The Thread for College Interviews - Page 9

hbdesiato · 12-11-2006, 03:50 PM

Looking for advice
My D needs to sched an interview and I decided to google the alum who would be doing the interview... I'm pretty uncomfortable now about the interview and the school in general, is it common for an 05 grad to do interviews and be the kind of person to "let it all hang out" in the local papers?
Requesting a different alum would cause questions and not responding to the interview suggestion will be bad for the application... Gah.

hbdesiato · 12-14-2006, 02:55 PM

Nevermind!
We decided to drop that college from our list and withdraw the application.

koker · 12-15-2006, 05:46 AM

My interviewer told me that my interview's at a Goldman Sachs conference room. To tell you the truth I'm freaked out. I thought interviews were supposed to be relaxed lol How am I supposed to relax in a Goldman Sachs conference room. I should wear atleast semi-formal right? Should I wear a suit? Necktie?

hrhcow · 12-16-2006, 05:39 AM

i just had my claremont mckenna interview. it went for about 45 minutes or so. i was interviewed by a senior interviewer and she was really nice. i'm just glad i didn't completely freak out and she didn't ask anything about current events. i would like to think i did well, but honestly who knows? at least she didn't stare at her watch (in my friend's case) and i'm just glad that it's over with!

koker · 12-16-2006, 07:59 AM

Anybody have advice? Should I wear dress shoes? This is an alum interview, but it's at a conference room so...

VeryHappy · 12-16-2006, 08:41 AM

I think where the interview is held tells you something about the interviewer. He (I assume it's a he . . . ) is used to seeing suits and ties all day long. You don't want to stand out, so I'd dress the same. My son had an interview in a local coffee shop and he wore a nice Abercrombie shirt and khakis. But given where you'll be meeting, I think a suit is called for.

bijoux7 · 12-16-2006, 09:43 PM

has anyone had an interview from simmons college? i have one this thursday and i'm super nervous! it's not alumnus asking me...it's an actual admission officer.

jai6638 · 12-16-2006, 11:50 PM

Hey guys!

I needed some help.. There is an alum interview session that will be held at a community college for Northwestern University. I signed up for it becase I figured that it could not hurt ( since I generally do welll at interviews ). However, my concern is that I have not visited the university... Reasons why I am applying are: good program, proximity to Chicago ( which I have been to three years ago and I liked it), reputation and decent international population/diversity. Would the fact that I have not visited the university be to my disadvantage ( I live in Connecticut )? Are my above reasons good for questions such as, "Why Northwestern"?

Thanks

VeryHappy · 12-17-2006, 05:02 PM

Visiting would have been nice but no one expects you to trek a thousand miles just to check out a place. Goodness -- then you'd have to check out dozens of places far from home, and no one can do that. Just be sure you have substantial reasons for liking the school when they ask you, "Why Northwestern?"

jai6638 · 12-18-2006, 02:57 AM

Very Happy, Thank you for your response.

Are the reasons I listed above substantial enough?

Thanks

koker · 12-18-2006, 05:01 AM

VeryHappy, thanks. In the end I decided to just go in my school uniform, which is pretty formal anyways. He seemed to just not have enough time to go to a coffee shop or anything. But it was pretty good. Got to see their trading floor

jai6638, I think if you have good reasons why you like the program, then it should be OK.

VeryHappy · 12-18-2006, 08:32 AM

As to "Why Northwestern": I'd add something about one, or some, of their programs. For example, if you're interested in studying economics, talk about their curriculum, a professor or two, etc., and then emphasize that while other schools have this too, what makes studying econ at NW exciting for you is that it's a Big 10 school, you love the fraternity/sorority thing, Chicago is a cool city . . . Just tie it in to something academic, I think, so it doesn't sound like it's all about the real estate and the social life. 'Cause that could be perceived as a bit superficial.

jai6638 · 12-18-2006, 02:20 PM

I am applying to the Manufactring and Design Program which is not offered at many universities in the US and fits my goals so I suppose I will talk about that..

Thanks much

TangyTart · 12-19-2006, 07:52 PM

Hey everyone. I had an interview with University of Chicago today (with an Alumnus). He was an older gentleman who had graduated 41 years ago. Anyways, I didn't do much to prep. I have already done three other interviews so I sort of had some experience. I basically went online and read on Wikipedia about the school and that helped. I also read literature that I picked up when I went on a campus tour in November. One funny (and embarassing) thing that happened was that we were nearly kicked out of the library (where he was interviewing me). The clerical woman asked him rudely, "are you a private tutor -- only nonprofit tutors are allowed at the library!" He responded by saying he was a U of C interviewer and she rolled her eyes and sort of did a sarcastic "oooo" thing. I am going to write a business letter to the library about this woman asap. Anyways the interview went ok IMO. He asked me some basic questions for about 20 minutes. And the last ten minutes of the interview was basically me asking questions. It was sort of hard to ask the questions even though I had prepared several. At the end he said he thought I was a good match for the school (twice). One thing I'd like to mention is, he asked for my scores and also where else I had applied. I was sort of taken aback since he's technically not at liberty to ask that but I told him anyways since I didn't want to offend him. My advice is not to stress too much about the interview. The guy himself admitted they're just likely to glance over his writeup. Overall, I thought this went well and will help me for future interviews.

Northstarmom · 12-19-2006, 10:00 PM

"One thing I'd like to mention is, he asked for my scores and also where else I had applied. I was sort of taken aback since he's technically not at liberty to ask that"

Actually, he is at liberty to ask those things. In fact, I know that Harvard specificially asks interviewers to get students' scores, class rank and gpa. My guess is that this is to make sure that when interviewers rate students on their intellectual abilities, the interviewers also are using this info.

While Harvard asks its interviewers not to ask what other schools applicants are applying to, I've heard that some college admissions officers actually will ask applicants about where else they are applying. After all, some applications even ask that information. It's up to the applicant, however, about whether to answer the question.