Colleges are already offerring interviews?
Yale offers on-campus interviews to rising Seniors over the summer. They just start a file awaiting the rest of the application.
Some other colleges may do the same.
I have an on-campus summer interview at U of Rochester in three weeks ā as an international rising senior, yes, Iām going on a college roadtrip this summer. 
And itās going to be my first interview!! Iām actually kind of looking forward to it, seeing Iāve got most of my answers to the āusualā questions thought out, and I love talking about myself and what I like doing.
Just one problem.
I donāt know what questions I should ask the interviewer though; it seems all of my questions could be answered by looking somewhere on the collegeās site!
Iād really appreciate it if some people could share with me some of the questions that they prepared, so I could get an idea! Thanks in advance.
I had an on-campus interview with a senior at Johns Hopkins yesterday. I really enjoyed it; it went well and was pretty laidback and informal. Just wondering if I should send a thank you note or email, or if those are more for official alumni interviews. Actually whether I should send an email or nothing at all, because sending a handwritten, formal thank-you would just make me feel silly after our casual talk.
I am not an expert in these things, but it seems to me that you should send an email to thank him for the time he or she took to talk with you. This gives you a chance to show what excellent manners you have and to ask any other questions you have.
Itās always courteous to send a thank-you note for an interview.
Iāve had interviews at Washington and Lee, William and Mary, Pomona, and Claremont McKenna so far, and I had an individual information session at Davidson.
Washington and Lee was a formal interview but the professor was the coolest guy I have ever metā¦we talked for, no joke, an hour and a half. We talked about my experience on a dance company, and he told me about his granddaughterās dance recital. He spent about ten minutes talking about his LASIK and how his glasses only had one lensā¦weird, yes, but I felt very comfortable. Most of the questions were about my interests, my classes, what my school is like, etc. At the end, he brought my dad in and told my dad how happy he was to talk to me and answered our questions.
William and Mary was pretty informal. It was conducted by a senior and she was very, very nice. I got the āadjectivesā question, and then she asked about my interests, teachers who Iāve enjoyed, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Pretty much the same thing for Pomonaā¦but I liked how as we talked through it, she would discuss the topics with with me. For example, I talked about Model UN which led her to ask me my favorite committee, which led to a discussion of human rights and eventually we ended up talking about problems in Nigeriaās political system.
The Claremont McKenna interviewer was a Dean of Admissions and he was very, very nice. He asked me the usual questions and he told me over and over that I was the perfect candidate for their schoolā¦I felt on top of the world after that!!
At Davidson, we just discussed the application and how to make a big impression. She also told me about Gamut Dance Company and gave me a contact card to e-mail the girl who runs it.
I was really shocked at Pomona and Claremont McKenna that people were not dressed in interview-y clothesā¦a girl legitimately went into her CMC interview with a tank top that showed her belly button and short shorts that were ripped at the bottom. I just feel like thatās disrespectful, but maybe itās just me. I felt REALLY overdressed, and I was not dressed up that niceā¦just a business-looking skirt and topā¦
Did you get any particularly special advice at Davidson? I only did a group information session there.
Iāve done interviews at Wesleyan, Yale, and Oberlin, all of which were incredibly laid back. Oberlin was the only one with an admissions officer; the other two were senior interviewers. Swarthmore was my favorite interview, though, because while it was still casual, the questions I was asked were more unexpected and really made me think. She went in-depth and asked lots of follow-up questions about the fields Iām considering studying. It was surprising after the other three, but made the whole thing much more interesting!
@suitcases: Yes, I did get a lot of really helpful advice for Davidson. Itās my top choice so I really made sure all of my questions were answered. The counselor told me that you really should invest your time in your personal essays, and you should make sure that it allows the admissions committee to get to know you. She said that Davidson encourages Topic 6 (topic of your choice) on the Common App. They have a ranking system for their priorities-GPA/class rigor being first, then essays, then extracurriculars, then standardized test scores. She told me that they turn away a lot of people with near-perfect stats. Davidson does not want to be anybodyās safety school, and they want to make sure that you have a true passion for them. We talked a LOT about essays. She said her favorite essay she has ever read was one from a girl who wrote about why peanut butter is her favorite food, and apparently it told the admissions committee a lot about her family and friends-how, I have no idea, but thatās just what I was told. I think thatās it.
I had an interview yesterday, and my interviewer (sheās going to be a senior) gave me a card with her name and email on it for any other questions I have. I want to thank her, and Iāve read her that I should mail her a thank you note.
My question is, should I email her a thank you note since she gave me her email? Or should I still mail her one?
E-mail works just fine. Itās quicker, and that way she will be able to remember you more easily than getting something in the mail 2 weeks later.
Iām wondering if people generally bring some sort of resume to an interview? If so, what kind? How detailed?
P.S. Iām sure this has been covered somewhere in this thread. (Sorry!).
Just had an interview this morning at Brandeis. It was my first one and went surprisingly well. It was with a rising senior guy who was really cool. We talked for about an hour. Here are the questions I remember:
what other schools are you applying to?
tell me about your extracurriculars and hobbies?
what classes have you enjoyed?
what would you change about your high school?
what classes are you taking next year?
If you had the choice to pick a book for incoming freshman to read and for that author to visit campus, what would it be?
If you were given an unlimited amount of resources to fix any particular world problem, what would it be?
Do you have any questions for me?
@college 3231: As an interviewer, I find it helpful to have a resume. Often, with hundreds of interviews a week (and on busy days, hundreds a day!) I donāt always have time to read your profile that the admissions office puts together for me in great detail. Itās much better if I can look at a detailed resume and ask about what catches my eye. I would say 1 page if you can fit it on there, but if you are also putting other things other than activities on there (like GPA, SAT, some demographic information like HS, and some other stuff that people put on there that I donāt really read so donāt rememberā¦) then you can go to 2 pages. More than that, and now iām just juggling papers and donāt want to deal with that. 2 pages is an easy search, if itās not on the first, itās on the second. When I have 3 or more, I had to actually do a search now!
@dancepsychlove and @regulan: email is good, but also send a mailed card if you really want to stand out. I get emails from about 20 to 25% of interviewed students, but mail from only about 5%. Nothing wrong with sending a quick email and then a follow up thank you note or card. A lot of us are volunteers and itās good to know our time is appreciated!
@dancepsychlove: students will usually interview other students in a polo and pants or shorts, something more than i slapped on this tshirt as I rolled out of bed this morning running late for chemisty, but not in formal interview attire. The reason for this is we want to project an image of a typical student here, not be āfakeā. This doesnāt mean you shouldnāt dress up. You will still be dealing with other admissions staff who are in business clothes. I would say at minimum dress shirt and slacks for men if not a tie. A jacket is never too much, especially if you are interviewing for a scholarship. For girls, whatever the equivalent of that is, Iām no expert on womenās fashion. The girls Iāve interviewed have worn everything from Pant/skirt suits, to dressier tank top with like a half jacket thingy (told you iām not good with womenās fashion!), nice shorts that come down below the knee, and nice sandles. The only time Iām going to notate sloppiness is when you show up with your belly showing, or too much cleavage exposed that just announces to the world āSLOPPYā. I have interviewed students in T-shirts, and that isnāt even sloppy enough for me to say anything, but then again, I donāt remember any of them as they didnāt make a good impression on me during the interview eitherā¦
I didnāt realize there was an interview thread, but I stuck some pointers in the thread <a href=āhttp://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/973360-interview-tips-college-interviewer.html[/url]ā>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/973360-interview-tips-college-interviewer.html</a>
I just had an adcom interview at Harvard today! I prepared so much, came up with answers to all the tough questions. Of course, my interviewer was so suave and conversational that I didnāt even realize I was being interviewed until half-way through. It was much more like a conversation than an interview; thus, none of my preparation was useful, but it was a wonderful, fun, informative interview! He even took me around afterwards and showed me a Helen Keller monument on campus as I had talked about playing Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker.
After the interview I googled him and found that heās the director of the admissions office. YIKES!
Anyway, I canāt find any contact information to send him a thank you note! Would it be acceptable to address it to the building his office was in with his name? Thanks.
@aleader: Yes, that would be appropriate. Most campuses have a campus mail system they can locate the person you are trying to send it to. I have had people try to send me thank you notes to the admissions office (which is not where my mailbox is) but the people on campus are usually smart enough to figure out where to direct it to!
DO you have to bring anything to an interview?
To answer my own questionā¦ Nope, youāre fine without it!
Whatās an appropriate amount of time to wait before recontacting an interviewer? (if you did not receive a response)
No, but a resume is often helpful.
Can you give more details? Was the interview an admissions officer or student? What was the subject about? How long has it been?