amy811

How formal should we dress, and what should we expect the professor to ask us about? I've never had a college interview and I'm nervous!

mathboy98

Amy, I don't recall how I dressed [probably somewhat well], but you should mainly expect that he or she will talk to you about what you wrote on the essays. I had only 2 other interviews, and this one was somewhat less intimidating to me because he really genuinely talked about things you probably already have good ideas about. If you noticed, the UC essays are actually just informative, tell about your goals in college, etc. So your dialogue with this professor can't be too strange in nature!

Maybe ask the professor what he teaches - usually you had a slight say in who interviews you. Try to ask the professor's perspective on the school. I mean, professors at Berkeley are REALLY RIDICULOUSLY overaccomplished people whom even the number 1 or 2 undergrads from top schools in any given major can't necessarily hope to match. You should treat this individual with great respect and enter with the attitude that it's an honor to talk to him/her, and that this could be great info about the school, and you'll do wonderfully.

Any other questions, I'll be happy to address. =]

amy811

Thanks so much!! I'm glad it's mainly about the essays because this means he'll ask me things I've already thought about anyways ... also, I know you can bring optional letters of rec-- how many would you recommend? like, will it be unnecessary to bring more than 3 ??

mathboy98

Three will be fine -- I would not worry about that =]

Yeah keep in mind a professor will probably not be the kind to ask you random things -- probably straightforward things which are tough only if you have not thought of 'em.

alyjenn

3 recommendation letters is highly unnecessary!
I forgot to bring a recommendation letter and everything turned out ok.

Just be yourself, and be prepared to talk about your essays with passion. Because after all, you wrote about things that were important to you so they're using that as a means to get to know you better.

rofflez

Don't bring 3 letters. Instead bring questions and show genuine interest in Cal. My professor was a very esteemed engineering/CS professor and despite being very impressed with me, I blew my interview with him at the end by saying I didn't have any questions for him because my brother went there. I felt like I gave him the wrong impression at the end and ended up not getting awarded the scholarship.

So in short from my 1 experience (although yours could very well be different):
- show lots of enthusiasm for Cal... be excited, this is an opportunity to be awarded the most prestigious prefrosh scholarship Cal offers
- be interested in what the professor does (but of course not in a brown noser way... just don't be afraid to show genuine interest/ask earnest questions)
- be prepared for them to ask you what other schools you're going to (and similarly don't be afraid to ask or answer why Cal is better/worse in different regards)

edit: of course this is just an addendum to what everyone else said. my interviewer mostly breezed through my transcript/scores in ~10 minutes, then went straight to the essays + activities. also of note he sort of disregarded my activities/essays that were less related... i.e. my sports awards and wanted to talk about my science/math side, which makes sense considering he was a CS professor

SoCaliii

So I heard the interview is about 30 minutes. About how much of that is you asking him questions and him answering questions? Also would you guys recommend going to the interview like 45 minutes early and check out the stuff they have or is that not really worth it?

HypnosX

It depends on the professor. Four years ago mine was socially awkward and the interview was bomb, or so I thought. I still ended up getting the $$$, though I believe I belonged to the "second-tier" pile, as I didn't get the scholarship notification on the same day decision came out.

iVinshe

HypnosX: you're not supposed to know until the day decisions come out xP

shinakuma

Where does it say to bring Letters of rec? I only remember seeing instructions not to bring them. Also, there are no additional essays to the interview, correct?