn't an interview in any of the usual senses of the word, really just a meet and chat kind of thing. I had no sense of being evaluated in any meaningful way. More to make sure I wasn't obviously psycho crazy and at least minimally functional, I imagine.