Well the first alumni interview I had back in January was with Brown. Really organized. I loved how it was so professional. It was actually a group sort of thing. The committee invited prospective Brown students from all over the Rio Grande Valley to a high school to meet with several alumni and even current students. I met with a very nice woman who liked reading, writing, and running just like I do. I was able to speak with her on a personal level. I feel as though I projected a lot of myself to her by expressing my interest in becoming a university professor and a writer. Very memorable experience.
My next alumni interview was with Princeton. After several delays due to the alumni being sick with a cold, we conducted the interview via phone. This alumni served as a professor at a local university and was an active community service promoter.
One thing I will not forget from this experience is being confronted with extreme rudeness from John Millin, the chairperson of the Princeton interview committee in my area. At first I had trouble contacting the alumni based on the info she gave me on an E-mail. I ended up accidentally calling Millin, who quite rudely retorted āUmm youāre the one calling me,ā after I introduced myself and asked who was on the other line. For all I knew it could have been the alumniās secretary. He even put the phone down for about 30 seconds and joked about how āthey keep getting calls like this all the timeā and used profanity before turning āprofessionalā and addressing my issue. I guess he thought I couldnāt hear him? (Sorry, had to let this out somehow. Still bothers me to this day.)
My most recent alumni interview was with a Harvard alumni in a local federal building. It was quite a nice experience. The interview lasted about an hour. The alumni asked me the most detailed and personal questions, such as my motivations and my aspirations behind wanting to be a professor and a writer. She even gave me her card and asked me to contact her once I got word from any university. She was genuinely interested in my future.
I actually have the greatest interview story ever.
I applied to Princeton not knowing all that much about it, aside from a casual visit once. I live in a city with a major medical center, so there are lots of Ivy/top school grads here and basically all the interviews are done at this medical center. I arrived for my Princeton interview not really knowing what to do and feeling really nervous as we sit down in his office. He asks me some basic questions (what are your interests? how are your grades? why apply?) and then asks me if I play music. I say yes, I play piano, guitar, and electric bass and I love everything from classical to rock to jazz to house.
At this moment, my interviewerās eyes literally lit up. He was a grad in the '60s and went to all the major jazz concerts at Princeton and in the area and is a major jazz aficionado. He goes to his computer and we listen to some awesome, really obscure jazz for an hour and discuss. Then he burns me a CD of some of his favorite musicians that Iād never heard of. We go on to talk for another hour about Princeton (with a ton of jazz talk thrown in) and he tells me basically that he can tell I really have passion for what I do and to enjoy my time in college because it will be incredible no matter where I go and my parents will be paying a ****load of money.
I come home, and thereās an email waiting for me already with some more music recommendations. We emailed back and forth for a solid week just talking about music and I felt like he genuinely enjoyed talking to me.
HAS ANYONE HAD A UCLA ALUMNI SCHOLARSHIP INTERVIEW??? If so, what questions were you asked?
I had absolutely no idea how intense this was going to be and I am seriously nervous. Iām alright with on the spot thinking though not exceptional. What really concerns me is if I get a question on current events. I really donāt know much about many. What types of events do you think they could ask about? Iām hoping to learn as best as possible in the next couple daysā¦yikes!
Iāve had my first couple of interviews and visits to admissions offices over Spring Break. Iāve brought a couple of gifts along, and canāt read whether itās a good idea or not. Seemed like a no-brainer. What do you think? @Cardinalgrl2017
Just thought Iād shareā¦my child had an alumni interview from UPenn and Dartmouth. the alumni from Dartmouth was in a hurry to finish the interview, it was short and āsnappyā, not because she was disinterested but she was in a hurry for her next job meeting, thatās all she cared about!
The UPenn alumni went very well, he ended up like a a āmentorā to my child, and still communicates up to now even though my child accepted the NYU offer, which the UPenn alumni suggested to also apply.
P.S. of course I wasnāt there at the interview, just a feedback from my child! Both interviews were at a coffee shop in town!
I am sure this has already been asked, but I am wondering how you go about setting up off campus interviews. During the fall, we often have admissions counselors come to our school to give little presentations and we have an opportunity to talk to them. However, I donāt really know how to set up interviews for private schools. Should I email the admissions counselor for my area and ask this summer? Or should I wait until i see when/if they are visiting my school? If they are having a reception in my area this summer, should i email and ask if they have time to interview?
Mainly i am thinking about small liberal arts schools like whitman, colorado college, reed, and pitzer. Thanks!
Email admissions because you may have to travel some away from your school to go to the interview depending on where all the school is doing presentations. My son traveled an hour to go to an interview for one school.
Experience with Columbia:
Setting - Starbucks 7pm-10pm, the glorious (boring) area of central New Jersey
Interviewer - Columbia college alumni, sports physician, 50 years old, lived near area
Outline - We greeted each other WITH FIRM HANDSHAKES WHILE LOOKING AT EYES. I offered him a drink just to be courteous. We started off with me listing 3 of my hobbies/fav discussion topics (WWII, Politics, History) for about 15 mins, shared great memories of war shows on TV (thank you Spielburg and Hanks). Spent next hour and a half talking about the economy, politics, global issues; I loved it, and he visibly did too. Ivy leaguers are generally pro-democrat, if you study political science. Spent another good hour discussing how the Columbia required courses give alumni closeness, personal development, essential critical thinking. Also shared some nice stories we had living in the area (10-15 years).
End - The alumni said that I made an excellent impression. Apparently my thoughts were āparallelā to the Columbia way of thinking. He wished me good luck on my app and that he hoped to see me at the Univ when he visits.
College Decision - Rejected prob because of my SAT (2240) and GPA (3.85) and ranking (28/460)
Future - studying Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Rutgers University, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy
IMPORTANT TIP: The longer your interview, the better your interviewer thinks of you (generally). Have some good conversation topics beforehand, and practice with a buddy.
Iām doing a practice interview with an alum from my top-choice school who I met (but donāt know well; weāve spoken once) over skype. The anxious-person inside of me wants to prepare for it. How should I prep for it? Iām planning on reading over common interview questions and brainstorming answers to them.
Things I should do to not be overly nervous?
Does anyone have advice on alumni interviews over skype? (have you had one before, how was it different from a normal interview, etc)
Does anyone know what an alumni interview write-up, the one thatās sent to the college, includes? Like grades, extracurriculars, what you talked about, etc.
Can the current alum interviewers here answer this? (if possible, a sample/generic write-up would be appreciated)
This is probably a dumb questionā¦ But is arriving at interviews awkward if you canāt drive? Cuz I donāt have a licenseā¦ And probably wonāt for a while :-/
My daughter has some interviews w small private schools next week. What is the proper attire? She is traveling from California, to the wester Boston area. She is a āCalifornia casualā ( jeans, shorts, t shirts) type of girl. What is appropriate?
My interview at Bowdoin went terribly. I was basically interrogated the entire time and put on the spot. My interviewer was very young and intense and gave me difficult questions, does this ruin my chance of being accepted?
Interviews are a small part of the admissions process. For some colleges, it is part of demonstrated interest. For the most part, they shouldnāt make or break your admission chances unless you are a marginal candidate. As I have advised before, when you go to an interview, you are expected to look like what you are: a high school student. You should be clean and neat - this is not a job interview - you can wear jeans and top or a dress, be the best version of yourself.
Interview for Wesleyan was very casual and laid back with a current senior at Wesleyan. Basically just talked how I was spending my summer, hobbies, politics, family, etc.
When asked, āTell me about yourself,ā is it best to talk about your experiences and accomplishments, or should this question be used as an opportunity to describe your personality.
By talking about your interests and accomplishments you are describing your personality without having to say out right what kind of person you are. Good luck!
fran, Your daughter does not need to wear a dress or skirt but I would avoid shorts. She can wear nice pants and a plain blouse or shirt that does not have writing on it. When in doubt always go more conservative.
Good luck rwhitefangs! I understand the Pharm school at Rutgers is good.
Daughter is visiting WUSTL this month for one of their Open Houses. When registering she checked the box for an optional 20-minute interview. Can anyone tell us what this interview will be like? Is it an informal informational interview or is it more formal? Sheās planning casual dress since we will be doing the campus tour after the interview, is that OK? Do parents attend this interview? Sorry for the dumb questions but this is the first school where an interview is involved. At other schools weāve set up one-on-one meetings with admissions reps, but those were more informational and the parents attended.
