@tjgirl123 that’s not true lol
@toffys To clarify what I think you meant to say, today is the last day you could have been contacted for an interview. (I have an interview tomorrow.)
@toffys Interviews are definitely not first-come, first-serve. I applied October 6th and have yet to receive an interview. A friend of mine applied October 29th and received his interview assignment October 31st.
As for everybody else, I’ll just reiterate what has been said far too many times in this thread and in the other threads created specifically for this subject:
(a) not everybody gets interviews,
(b) an interview is absolutely NOT a reflection of the merits of your application (or lack thereof),
© who knows, maybe you’ll get an interview tomorrow or the day after, only Penn Admissions can say for certain,
and lastly (d) interviews hold little weight in the application process (they’re mainly used to validate the rest of your app: say, you write an essay that makes it seem like you’re interested in business but during your interview you talk about how much you love chemistry or you act like a jerk to your interviewer)
This is all my opinion, but I hope this helps somebody.
And @ComputerAge is correct. @toffys it is not first-come first-serve. I applied October 13th, and I received my interview offer just earlier this week.
@jarrett211 @ComputerAge >>>>>“somewhat”<<<<< Maybe it’s just because I live in an area where people confuse Penn with Penn State. There aren’t a lot of applicants from here.
@toffys Still don’t see how “somewhat first-come, first-serve” makes sense based on our data… it’s fine it really doesn’t matter at this point.
@ComputerAge It’s just that everyone I know who applied to Penn received interviews in the order they applied.
You should follow up :-c
@toffys - fist-come-first-serve is definitely NOT true:-).
I applied early Sept but and got interview call on Nov 13.
I do agree with what @ComputerAge has written earlier. Additionally, I also believe that if your application is very strong and admissions is convinced with your story, you may not get an interview.
Interviews definitely do not make or break an admission counselor’s decision. Rather they are more to stamp that the your story is indeed true and you are the same person who has sent the application. These days, it is almost impossible to know what is true.
Every great school is looking for the next big thing and the student who could get it done.
As your application is completed and arrives at Penn, your name immediately gets sent to an alumni committee BEFORE ANYBODY has even looked at your application. An interview has NOTHING to do with the strength or weakness of the app because NOBODY has read it before the interview is assigned! The problem is that alumni, who volunteer, are busy. And they may not to get around to assigning you an interviewer or they do assign an interviewer, but the interviewer, also a volunteer, is busy or disorganized and doesn’t contact the person they’re supposed to on a timely basis. That is the only reason why some US applicants don’t get called for an interview. Penn’s goal is to interview 100% of applicants, but it is very hard for them to control over 10,000 alumni volunteers.
^ That’s exactly true.
Sorry for the late response - some of you asked for examples of disagreeable applicants. I moved long distance and was without a computer for several weeks. I have mentioned some of these in earlier posts - I have lots of examples but these are presumably already known. Others I prefer not to mention because they will give away some of my questions.
- Screaming at me “why are you interviewing me - you are too old.”
- I was telling an applicant about some of the high points of living in Philadelphia - one of which is being close to the Jersey Shore. The applicant made a negative (really a xenophobic) remark about an ethnic group. Sadly, that is my ethnic group. Ooops.
- An applicant told me who her favorite author was. I smiled and said that was one of my favorites too. She then replied in a combative/snippy manner - “oh so you like him too.” It came across as not only combative but rude and arrogant. And, she was combative throughout the entire interview.
- An applicant brought a paper he wrote to the interview. I asked if I could have it to read - after all what is the point of bringing something that I see but have not read? He replied “why - you would not understand it.” That seems like a value judgment, arrogant, and a put down.
- An example of lying: I asked what the applicant read in her spare time. She replied Time. I then asked what the US should do about Syria - this was several years ago. Frankly I did not expect a Nobel Peace Prize answer. She looked blank. I then hinted Arab Spring. She looked blank. How can you read a magazine about current events and not know about the Arab Spring? What the US should do confounds the experts - but not knowing that the problem exists?
- An applicant brought a book he said he authored and was published. Unfortunately the publisher did not list him as an author nor the book as published…
- One applicant worked in a hospital for her community service. She worked at the help desk. I asked what she had learned from her work at the hospital. She replied that people are rude. I somehow think that people who have relatives in the hospital are a bit panicked and probably are a bit abrupt, short, and even demanding - I sort of believe (and hope) she was wrong. So I mentioned that perhaps they are not rude but are a bit worried. She did not want to consider that - she continued to believe people are rude. At the very least she seemed a bit close minded and judgmental.
- Some applicants do not show up for an interview because they are sick, decide they are not interested, or whatever. You could call or email me to cancel before the meeting rather than keep me sitting there for a hour waiting for you. (My interviews are in the afternoon so there should be plenty of time before the meeting to cancel.) I get about 2 - 4 kids in this category every year. I see this as rude or inconsiderate - maybe you will disagree but so be it.
@amanivy As I’ve been preparing for this interview, the one fault I find in what I say is that I often have a lot of “uhhs” and “ums.” Is this a bad thing, or do interviewers almost expect to see that with applicants because of nerves?
They expect that you are not memorizing a script @jarrett211
Some "um"s and "uh"s are bound to come out, particularly if they ask you some of those bizarre and unique questions
@TheWaffleMan149 Okay. I kind of figured that. I’m not preparing for any of those potentially weird questions though because I have no idea what to expect.
Makes sense. Good luck! @jarrett211
Be yourself. Be honest. Be respectful.
There is nothing to prepare for. The interview/conversation is to get to know a little about you.
You are the expert on you!
The interview/conversation is not an inquisition nor is it adversarial.
Good luck.
@jarrett211 Uh’s and Um’s are natural (unless you’re in video journalism). However, it’s better to think through your answers then say something you can’t take back. Even presidential candidates say them during debates. My interviewers said “um” and “uhh” frequently too. She even paused while talking to me because some dude dropped his coffee next to her.
Don’t think about looking perfect, it’s obvious. Be yourself.
DESIE
I TAKE ISSUE WITH SOME OF YOUR COMMENTS:
- You state (blanket statements are always up for dissent) that interviewers are disorganized. You know this how?
- An applicant does NOT show up immediately on the interviewer portal. It takes several days to a week.
- The first reader has probably read the application before the interviewer is assigned. If the first reader waited til all applications were in s/he would not get the work done. They work in piecemeal. (I knew this how - because that is what Admissions has told me.) That is not to say that the applicant should take ANY inference from when or how their interviewer is assigned. Each chair works differently. I was the chair for a very large group (100 interviewers) and last year 900 applicants. I assigned, contrary to some postings here that it is unfair, by first in first out coupled with interviewer college.major and/or preference in applicants or applicant's high school.. I, for example, prefer to interview SEAS CS although I graduated in English in the College. Why? Because I worked as a researcher in CS at Harvard and MIT. CS is my field and my passion. Why first in first out? The early bird gets the worm. If you wait to the last minute (as I do) you will not get the worm. Simple as that!
@amanivy First of all, it’s interesting that you take issue with my comments. I absolutely couldn’t believe half of what you wrote occurs on your interviews! I’ve interviewed for a VERY long time - and many of my friends have too. It seems like you have a lot of complaints about students and way too many strange stories to be accurate! But i"m not going to get into a “whether or not you are exaggerating” debate with you. Just not interested. (and you should be aware of your tone - you are complaining about students, but then your post reveals quite the attitude!)
Why in the world are you implying that I believe ALL interviewers are disorganized? Are you honestly not aware of the fact that some interviewers neglect to call their students? Every year I have to take some last minute interviews because a few interviewers never bothered or “forgot” or “got too busy” to call the student assigned to them.
My post was ONLY to address and alleviate concerns of the students that not getting an interview meant their application wasn’t as strong or conversely that it was so strong, they were an :automatic in" and didn’t need to be interviewed. (both points have been stated on this forum) So I was explaining that when admissions first sends the students names to the alumni committee (in the US), nobody has read the file. That’s true - interview assignments are not based on results of a first read. Obviously by the time the interview takes place, it’s possible that a reader read their file, but no information is passed on to the interviewer. I was trying to make clear that it’s a process that doesn’t have to do with the impressions of a student’s application. A straight C student with a 1200/2400 SAT will still be assigned an interviewer.
I’m not interested in any type of discussion with you - again, I’m just trying to calm down students who believe there is a “hidden meaning” to the fact that they didn’t get an interview.