The Thread for College Interviews - Page 43

Northstarmom · 01-19-2009, 11:32 AM

My alma mater, Harvard, asks alum interviewers to get the students' stats including their AP/SAT scores. I assume that's because the interviewers have to rate the students on their intelligence, and Harvard wants to make sure the interviewers are using facts as well as an impression gained from the interview. I also think that the info serves as a back-up to the info the student has sent to Harvard. Info, for instance, could get missfiled or overlooked at Harvard.

Poseur · 01-19-2009, 11:52 PM

I had my Princeton one a couple of days ago. My interviewer was so nice that it was intimidating, haha.

The first question she asked was "Why Princeton?" which TOTALLY took me by surprise since I didn't have anything planned for just straight up "WHY PRINCETON." I mean, I was planning to like... integrate stuff into OTHER answers... & definitely could have taken it on at the end... but as a first question, I was just like "LOLWUT." So I blinked for a minute & said something lame. "I mean... I wanna do science, right? And it's Princeton. So they have like amazing resources. But... they're so good at the liberal arts too, right?! And I like languages!"

But it went well besides that. I mean, I didn't really like how I came across (the only thing I could think of for "What might people who don't like you so much say about you?" was "Um... people might think I'm an elitist. Like, my sister says that I don't even talk to people who aren't in advanced classes!") But it was definitely good, 'cause my interviewer was really good & I learned a lot about Princeton (which is the main point of the interview!) & I also got practice with "Tell me about [x aspect of yourself that you've never thought about]"-type questions. And at the end, my interviewer gave me really good feedback: she said that she'd be writing good things about me in my report & that I gave really good answers to her questions & good examples & stuff. So that was really encouraging. (:

edit: Oh, and when I was leaving, I put one arm in my winter coat & like... struggled with the other one for like... 30 seconds. Then I gave up, took it off, & pretended to look for my cell phone in the pocket & then miraculously find it in my jeans pocket. And then put on my coat smoothly. I hope she was looking elsewhere. :[

swamp147 · 01-20-2009, 03:19 PM

how do you know who your interviewer is if you have scheduled to meet him at a cafe or coffee shop? describe yourself in an email? send a pic?

im just nervous about getting into an awkward situation where we are both there but don't realize it, or ending up greeting someone who isn't the interviewer!

justdeng · 01-20-2009, 07:17 PM

I've been to 3 interviews where it could have been anyone, but I think you just look for the person who's looking for you, lol. you can kind of tell. people don't usually just hang around standing in the middle of starbucks. good luck ^_^

INVENIAMVIAM · 01-20-2009, 10:37 PM

Quote:

2. should i offer to buy my interviewer a drink? what should i do if he offers to buy me a drink?

Lol, yeah, my Harvard interviewer bought me a drink. It really only seemed natural to accept it - I can't imagine anyone being like "Ummmm... nooooo thanks" lolol.

AvantTao · 01-20-2009, 11:34 PM

I always arrive about 15-20 minutes early for my interviews. I pick my own spot and then sit. I then keep looking around at the people outside and try to predict who my interviewer is. While your distracting your mind your interviewer will usually come up behind you (my back is always facing the door) and ask your name and if you are here to interview.

I have had 4 interviews (3 left) so thats pretty much the standard drill.

Interviews are a little different if you have to go to the person's workplace or office (like I will for my Haverford interview...).

romeboards · 01-20-2009, 11:57 PM

Try as i might, I could not get an actual conversation going with my interviewer. It was like talking to a robot. They also thought for some reason that my interview was supposed to be today, and if I hadnt called ahead of time it would not have been a good situation, as i had to drive an hour and a half (one way) to get there. oh well at least its over with :-P .

AKDigger · 01-21-2009, 04:45 PM

Northstarmom: how do we divide the check?

swamp147 · 01-21-2009, 10:38 PM

Finished my Georgetown Alumni Interview a few hours ago. It went very well!

DwightEisenhower · 01-22-2009, 03:53 PM

My Georgetown interview went very well. She was a lawyer so I talked about my Mock Trial team a little bit and the case we had this year. Talked about why I wanted to go to Georgetown, what my interests were, what I thought about this year's changes to the Red Sox roster...etc. She was very friendly.

DwightEisenhower · 01-22-2009, 03:55 PM

Just a quick question though. I see people taking about sending handwritten thank-you notes and this surprised me a little bit. I would think the e-mail thank you note (especially if you arranged the interview by e-mail) would be more appropriate; handwritten notes for a brief, 45 minute interview seem kind of phony, at least to me. What do you guys think?

swamp147 · 01-23-2009, 09:47 PM

I thanked my interviewer via email.
Not sure when a handwritten note would be appropriate...

swang · 01-23-2009, 10:21 PM

Should I be bringing a resume to the interview? Its for Georgetown and tomorrow. :/

lolcats4 · 01-23-2009, 11:19 PM

I have Harvard tomorrow morning, and it's my first one lol! After preparing for it I almost feel worse.

dchow08 · 01-24-2009, 11:17 AM

swang: It's absolutely not necessary. Just remember some things you do in high school so if the interviewer asks for what ECs you do, etc., you won't have a blank look.