<p>I got a call for an interview already.
Wow, that’s fast considering my form went in like one day ago. Anyone else got a call and any tips?</p>
<p>i’ve done a lot of interviews already, but not chicago. the guidelines are all the same: be yourself; these guys do enough interviews to know when someone is BS’ing them.</p>
<p>Chicago’s interviews are actually really fun as long as you BE yourself. If you BS, I can almost promise ur interview will be an epic fail.</p>
<p><em>This comes with the caveat that interviews are not deal breakers for many students, and often are marginal in the decision process at best.</em></p>
<p>I don’t buy the “be yourself” argument for the most part, unless you are incredibly bad at putting on a good show. Interviewers are not just looking for clear tells you are a bong smoker, plan to be a whorish banker, or are only applying since daddy told you to. They are looking for the intellectual and socio-cultural element that it takes to succeed at place like Chicago, as well as screening for demographic factors. </p>
<p>Just by way of example, think of the common undergraduate interview question, “what fiction have you read outside of school lately?” They are so many ways to mess this up other than merely saying, “I don’t really free read,” “my school work is too absorbing to allow for that,” or, “I prefer non-fiction that engages the real world.” The specific books you mention do count – which the be yourself argument in contrast says should not really matter. Likewise, chiding against demographic norms usually wins you a lot of points. The second generation, male Asian student who credibly states he wants to study anthropology or classics and then go on to be a professor in the area will generate far more interest than one who says he wants to study math and wind up on Wall Street. The first kid could be lying, and there is nothing stopping him from switching major the first day he sets foot on campus, but that is the nature of the game. </p>
<p>And please don’t buy the BS about the interview being a learning process about the school. Seriously… Failing to know about the curriculum and mores the place is a big, big negative. If someone takes the time to interview you – especially an alumni – you can take an hour to read the guidebook, hunt through your major’s course catalog, etc. It does not look well if you say you want to study chemistry and minutes early discussed struggling in higher math (the catch being you need it at Chicago, whereas you need little at all at many other elite colleges).</p>