<p>My advice is to first of all be yourself as much as possible. You can try role playing at home before you go if that will lessen your butterflies. The admissions officer is probably very experienced in doing interviews, and they will try to put you at your ease and not bite your head off.</p>
<p>One of the main things that a school like Swarthmore is looking for, in addition to top notch academic qualifications, is to get a sense of what you are passionate about. It could be a particular subject matter at school, but can easily be an extra-curricular activity or current event or cause. In a small school like Swarthmore they want to have a student body made up of people who are more than bookworm geniuses.</p>
<p>So one consideration for each applicant is for the admissions folks to think about what contribution each student would make to campus life beyond the academic world. That could be involvement in theatre, athletics, music, social activism or any number of things.</p>
<p>Swarthmore has a tradition of social service and political awareness if not activism. If you are interested in a current event or cause and can talk about it in an informed way, that would be positive. But don't just make something up!</p>
<p>The interview should also be something of a two-way street. You should learn something more about the personality of Swarthmore in addition to the facts and figures you can get out of the viewbook or off the website.</p>
<p>Good luck! I'm sure people will be interested in hearing how it goes.</p>