<p>i also agree that it really depends on the interviewer in what direction the interview will flow. Some may be very inquisitive, pushing u for answers (such hard moral/political questions), and some (like my U of C interviewer) very relaxed and conversational.</p>
<p>However, looking at both experiences, taking your time to generate a well-thought out response matters most. Once, I even said “Can I think about it for a bit?” before i gave a hasty answer. Honesty and Integrity are important factors they are looking for (also sociability i guess).</p>
<p>I recommend reading the newspaper a few weeks before u go, cuz they may ask u about something going on and it’d be best if u knew about it? Good luck!</p>
<p>And of course reading/learning about the college ur applying to matters a lot; why u really think u want to go, what activities u may like, what u wish to study, etc. Passion is the key, but u may have to explain urself properly for it.</p>
<p>when I interviewed on campus, the interviewer asked me to name my courses and went down the list. “Physics. Why are you taking Physics?”</p>
<p>Come prepared, but don’t come too prepared. The interview is a chance to show yourself off, and if you don’t know the answer to a question, to say “I’m not really sure about that” shows honesty and humility, which is always better than trying to sound like an expert when you’re not.</p>
<p>My interview seems like the least intense of the above descriptions. I drove to her house, about 40 min up into the hills, and we chatted for an hour or so before my dad got there and then we all chatted for another hour. It was very informal and essentially was her telling me about Chicago.</p>
<p>Oh, and I just got home a couple hours ago from it. So it was held in the evening, after her small children went to bed. And my interviewer married a man she met at U of C.</p>
<p>“Why do you want to go here?”
“What do you want to study?”
“What do you do for fun?” </p>
<p>Hmm and some sidetracks about ribbons and making connections between yadadadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa… The rest was random and basically, I had control over where our conversation went. </p>
<p>So yes! Not all interviews are the same! :o (Expect those questions however and be sure to mention your feelings about the Core.)</p>
<p>I got destroyed at my interview. The first question he asked me was about, you guessed it, my favorite philosopher. Well I dont have one, and although I have an interest in philosophy, as a word, I dont as a feild of study. So I said that I didn’t have one, yes I know very bad. Well the interview went on and on, and no questions about what I was interested in, which was physics. The guy asked me if I read all these articles on science, which were more engenering based than physics, and I hadn’t so that made me look dumb. Finally after asking me what I felt about the grading system and classes with not as intellegent people as I, I said that I get bored and wish that I had classes with smarter people so we could move quicker, His next question… Do you consider yourself an elitest? …me… Umm, no, I dont look down on others for not having the same interest as me, sorry if I came across that way…him… O just wandering because many Chicago students are, in a intellectual sense… My face was blushed the whole meeting, because his demeanor made me nervous, I couldn’t think and my mind was just a blank slate, ive never felt so stupid in my life, it was awful. I screwed that up big time. He also asked questions about the whole intellegent design thing, etc. And made me really feel like an elitist, maybe I am, and I just dont know it</p>
<p>Wow, that’s harsh. I don’t have a favorite philosopher either. I don’t know more than a few off the top of my head, and beyond the Intro Phil class I took at the local CC, I don’t read it on a regular basis. I would have been like, how does this make me qualified? Where do you live? I am so glad I didn’t get your interviewer…</p>
<p>yea that is funny tho, I was thinking through my head…*** is this even legal… lol… but yea i think it was just a bunch of trick questions aimed at degrading me and seeing what I could come up with, idk… i still think that if I would have said yes I am an elitist he would have said something like, my god whats wrong with you!</p>
<p>Sorry you got one of <em>those</em> interviews, SISIS. Its always hard to tell how they will end up. My son’s best alumni interview was for Bowdoin (where he was wait-listed) and his worst for Brandeis, where he was offered a presidential scholarship. So you just never know. I don’t think that alumni inverviews are given quite as much weight as on-campus ones.</p>
<p>I mentioned my love of serious discussions of politics and theology, among other things, and after a couple of softball questions, he led me into basically speaking about my worldview for 30 minutes. I was able to back everything up…so good, I guess. He also asked like almost no real questions, though.</p>
<p>haha, if i was an interviewer i’d totally be like that guy, SISIS. maybe not that bad, but I’d definitely try to ask a ton of ridiculous questions to unnerve them.</p>
<p>You know, I really wish I had the chance to do my interview again…just because of all I’ve learned, accumulated, etc. in the past 6 months. I guess they’ll just have to live with an outdated version of me.</p>
<p>“If the Wicked Witch of the West came up to you and said ‘___, I’m going to turn you into an orchestral instrument, and all you can do is pick the instrument’, which would you choose and why?”</p>
<p>I was asked several stimulating questions. Like, If you could go back in history and meet one person, who would it be?</p>
<p>The interview was much more like an intellectual conversation than a formal interview, like the interview I had at George Washington, which, of course is a primary reason I did not apply there.</p>
<p>remember that the interviews are highly decentralized, esp. if you interview with alumni.</p>
<p>I actually interviewed on campus (For a school like Chicago with a smallish application pool and a school that seems like it wants to know you as much as it can, I highly recommend doing it!) and as I said before, my person went down my list of academics and asked about each one. We had a crazy, insane, brilliant conversation.</p>
<p>If you’re unlucky you’ll get really bad interview questions with an alumni, like, “Why should we choose you?” and “What do you bring to our community?” but more likely you’ll have a chance to tell a condensed version of your life story and what is important to you and why.</p>
<p>uggh…i had the worst interview. he started off with questions like “if you got into yale and the u of c, which would you pick?” (you’ll never guess what the right answer was!). then, once i told him about my high school, he started talking about how every kid he interviewed from my school was a rich snob who didnt appreciate anything. then i had to explain to him that i wasnt a rich snob. end of interview. i still got accepted though, so i guess a bad interview probably wont mean the difference between a thick and thin envelope.</p>
<p>My interview was what I thought it would be; I was grilled on why I homeschooled, what was advantagious about it, what I had studied course-wise, etc. The interviewer was a grad student who was very open to learning about homeschooling, which pleased me, as I had a lot of “What about socialization?” questions at the other schools to which I applied. I was also asked about academic and extracurricular interests, and I am glad that I live on the campus, as I am already auditing a U. of C. course in a not-too-common area and I affiliated with a club that is in need of new members. In addition, I was asked if I were to explore some academic discipline, even if I had never taken it before, what would it be? Another thing she talked to me about was going to school so close to home, getting a “college experience,” etc. </p>
<p>It was a very good interview. It ended up being rather enjoyable as we debated the merits of homeschooling, and she told me of her experiences with different types of homeschooling. Not as quirky as I thought it would be, but perhaps that was for the better.</p>
<p>My interview was like 19 minutes long (5 of which was spent on sex)…but it went pretty smoothly. Good chat; there weren’t any “what kind of cat litter would you be and answer quickly” questions, if that’s the kind of thing you’re worrying about.</p>
Good luck!</p>