<p>@nice19 Thank you!! I’m really excited :)</p>
<p>@thesmiter I used to check my email every single day and it didn’t help my sanity level :)) Don’t worry so much! It’ll all work out.</p>
<p>So, today I finally get the email that I’ve been shortlisted for the interview phase and I scheduled the interview for Feb 28th… </p>
<p>I’ve never attended a college admission- interview ever before. Please help me with some threads and resources that give me a sense of what is expected from me… Thank God, attire is informal…</p>
<p>@JacobsWannaBe: Congrats! As for the interview, I’ve got some tips after doing both in-person and online interviews. (: I’m going to assume yours is via Skype, but correct me if it isn’t.</p>
<p>Tips for a Skype interview:
-Dress casually (as requested), but not offensively or slobbily. No graphic tees, comb your hair, etc. Don’t look like you just woke up.
-Skype interviews tend to take less time than in-person ones. It seems that you’re less likely to diverge onto a tangent when you’re not in person, but this may not necessarily be the case.
-Research in advance! Show off your knowledge about the school, about your major/program. If you know any, talk about events happening in the recent past/future at the campus. An informed interviewee looks better than one who can’t come up with a reason as to “Why ____?”
-No verbal diarrhea. Don’t spew out words or try to memorize responses to common questions. You should sound natural and conversational - breaks in speech are okay, especially if you need some time to formulate an answer.
-DO check out common questions in advance. This is by no means a complete list, but: “Tell me about your hobbies, extracurriculars, etc.” “Tell me about your schoolwork or courseload.” “What about this school appeals to you?”
-Location. In-person interviews usually happen at coffeeshops or cafes. I would not take my laptop there, since the connection is slow at times. Stick to your house. Sit somewhere that looks presentable, usually in front of some kind of blank or nearly-blank surface. This is so that the interviewer’s attention is focused on you, not the background. I sat on my living room couch for my interview for another school.
-Lastly, do prepare questions to ask. But make them GOOD questions. Since it’s very likely you’d be asking an admin officer as opposed to an alumni (who usually do interviews at most other schools), you can make your questions more specific. The type of question must be an open-ended question, but a simple yes or no question. A few of some of the questions I’ve come up with: “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the campus aesthetics and why?” “Would you say that most students live on campus or commute to campus?” “What percentage of the school is international students, and how visible/prominent would you say they are?” “Rate the food from 1 to 10. What’s good?”</p>
<p>That’s all I’ve got. Congrats and good luck!</p>
<p>Congratulations for the interview.</p>
<p>You will see that there won’t be any problem during the interview. </p>
<p>@smitter, did you get an interview for yale nus? Don’t worry, you sound like a better student than I am. I’m sure your will come, and when it does don’t forget to tell me!</p>
<p>@House: No such luck yet… keeping my fingers crossed.</p>
<p>@thesmiter Yes, I am having a Skype interview…</p>
<p>Right now I am looking around at those common interview questions. I think I can answer those properly. In fact, now I am feeling very good about the interview than being nervous… </p>
<p>@HouseI thank you for the luck… I need them… I will let you guys know how my interview went… on 28th of Feb…3 PM IST…</p>
<p>^^IST??? Indian Standard Time, isn’t it?</p>
<p>yep… although you guys must know I am not from India… but from very close to it…</p>
<p>Does whoever interviews you mean anything? Or is it just completely random and depend on whoever is available?</p>
<p>Another day, another empty inbox. ):</p>
<p>Also guys, if all of us get in and all of us go (based on the enthusiasm, i think it’s likely), we gotta throw some kind of party.</p>
<p>Please count me in that party-group… I am a cook, so I can cook at the party…</p>
<p>@naildat: interesting theory. Lets definitely try to figure that one out once the decisions are out. </p>
<p>@thesmiter: count me in too! I really hope that happens. All of you sound like great people who I would love to go to college with!</p>
<p>An empty mailbox again. My fingernails are worn down to stubs by this point.</p>
<p>oh god. I will tell you when interviews end thesmiter. there are still interview being conducted today!</p>
<p>I want to be realistic, 15 people have already been interviewed since i interviewed. Keep other options open.</p>
<p>Returned from interview an hour ago… it was fabulous… was talking to a young girl who had graduated from Yale a few years ago… She actually let me express myself pretty clearly… She was more of facilitating the conversation while allowing me to tell about myself, my background, my interests, my activities and other things…</p>
<p>I had some serious queries about Yale-NUS which she addressed very frankly… and seemed like she genuinely wanted to know about me… (it is nice to feel important once in a while, I guess :P)… She actually didn’t ask any of the conventional college-interview questions. I think that depended more on the interviewer than the college. It was on Skype and lasted about 45-50 minutes… This was my first college interview and the process seemed really nice to me… </p>
<p>I know many people are waiting for interview right now and I realize that you all are great guys/gals… Especially thesmiter who helped me… Good luck everybody…</p>
<p>So a Yale graduate is interviewing for Yale-NUS? And you asked Yale-related questions on Yale-NUS interview? tooo informal one:)</p>
<p>Sorry… I had Yale-NUS related query… that sort of used Yale University for analogy… Let me edit my previous post …</p>
<p>@HouseI: I’ve got other options; I applied to a grand total of 15 schools. It’d be silly to pin all my hopes into one school. But I am eager because I genuinely want to go here, which is more than I can say for some of the other colleges on my list.</p>
<p>@thesmiter, of course! Anymore in uni you applied in Sg? I am. </p>
<p>It should be good news for you, interviews still going on.</p>