<p>Had mine today, lasted about 1 hr 15 min.</p>
<p>It was pretty chill. We started out by talking about baseball (both of us are Yankees fans 
), so it was relaxed. He said I’m qualified to attend and a good fit, but obviously admissions is ridiculously competitive.</p>
<p>Well, shoot. I contacted my interviewer a while ago, and he suggested that I finish my application before setting up an interview. Fortunately I just finished it, but the deadline for setting up the interview is like today O.O Sigh.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[MIT</a> Admissions: The Match Between You And MIT](<a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/pulse/the_match_between_you_and_mit/index.shtml]MIT”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/pulse/the_match_between_you_and_mit/index.shtml)</p>
<p>My interview is in 24 hours and 36 minutes… yay…</p>
<p>I’ve got a somewhat odd question:</p>
<p>My interview is tm I have a portfolio (not music or art) that I think would show alot about who I am but it’s a bit unconventional so I’m still iffy about submitting it with my application. But I was thinking I would bring it along to the interview at least? comments?</p>
<p>um, what happened to my posts? </p>
<p>And my EC keeps sending me questions via email after the interview. Is this normal?</p>
<p>How do you guys usually follow up your interviews?</p>
<p>I just had my interview and I’d say it went okay. I didn’t do anything to suggest I shouldn’t be at MIT but I wasn’t as impassioned as I would have liked either. There were alot of awkward silences after my EC finished talking but they were mostly when he brought up stuff about his personal life, like being the army and his travels. I was definitely interested and listened to what he was saying but I wasn’t sure how to respond to statement like those.</p>
<p>I answered his questions honestly I didn’t try to be someone I wasn’t.</p>
<p>I actually have a few questions for mollie or Mikalye:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I’m thinking of submitting a portfolio just as an optional supplement. It’s actually a portfolio of my work in the simulation game “Roller Coaster Tycoon.” I know it’s unique and it definitely shows something I do with my free time that I’m passionate about. A good chunk of the portfolio explains the creative thought that goes into playing the game but do you think it’s too out there?</p></li>
<li><p>If I want to submit a resume as a supplement, does it need to follow MIT’s activities format or can I be more relaxed with that?</p></li>
<li><p>Does it count against me if I haven’t visited campus yet but have been to numerous info sessions? My EC asked if I’ve visited but I told him I went to info sessions and I think he wrote that down, but he didnt seem put off</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
I moved them to the other thread. I could copy them back here, if you’d prefer.</p>
<p>It was so weird. He didn’t ask me a single question. The three things he wanted to know about me was:</p>
<p>Tell me about yourself
What’s something you’d like to do
What makes you stand out</p>
<p>The rest of the time he wanted me to ask him question. After 4 or so questions, I pretty much ran out and made up random stuff. I thought MIT interviews were supposed to be thought-provoking. That’s what I prepared for. I feel he’s not going to say anything good about me.</p>
<p>For JDong 217,</p>
<p>Re the RCT portfolio:
How do you intend to submit it? If you have a series of files for which they have to have a copy of RCT in order to look at, then I suspect that you are wasting your time. If you are submitting them as pictures, then you lose the impact of what you are doing. There were quite a few RCT design competitions, if you have won one of these, it makes the quality of the work clearer to a non-expert. Otherwise it is tricky to tell good design from indifferent design. Full disclosure here, I am a roller-coaster enthusiast who can talk intelligently about the field, I have been on a roller coaster trip with Chris Sawyer (amongst other enthusiasts), and I appreciate the work that can go into your design. And yet, I think that I would struggle to properly evaluate your design portfolio. It is definitely tricky. I would give some serious thought as to how you want to present it, if at all. Maybe it is something you could write about, or discuss at interview, but unless you have some novel way to display it, I would be careful.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Resume:
You do not need to follow any specific formula for submitting supplemental materials, but you do have to ask yourself what the supplemental materials are showing the admissions office that does not appear elsewhere on the application. If all you are demonstrating is that you can format a resume, then I would drop it.</p></li>
<li><p>Absolutely not. Campus visits are very nice, but they are also very optional. Indeed a significant portion of the admitted students could never afford a campus visit. This is the necessary consequence of a need-blind admissions process that guarantees to meet full financial need in the financial aid package. Not visiting the campus, and indeed not attending any information sessions definitely do not count against you in any way.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>@seadog</p>
<p>My interview was quite similar. He just asked me “So what else should I know about you?”. And then we just talked about his experience at MIT / after MIT and I asked a few questions. Yea I ran out of stuff to say at the end after he asked that question 6 times.</p>
<p>MIT specifically says their interviews are supposed to be casual conversations, so there won’t be any tricky, thought-provoking questions really.</p>
<p>Hmmm side note, my interviewer actually said to me “I’ll write you a good recommendation.” Is that normal? I wasn’t expecting them to say it, lol.</p>
<p>My interview was over 2 hours; is that normal?</p>
<p>It is certainly unusual but not unheard of. However long is not necessarily good nor bad. Speaking personally one of my best ever interviews was one of the longest and one of my worst ever interviews was also one of the longest.</p>
<p>Mikalye - Why did the bad one take so long?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>As I recall, Mikalye said that most of the time was spent trying (and failing) to find something that the interviewee was passionate about, and that’s why it took so long but wasn’t good.</p>
<p>That was the one where the interviewee could not name a single thing he did that was not assigned in school.</p>
<p>is it unusual to not have finished an interview at this time? I’ve called my EC <em>multiple</em> times, since around Oct. 5th or 6th and he said that he’d call back to schedule an interview…and yet he still hasn’t. I’ll probably call him again tomorrow or the day after, but am I in any serious danger of not being able to get an interview in in time for the review process?</p>
<p>^ eevvaaann22 - After that long, I’d contact Admissions. They might be able to set you up with a new EC.</p>
<p>I really enjoyed my interview! I had it almost a month and a half ago (September 20th) and it lasted for about 2.5 hours. Hell, I even got up and sang an original song to my interviewer that I composed a while back.</p>
<p>I’m glad that now everything is out of my hands, and I now only have to face the mighty judgment of the admissions committee. Go beavers!</p>