MIT: Master Interview Thread - Page 8

dean5150 · 12-10-2008, 08:19 PM

It seems like all of the current MIT students talk about their interviews like they were all great, bonded with the EC, etc... But in mine it was just okay. We may have laughed a tiny bit, but I'm not sure if I just wasn't as enthusiastic as I thought I'd be or if it was just the EC who seemed to just be reading off a list of suggested questions (like it was his first time interviewing). I have no idea about the report he wrote, but to any current MIT students: did any of you have a so-so interview and still get in?

ana ivanovic!!! · 12-10-2008, 08:33 PM

i'm sure most people had "so-so" interviews (not that urs sounded so-so)
many people exaggerate a lot
and also the people who have had stellar interviews post about them
so yeah

Mikalye · 12-11-2008, 11:28 AM

I had a so-so interview (from my perspective) and got in. Given the huge number of EC's, and the difficulty in managing them, the interview matters most on the edges, if it is stunningly good or bad.

prime235 · 12-11-2008, 05:30 PM

how do you make an interview go well?

Ambitiousteen · 12-11-2008, 05:34 PM

ana u make great generalizations lol... do u do that in real life to?

Ambitiousteen · 12-11-2008, 05:35 PM

2 hour interview for me... it was hella fun... my EC was da bomb literally...

shirker · 12-11-2008, 06:48 PM

Do people here do much else than flaunt their achievements? Ambitiousteen you could elaborate at least in the smallest bit as to how your interview went well and why it lasted so long. I've already made my posts in this thread - I had a 1:45 interview that went swimmingly - but I also explained a little bit why it took so long; because the "interview" turned into a casual conversation about anything. People should know that shorter interviews aren't necessarily bad at all, they could just be more concise and to the point. Conversely, long interviews like ours could be bad for all we know.

prime235 · 12-12-2008, 12:01 AM

shirker...very insightful post. *thumbs up*

dococtopi · 12-12-2008, 12:31 AM

I had a pretty good interview; my EC was older and went to MIT in the 60s and he came off as really not liking the place. He asked me questions for about 20 minutes and we spent the next 45 minutes or so just talking about his times at MIT and just technology in general. I have to say it was one of the most genuine and coolest conversations I've had in a while.

I think a lot of it depends on your individual EC. You could really tell that mine was pretty amiable and admires everyone that he interviews --- he said that the work that a lot of us are doing now would be what they did during their second year at MIT in the 60s. :x wow.

darkblue303 · 12-13-2008, 08:49 PM

What do you do after an interview?...Send the interviewer a thank-you email?

ougnala · 12-14-2008, 12:32 AM

So yea I got a pretty important interview commin up.... in about 14 hours....

I really want to know what kind of penetrating questions is she going to ask me: Where I will be in 25 years? What did you do these past summers? Questions that are going to make me hesitate and think: I should have gone to EPGY instead of that church camp at Clear Lake Iowa...

So any comment, advice or info?

burnitblue · 12-14-2008, 12:49 AM

Well, every interviewer is different, but mine didn't give me any hard questions. He just basically asked what I liked to do for fun, what my favorite activity in school was, how I got interested in MIT, that sort of thing. He really let me ask a lot of questions of my own.

I would definitely prepare a couple of questions to ask your interviewer, but not stuff that can be found on the MIT website. Ask her about her experiences at MIT, also if she knows any alumni and how their post-MIT experiences went, that kind of stuff.

oasis · 12-14-2008, 02:54 AM

Be honest. Don't double guess the interviewer. Have fun! It's not meant to be intimidating.

The only thing I would say to prepare for is a 1-2 minute sound byte about who you are, what you like to do, and why you like MIT to start the conversation off.

srrinath · 12-14-2008, 07:54 AM

according a friend who had his MIT interview not too long ago, your interviewer is going to ask you a couple of generic questions, the sort you can find on college applications. and when you're done talking about those, he'll allow you to ask questions.

so come prepared with some qns.

Rupac · 12-14-2008, 11:48 AM

My interview was a bit more than an hour, but ended only because there was another student who was scheduled to go after me and he was waiting there for 15 minutes (my interviewer arrived about 10 minutes late). We were quite in the middle of the conversation when she realized that it was running late. It would've been nice to keep going, because it was going very well. She appealed to me as almost a peer, with the one exception that she actually HAD an MIT-obtained degree...

The interviewer asked me a good range of questions about my interests and my extra-currics, etc. but mostly it was a conversation back and forth. I must say that I probably asked her the same number of questions she asked me. But she was quite impressed with my academics and clubs etc. She also told me to especially keep in touch and drop her a line whenever anything moderately interesting happens in my life haha.

It was very good overall. I came out of the room (it was my first interview) feeling pretty confident.