mywayalie--There's more to a good interview than being a great speaker. The interviews truly are optional. Only you know if you will make a positive impression.
AdmissionsAddict, can you please clarify this:
I had an interview with the alumnus on campus (it was in the fall). Does it mean that will not be offered an interview with a local alumnus now? Or should I and can I still request it?
You may not be offered an interview because you interviewed on campus. It all depends on how busy your local interviewers are. You do not request an alumni interview, you are offered one, so there's no request for you to make.
Sorry AdmissionsAddict, there was a confusion. I was not trying to say that I am a great speaker.
what i actually tried to say was that I am not a great speaker. I was not trying to be any arrogant...I am a shy person.. that's why I'm hesitating to do interviews.
AdmissionsAddict,
first off, thank you so much for answering all of these questions and for such a long time! The first post in the forum was over a year ago! I really appreciate your diligence and your helpfulness.
second, I have an interview coming up, and I was wondering what the etiquette on piercings? I assume ear piercings are fine, but I have a rather unconventional one (eyebrow) and I'm a guy. I just got it done a month ago, so taking it out would cause it to close up. Would it be the death knell for my application if I showed up with an eyebrow piercing?
oclocrat: Who's to say if anyone in any setting might feel bias towards that? You aren't interviewing with Pricewaterhouse where the de rigeur applicant is conservative in appearance. In general, alum interviewers are sensitive to HS students' sense of individualism or self-expression. I'd say most alum interviewers aren't expecting each kid to be a duplicate of themselves or their circle of friends at Y.
If you are dressed neat otherwise, it should be okay.
Now your piercing doesn't jut out from your face 6 inches, right? I've seen some pretty extreme ones.... LOL
Agree with T26. There are probably alumni interviewers of a certain vintage who would hold the piercing against you, but I think they are a very small minority. Be yourself.
So i have an interview at this guys house a week from today...
1.should i wear like a polo and some casual pants/shoes?
2.does anyone know what the interview will ask me/ what i should read up on/be prepared for?
3. does the fact that im getting an interview mean i have a decent (or even a small) shot at getting into yale? or is it given out to as many applicants as their alumni available can handle?
4. what sort of questions/specific questions should i ask the interviewer
so heres the big problem...
when i talked to the alum on the phone he didnt sound nice at all, but i still remained as jovial as possible. However, today in school i was talking to my principal and mentioned the interview and she said that her daughter had an interview with the same guy... turns out as they were leaving, the interviewer says "you're a white girl from long island, do you really think you can get in to yale?"...and turns out she did not get into yale...
now obviously i dont have the details of the interview, but idk what to do at this point im getting really nervous!!!
djlobo--The answer to your four questions are all answered earlier (and probably several times over) in this thread. Just read posts by AdmissionsAddict starting on the first page.
As for your interview situation, if you've got a strong file, your interview won't sink you. There's not much you can do to change interviewers other than declining to interview at all. If this guy really is a problem, then you should report him to Yale after the decisions come out. I'm sure your local ASC director would want to know about a lousy interviewer.
i just had my interview yesterday. it went quite ok though i found it abit short (30mins) when compared to the yale interview i had last year which was about an hour and a half (but i didn't get in).
my interviewer was a director of a wealth management fund so i guess he was squeezed for time as he had to rush for another meeting. questions were quite few and basic (what have you been doing, why do you want to go to uni and what significant event have you experienced) and then he asked me whether i had questions for him. This took quite awhile as we discussed how he found life at yale and what i would have to expect.
My worry now is the fact that i missed some stuff out that i am currently involved in. it was abit messy because my equivalent of grade 9-10 and 11-12 were at different schools and i subsequently enlisted for National Service which complicated things as i had to explain to him how things work in my country ( he was asian american). i did hand him a CV in case i missed anything and i was wondering what the process is like for things in my CV that i didnt mention in the interview. thanks a bunch in advance
yup, my country has mandatory national service, so u had to enlist in the army and i only go to college 2 years after i finish the equivalent of high school. so, i effectively have 3 tries at applications, though i hope i wont have to use the 3rd one.
What would be a bad answer to the "Why Harvard" question, other than "because it's prestigious"? I have an answer in mind, but I think it's pretty generic but it is a very honest answer. Do interviewers expect you to know a lot of specific details for this type of question?
