The Thread for College Interviews

[3togo]

I have a friend whose D is a NMSF and lilely to be val. She's looking at several top LACs that do not require interviews. Should she request interviews? Any advantages to having an interview if not required?

The school has her academic qualifications so that, in my opinion, in no way leads to either trying to interview or trying to avoid an interview. To me that would depend much more on how the person presents themselves ... will they come across as mature, energetic, interesting, have a spark to them, and as someone who would add to the school's community? If so, then interview so the school can see those positive personality traits ... or will they likely be pretty quiet and not show their personality and uniqueness in the interview? If so, then the interview may well hurt them.

[DH9800]

Northstarmom!!
You were an interviewer for Harvard right?
I'm really nervous about my interviews next week. I applied EA to Harvard about a month ago, and I have an on-campus interview on Monday as well as an alumi interview on Friday. Do you have any advice or tips about interviewing for Harvard? I plan to bring my transcript and a resume, along with a list of questions about things I am interested in. Are there any curveballs I should be prepared for?

Thanks so much for any input you could provide. Any help you can offer would be EXTREMELY appreciated.

[farseer0514]

I had a really, really fun one at Swarthmore with the lady in charge of admissions. It lasted almost an hour. it was really just talking about my passions and interests, so we basically talked about politics, high school journalism and other stuff.
She sent me a post card later telling me to contact her if I wanted help in my Swarthmore admissions process...and she sent me a Swat newspaper and newsletter.
Relax about interviews...be natural and talk about what you love. if you're yourself, the conversation will flow naturally. Look them in the eye, smile, and show them you're more than GPA and class rank :-)

[liz117]

Sorry if this shows up twice, my computer is being evil...

I interviewed for Harvard last year, and it wasn't scary or stressful at all. It was with an alumni at his office and it was more of an hour-and-a-half long conversation than the interrogation I had pictured. I got a talkative interviewer so there was a lot of give and take, we mostly talked about my activities, what activities I could do at Harvard, what his best Harvard memories were, etc. For some reason he found it particularly astounding that my mom and I agreed that she should have no part in my education or college search unless I asked her to. It's kind of a weird thing to hear from a college bound senior, I guess, and it helped me make the point that I'm really independent,which he apparently liked. We talked a lot about my job, and, since at the time I wanted to study government, my feelings about No Child Left Behind and the Patriot Act. I didn't end up being accepted to Harvard, but at least I know it wasn't because of my interview. Looking back on it, I probably shouldn't have done this one first, since I was really nervous at the beginning of it, but it made me a lot more confident for my other two interviews.

Next was Yale, which was with another alumni in a nearby town. It was supposed to be in a coffee shop but the place was closed when we got there, so we sat outside it in the dark for an hour. Still, we had very similar backgrounds so it was easy to talk about things. One thing he said was that it's nice to get kids who talk a lot, since sometimes he had to interview kids who just gave short answers that made it hard to write a good enough report about them. This conversation was the same topics as Harvard, school, work, what I want to do, etc. Be ready for the "What sets you apart?" question. My interviewer really tried to write down as much as possible for this one and I think it may have helped get me in.

Cornell was my last alumni interview, it was in another coffee shop, which thankfully was open this time, that my friends worked at and I went to almost everyday. Because of this, I had a bunch of free coupons so when my interviewer offered to buy me something, I bought her coffee instead, which definitely set the right tone. I don't remember as much of this one but we were both really liberal and ended up talking about politics more than Cornell. It was really casual and not stressful at all.

That's my entire experience with college interviews, I only did three so I don't have any disaster stories to share. One strange thing I noticed was that most of the questions the books told me to prepare for (I spent soo much time practicing making Memoirs of a Geisha and Wicked sound classic enough to answer "Describe two books you've read recently") never actually turned up. I never brought a transcript or resume, since they aren't really necessary to keep the conversation going. My interviews were actually kind of fun, not intimidating at all,but that might just be because I got awesome interviewers. Overall, I think the things that worked for me were being talkative, being enthusiastic about my activities, and generally just giving an accurate presentation of who I was, not saying just what I thought they wanted to hear. And thank you notes. And coffee. Coffee changes lives.

[lawslaw]

I found this website and it has a few helpful entries for college interviews. Gives some perspective.

http://firsttimeapplicant.blogspot.com/

[lahayelambchop]

Strange question..
I've got this makeup art thing
and usually for school I'll do my eyes in bright colors or designs
I mean, I'm not like a cake-face or anything, its just different

So my mom said I have to do neutral and normal for any college interviews, but its me and I think it will make me stand out more..
Opinions?

[DH9800]

thanks alot liz!

[vonlost]

lamb, consider what you want the interviewer to remember most about you. How you look might overpower what you say, but perhaps the interviewer has enough experience such that what you say will come through.

[Cooldude11989]

thanks so much guys...i didn't know this thread would be that popular! good luck to everyone.

[Chen89]

DH9800 >>
Why're you going to 2 HARVARD interviews ? One in campus Today ? One with alumi interview this Friday ? How's going ?

[DH9800]

Well, i wanted to visit Harvard again to take an official campus tour, and an interview in cambridge sounded like a good idea. Then, after submitting my application a month ago, an alumni contacted me.

btw....the on campus one went realllly well.

[Susie88mm]

i also had an on campus interview last summer at harvard.i think it went pretty well... but i dont know how the interviewer thought...the interview lasted 45minutes...is it short? i cant read information from my interviewer 's face--her sunny smile is not the 100% proof that she's also impressed yeah?

[J101167]

Is there anything that Yale interviewers usually ask that other school's interviewers do not? What are some difficult questions that those who have had Yale interviews encountered? I have an alumni interview on Sunday and on-campus on Tuesday.
Also, how important is the interview in the Yale process?
Thanks

[peindre?]

My Wesleyan interview was last weekend, at the alum's house (a big mansion high on a hill with a gorgeous view of all the redwoods and vineyards, BTW :-D). It went pretty well, at first it wasn't as relaxed as my Reed & Carleton ones were because #1 Wesleyan was the one I was most nervous about because that was the school I know the least about of all the ones I'm applying to and #2 this alum was more serious than the previous 2 interviewers. I think Reed & Carleton tend to assume that if I live in this area and I was motivated enough to schedule an interview I must be a top-ranked student (this isn't Palo Alto, not a whole lot of kids around here even apply to private schools) because they mostly wanted to know if I was a personality fit for their schools, whereas Wesleyan lady was more concentrated on if I had a chance at getting in academically because she asked me about my GPA and my SAT percentile(!). At least that's my dad's theory as to why she asked me those questions, I was a bit puzzled at first but it makes sense. Also I think the other interviewers felt that it's the school's job to evaluate my academics and they wanted to concentrate on other things because that's the whole point of an interview. Don't really know. Anyway, my Wesleyan interview still went pretty well.

At noon today: Swarthmore! The closest alum where I live was a member of the class of 1956 LOL. But I figure he's probably not a cranky old man if he's 70 years old and still wants to interview teenagers at his house, and he donates to the Sonoma Valley Film Festival and is a democrat and was in the foreign service way back in the day (my dad googled him :-D). So I think it'll be okay. Oh yeah, and Mr. Swarthmore also lives in a mansion on a hill :-D

Next Saturday- Barnard! And then 3 weeks after that - Puget Sound! And then no more interviews! woo hoo

[Aoshi898]

Hey. I just had my Princeton interview yesterday, and I thought it went "pretty" well. We talked about what I found most appealing about Princeton, what my interests were, my academics, etc. She also asked me the typical, what I would be doing 20 yrs from now, or if i could be anywhere in the world w/out any responsibilities, where would it be? I thought the conversation could've flowed a little better, but i got to say everything i wanted to. The one thing that killed me was when my interviewer asked me what i thought about a current event. I said a little things, but i got to a point where i had to say, "I haven't thought about that." I have no idea how this will affect me. Have any of you experienced this situation? Will an interviewer view me negatively for not understanding a current event??