<p>I had my alumni interview with U of Chicago about two hours ago. I thought it went pretty well. It lasted from 3:40 to about 5:10, a good 90 minutes of good conversations. I feel obliged to talk about it here just for your information, at least for those of you who are freaking out over interviews.
She started off telling me she did romance languages at U of Chicago. She is on the class reunion committee for her class (1982 I believe) and her friends and she all agree that they deserve some kind of medal for surviving four years of Chicago during the late 1970s with hyperinflation, oil crisis, etc. She then went on telling me how the university used so much endowment in renovating the campus since she left.
Then we talked a little about how much New Orleans public education sucks. I am not kidding. Btw, She came from the same high school as my MIT interviewer (of course, I didn’t tell her that). She and I agree on the institutional problems that exist within New Orleans’ education systems and she said she totally understood my struggle through the not-so-great high school, as she had done the same some thirty years ago.
The most interesting part of the interview is our conversation on Aristotle, Plato, Les Miserables, and Crime and Punishment. I told her I took ethics at CMU in the summer and read from Socrates to Nietzsche. She asked me if I am Aristotelean or Platonic, to which I gladly said, “Platonic. The idea that everyone has a place in society according to his abilities shown in Plato’s Republic makes sense to me and though I may not agree with the social stratification, I like the peaceful world view that originates from this position-in-life ideology.” She responded by saying maybe that is why I am more into math and science than into literature; she likes Aristotle more because the messier and more pragmatic Aristotelean views fit her more than the idealistic idea about the perfect Forms in Plato’s writings. I thought it was a valuable conversation. Then we talked about Les Miserables, Hugo’s political connections, Russian writiers, Crime and Punishment, psychological revelations in Raskolnikov’s life, and so on. I enjoyed it very much.
At the end, she did point out that the 40% increase in Chicago’s early action applicants will make the process more selective. She emphasized that I should not give up the initiative on U of C even if the Early Action results are not positive.
3 interviews down, 4 more to go.</p>
<p>It sounds like you had a really great time at your interview and you did a good job with it!</p>
<p>I should point out, though, that experiences with alumni interviewers are going to range widely, as no two alumni from any given school are the same, and that the alumni are not necessarily following a skit. It’s terrific that you were able to talk about things that you knew in common. Perhaps if you were a plant enthusiast and a fencer, your conversation would have been entirely different.</p>
<p>My interview went well but it was definitely more standard than this. We mostly focused on the school itself (diverging a little to Harry Potter), and it lasted for around an hour. It sounds like your interview was really awesome! Mine was too, but definitely in a different way. Nothing wrong with that, though.</p>
<p>mine lasted for 2 hours and it started standard but we strayed. and she goes to caltech right now so she was explaining a process of something crazy about proteins i dont even know.</p>
<p>Although my interview was with an interviewer at the University (not a local alumni), it was the most provocative of my other two interviews. It was the longest, most personal, and most intellectual talk I had compared with my other two ones. Makes me feel all the more that I’d love UChicago…</p>
<p>I’m worried because my interview didn’t seem very “intellectual.” I felt like it was still a good interview and I presented myself well, but it was more standard. I hope this isn’t going to count against me.</p>
<p>I really wouldn’t worry about it.</p>
<p>Here are some interview-killers I can think of:</p>
<p>… “I really don’t like school, or learning, or reading books, or even working hard…”</p>
<p>…“I want to attend a big football school”…</p>
<p>…“I want to major in accounting and minor in nursing and communications…”</p>
<p>…" Plato? You mean Play-Dough?"…</p>
<p>I’m sure all of you did great, whether your interviews were intellectual or not. They don’t have to be brainy to be effective… as long as you let some of your personality through, answered the questions seriously, and show interest in the school, I think you can only help your case for admission.</p>
<p>Thanks, unalove. as always, your posts are very grounded and comforting.</p>