Amazon's recruitment is run like a factory. It is clear they have a rather large recruitment team (I hear upwards of a thousand) and the company is on an amazing growth trajectory. This means they run interviews like you're on a conveyor belt. I applied at my university and I was immediately put through the process of video interviews. In the first round it was two back to back interviews with current Senior PMs. The first one was focused on behavioral questions, work history, and fit. The second interviewer provided case studies and was quite rude and arrogant. Not sure if he was intentionally trying to make me angry but I had to hold myself back. It was clear after my time with him I was not going to move forward. After reading that NYTimes article it's probably a good thing. Oddly enough one of my friends also went through the process and received an offer. We had two very different experiences. He did not get any case studies and his questions focused more on behavioral and situational questions. He also had much more pleasant interviewers. So it's the luck of the draw. It's also worth noting that once you make it past round one of video interviewers you will get called back for a second round of video interviews before receiving an offer. Amazon does not fly out graduate student candidates (at least not us). I find it a bit unnerving that you don't meet anyone face to face or get to experience Seattle. If you apply through this method, hopefully you've already visited Seattle to determine if you like living there and don't mind knowing which team you get assigned to until AFTER you accept the offer. Personally I like to know who I'm going to be working for before signing at the dotted line. You have no idea who your direct manager is going to be or if the team you are working with is going to be a cultural fit. Roll the dice.