<p>So yeah besides the pedestrian “why princeton”, “what do you hope to accomplish” and the dreaded “tell me about yourself”, there were some elements in the interview that I was truly not expecting.</p>
<p>When I mentioned that I was a “good”(being humble here) pianist, he asked me to play something for him (the interview was at his house). So I tinkered away at one of Chopin’s Opus 10 etudes. He said that it was “very good” and repeated this for several times.</p>
<p>After the interview, since I mentioned I founded a chess club at my school, he invited me to a game. Um…here it gets awkward…I beat him…I’m not sure if I should have let him win? Now does he view me as an insensitive arrogant brat? Or did I do the right thing by having enough respect to play my best against him…? (he joked about this saying that “you would have gotten into Princeton, but then you beat me at chess”)</p>
<p>So yeah…I feel good about the interview, but am a little worried about its deviation from the norms…is this normal for a Princeton Interview? My Harvard, MIT, and Brown ones were nothing like this.</p>
<p>I’m surprised that you took my post to be a made up story.</p>
<p>The above is completely true, I’m just looking for feedback on if I handled the situation correctly, and whether or not he received a positive impression from me. Please take your contentious attitude to another thread.</p>
<p>And I’m not sure if he let me win or not, and quite frankly I won’t be surprised by either outcome. He seemed to be taking the game seriously, and I returned his favor. However, thinking back on the game, I wasn’t sure if the thought of a physician losing to a senior in high school was especially appealing to him. My feelings on this are sincere, for I grew up raised to always respect your elders and to go out of the way to accommodate them.</p>
<p>Have you heard about admissions to (I think) Jesus college Oxford (this is for graduates)…</p>
<p>There are a few tests, then a section just called “essay”. No prompts, nothing. You just need to write an essay.</p>
<p>The final challenge, is dinner. Tradition demands that the finalists (I think, read the article a while ago) are served cherry pie. The question of course:
“what to do with the pips?”</p>
<p>Back to you though:
Why the hell would you lose to him? I would be offended if I caught someone trying to do that. As long as you didn’t say; checkmate *****, yeah, suck that etcetc there is no problem.
He was making a joke. People do that.</p>
<p>Winning is no arrogant, it is how you take it that can be.</p>
<p>I think you’re fine. If you mention you’re good at any sport, it would imo look pretty bad if you don’t play well in front of your interviewer since he/she would take it as a sign of incompetency.
Your interview sounds reeeeealllly long though. Chess games are a pretty long thing (atleast for me). Did you guys even talk?
Or did you just outright checkmate him in five moves?</p>
<p>I think he was just joking about it since he might have just so very slightly felt embarrassed that he lost to a high school kid, and wanted to just turn it into a humorous situation. (Come on, a Princeton alumnus, especially your interviewer). You shouldn’t feel threatened at all, don’t worry. You’re safe imo.
I don’t think he was turned off.</p>
<p>Don’t worry, sounds like you had a pretty great interview!
Winning can only have worked in your favor- conversely, if you had lost on purpose and had he noticed it, that would have come across as demeaning/arrogant.
A Princeton alumnus and interviewer wouldn’t be petty enough to hold a grudge I imagine so he’s just likely very impressed as Bookannelida said.</p>
<p>Also, he might have even expected you to win since he probably has a demanding schedule and has not had enough time to practice chess lately. But that’s all speculation.</p>
<p>You proved to him that your claims aren’t mere puffery. You said you were a good pianist, and you proved it. You said you played chess, and you proved it. There is NO downside to showing him that you are what you claim to be.</p>
<p>I had a similarly “eccentric,” as you say, experience. My interviewer and I got to talking. Normal pishposh really. Then she began getting a bit more in depth than I would have expected. She asked if I’ve ever had a girlfriend? Yeah, it was weird.
So, continuing on seemingly irrelevant tangents, we got to talking about the finer points of my prowess as an applicant. Delving ever deeper into obscurity, she asked how I was at sex. I replied.
“I’m good,” I said. Of course, I was being humble. She asked me to demonstrate (the interview was in a hotel room) so i began tinkering away to the sweet sounds of Barry White. She said very good, very good. Like 34 times. </p>
<p>I never did get to ask why I was being interviewed for admission to Princeton; I never applied.</p>
<p>lmao. Best part was the last line.
Got an interview tomorrow, and I’ve got a severe throat infection which makes me sound an octave lower than I really am. Hopefully I’ll have a eccentric, but positive, interview involving no intercourse.</p>
You’re safe imo.