lovemom

How much weight does the interview have in the admissions decision itself? Is the interview more to determine social, inter-personal skills?

1) should you take a resume, and if you do, what should it include, ideal length of resume
2) Is the resume to be shared with your interviewer be only about EC's, awards etc? Not even GPA and SAT/ACT scores?
3) Will they ask "Why Penn" even though we have answered it in a 500 word essay; do you reiterate the reasons already in the essay, or articulate the reasons you couldn't fit into the essay.

Thanks!

morewaffles

you don't need to put the academic stuff on it because the purpose of the interviews is to get to know you on more of a personal level and if they really want to know, they'd ask. but my interviewer said "i'm not supposed to ask you what your scores are"

my interviewer asked me why penn and i basically said what i said in the essay since both emphasized why i loved the school (and he doesnt read the essays)

=) they're informal and a lot of fun

lovemom

thank you morewaffles, I didn't see your reply and just asked you the same question in your thread about having an awesome interview.

So basically no academic stuff on the resume, a one-pager with EC's should be enough then?
How long was your interview? Did you get there ahead of time and buy yourself a drink first?

morewaffles

yeah, just an activity resume, no academics.
my interviewer said it'd be around 30-40 minutes but it ended up being an hour
it's really up to him/her!

and it was at his house, but if your interview is at a coffee shop, i'd definitely say to arrive early to grab a table and a drink for yourself

there's another thread on this page with interview advice that was pretty good

lovemom

thank you very much