College Confidential - View Single Post

ab2013 · 11-13-2008, 10:15 PM

I wasn't myself entirely. I didn't feel comfortable sharing my inner thoughts with my interviewer. He kinda started the interview slow -- allowed me to pick wherever I wanted to start, but then he started peppering me with questions: So what do you do in school? Are in involved? Sports? etc. etc. He was very anal about me having any team-oriented or group-oriented activities, but our school is very "on your own," as it's pretty competitive. It's the kind of school where you go to school, go to orchestra or sports practice, volunteer, return home, do your homework, study, then collapse in bed late at night. Not much time on your own ... so I tripped when he asked me about what I do for fun ... told him about some TV shows I liked (we both liked the new show FRINGE so that was nice) but that was about it because I didn't feel in place at all.

On the other hand, he seemed impressed about how much I knew about MIT's academic system ... much more than "it's a pretty prestigious school" and I did bombard him with questions about the school and what it's like to be an aerospace engineer (what he majored in and what my 2nd career choice is right now).

He did ask near the end though, a curve ball question: "If you had all the resources in the world - financial, capital, everything - what would you do with it? How would you take advantage of that opportunity?" I gave him a really vague answer about helping people out, but I ended up e-mailing him a final answer along with my "Thanks for giving me that interview," because he did say that I could have one more week to continue my interview with e-mails or phone calls and he would be interested in what I had to say.

When I left, I felt that he saw me as the "average applicant" --- simply because all my responses were straightforward and a little dull. I wouldn't say it was a total disaster, but my interview did last 1 hour 10 minutes. But he was pretty tired tho because our interview started at 8 p.m. ... must have been tired from work so he didn't buy any of my tangents (he would always say "we can save that for next time")

But I am pretty grateful that I didn't start out like this:
"So, uh, how's the weather?"

11-13-2008, 10:15 PM	#48
ab2013 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: In a place where I will challenge challenges that are beyond my wildest dreams (Michigan '13) Posts: 1,473	I wasn't myself entirely. I didn't feel comfortable sharing my inner thoughts with my interviewer. He kinda started the interview slow -- allowed me to pick wherever I wanted to start, but then he started peppering me with questions: So what do you do in school? Are in involved? Sports? etc. etc. He was very anal about me having any team-oriented or group-oriented activities, but our school is very "on your own," as it's pretty competitive. It's the kind of school where you go to school, go to orchestra or sports practice, volunteer, return home, do your homework, study, then collapse in bed late at night. Not much time on your own ... so I tripped when he asked me about what I do for fun ... told him about some TV shows I liked (we both liked the new show FRINGE so that was nice) but that was about it because I didn't feel in place at all. On the other hand, he seemed impressed about how much I knew about MIT's academic system ... much more than "it's a pretty prestigious school" and I did bombard him with questions about the school and what it's like to be an aerospace engineer (what he majored in and what my 2nd career choice is right now). He did ask near the end though, a curve ball question: "If you had all the resources in the world - financial, capital, everything - what would you do with it? How would you take advantage of that opportunity?" I gave him a really vague answer about helping people out, but I ended up e-mailing him a final answer along with my "Thanks for giving me that interview," because he did say that I could have one more week to continue my interview with e-mails or phone calls and he would be interested in what I had to say. When I left, I felt that he saw me as the "average applicant" --- simply because all my responses were straightforward and a little dull. I wouldn't say it was a total disaster, but my interview did last 1 hour 10 minutes. But he was pretty tired tho because our interview started at 8 p.m. ... must have been tired from work so he didn't buy any of my tangents (he would always say "we can save that for next time") But I am pretty grateful that I didn't start out like this: "So, uh, how's the weather?" Last edited by ab2013; 11-13-2008 at 10:34 PM.
	Reply