My DD22 submitted her applications on the 12th and gotten an interview email from an alumni (we live in bayarea). Though she has attended HMC before, we are bit anxious about this one as MIT is her top choice. Is there any inputs/suggestions on how to prepare and go with the flow?
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Tell her to be herself.
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The interviewer may have not set foot on campus in years or decades. Questions are encouraged, but she should use her head. Questions about the culture, the interviewer can answer. Which dorm today has the best cafeteria? Maybe that’s not something one expects an alum to know.
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Have fun.
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Go with the flow.
The purpose of the interview is to find out what kind of person is behind all those grades, test scores and recommendations. If she has done any research or project work that makes for a good topic of conversation.
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Thanks for the response. Yes she has published a paper and looking to continue the research at college. That’s a great idea for a discussion topic
It’s a discussion topic. It’s not an opportunity to present, and it’s neither an opportunity to get material that is not in the application in, nor an opportunity to expand on what’s in there. I had a kid with a 20 minute PowerPoint presentation. Don’t be that kid.
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Got it. It’s a mixed feeling of anxiety and nervousness for my daughter. We are just trying to help her cool off and present herself as she is. Apart from academia she’s into languages (fluent in French and few Indian language apart from English), and apparently her interviewer speaks French as well looks like (from his linkedin profile). Would it be nice to bring up her inclination to French language and culture. I’m just worried it shouldn’t be too artificial as we learnt the interviewer speaks French.
I would not try to impress the interviewer. It adds to the stress, and is unlikely to increase the odds of admission. She should relax and be herself. Also, I would be uncomfortable interviewing a candidate in French, and I lived in France for two years!
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Thanks so much. We did a mock interview, it went good. She was nervous for the first question, became fine for the following ones. At the end of the day these kids are high schoolers, we can’t expect them to be super perfect. As long as they are able to carry themselves good all through they’ll be fine. I guess it’s the initial fever of hearing back from MIT that made everyone of us anxious, now we digested the info.
If the “mock interview” went well, and it reduces her stress. If this causes her to plan this question by question, and she’ll get nervous when it deviates from the plan, not so much. I’ve done interviews where I did not ask a single question. We just talked.
It’s not supposed to be stressful. It’s supposed to fill in some of the details that wouldn’t show up in a numbers-only process.
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If it’s talking, I’m afraid that she’ll even stop 
She’s a pretty talkative and engaging kind. We have to remind her to slow down if she starts something about her daily happenings at school. Her excitment goes way beyond. BTW, her interview is tomorrow. More than anything now we are pretty excited for it.
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Just tell her to relax, be herself and have a good time.
D22 just got her invite. Fortunately (I think), it’s set for 3 weeks from now, so enough time to get over being nervous.
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Good luck to your daughter. Is she a MPfG alumni? My daughter did 2019,2020 and 2021 though the last 2 years were held virtual.
Yes, she attended in person in 2019. In addition to the admissions talk and tour, one of her older sister’s HS classmates took us on a private tour, so it was a great opportunity to see the campus and learn about the programs. She also attended Splash one year, a bit of a reunion with CTY friends, so she has been on campus multiple times and it’s certainly her #1 choice
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That’s really nice to be on campus. Good luck to all the kids applying to EA this year. Hope some of these kids get in!!!
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My daughter had a very good discussion with the EC today. As a girl who voices for Girls in STEM, she had an excellent long discussion about her efforts and her future plans. The EC gave another view about MIT and the tunnels ( I believe). Thanks so much. Our discussions at home helped her open up quite a bit.
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See? It wasn’t so bad!
Glad it worked out for your daughter, and best of luck to her.
How did the interview go?
According to her, it went pretty well. They discussed for about 2 hours in total. A lot about her ECs and leadership and some about general college life and what she has planned to do at MIT. Overall she said it was a great experience. The EC even asked her to send an email to him if she wanted to add to something that she couldn’t discuss at length during the interview discussion. I hope things go well for all the kids who are aspiring for this great college.
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can you plz tell from where you get mock interview?