Should a B- student h.s. student with 1500 (out of 2400) SAT score schedule interviews with the admissions office at Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart U? Worried that any discussion for an unpolished student may hurt admissions chances more than could help, being a weak candidate already.
Any insight on what will be asked in admissions interview? Do I bring copy of grade transcripts?
I would think that an interview can only help you.
They see the numbers you’re looking at. If you can impress them with you as a PERSON, as opposed to a set of statistics, it will help you.
Stop thinking of yourself as a “weak candidate.” Think of all the reasons why they should want you-- all you can contribute to each of those schools. (Seriously, make a list of why you want them, and what you can contribute. Read and reread it before that interview.)
Good luck!
When you schedule an interview, make sure to email them and ask them if they need you to bring anything. Sometimes they like you to bring a resume, sometimes they won’t ask you to do so.
Make a list of your extracurriculars and interests and review them before you go to your interview! They are always good talking points and can show a lot of insight into what you like doing and what skills you can offer them! Also, you should explore their websites and pick out a few aspects of the college that you really like, because many interviewers will ask you why you want to go to their college. Prepare some questions for the interviewer as well, it’s good to show interest.
From my experience with many college interviewers, most of them are not interested in your grades and test scores, and usually they will not receive that info from the admissions office. They really just want to have a good conversation with you and know you as a person! As long as you are not a mean or awful person, the interview will be a benefit to your application.
You can also try googling most common interview questions to get an idea too.
Talk to other kids who have gone through interviews already and find out what the experience was like. Ask a grown up to do a mock interview with you.
By “unpolished”, do you mean in terms of being unpolished in upper-middle to upper class social graces?
Always go for the interview if you have the opportunity. Make a student resume that lists your activities and accomplishments over the last for years as well as your interests. If you know what you want to study, put in an Intended Field of Study line. Google for samples. It should just be one page.
Second, go into the interview open and curious You need to find out if you want to apply or attend this college. Ask questions. No question is trivial or unimportant. You’re interested in these schools, right? Make sure the reason you like the school is valid. Make sure the school is able to give you what you need to be a successful student.
In other words, don’t go “to show interest”. Go to make sure the school, in fact, deserves your interest. Don’t worry about appearing “unpolished” You want to be sincere, earnest, interested.
Take a few copies of the resume. Give one copy to the interviewer. Keep one copy for yourself. Sometimes, you may blank on a question, use the resume as a tickler to help you come up with an answer.
I was wondering the same thing, though unlike the original post, my son will be a very strong applicant on paper, but his interpersonal and social skills are not his strong suit! I know it will be good experience for him, but he tends to be very quiet and hesitant with new people and could easily come across as simply not having much to say. Just not sure if it will be helpful or harmful? Anyone else have experience with this as a student with limited social skills?
@NJFabFour Do some mock interviews with him, I thought they helped so much when I was preparing for my first college interview. Also, again make a list of activities of what he does and enjoys, and just have him explain them to you, and ask him a couple questions to get the ball rolling. I found that once I was able to explain them out loud to someone else, I was able to do it over and over again at the interviews. Look online for common interview questions too, they usually will have tips on how to answer them.
Most importantly, have him relax! An interview is not an interrogation, it’s a conversation. It’s totally okay to pause and think through a question before answering. Also, from my experience, the interviewers are generally very pleasant and personable, and they want you to do well and they genuinely want to know your interests.
Thank you silmaril! Great advice! I’m hoping that if he can select a couple of talking points of interest, like you mentioned, that he can feel more comfortable and open up a little bit!
FWIW, my very taciturn son did fine at his interviews. I sat in on the tail end of one (invited by the interviewer when they weren’t quite done and I came to pick him up.) I was quite surprised at how animated he managed to be. Most interviewers are quite experienced at drawing out shy kids.
Taciturn, I like that and plan to steal it! My not very social son did interviews, too, and we found by accident that if he has one interesting thing to talk about, it makes the interviews flow with no help from him. In his case, all the interviewers so far have been very interested in his trip to japan.
And you can google a list of common interview questions. The most common one is “Tell me about yourself.” If he has his ‘elevator speech’ (the one minute summary of what he’s about and interested in) at hand, the rest will flow if the interviewer is reasonably experienced. The goal of most interviewers is to put the interviewee at ease, draw them out, and help them make a good impression. There are very few ‘gotcha’ interviews for college admissions (what kind of person tries to make a high school student feel inadequate, right?)
One of my favorite experiences as a parent is when other parents tell me something along the lines of ‘Your S has such nice manners…’ (or other examples of unsuspected social élan) and I confess I always find myself wondering if they got the right kid. Turns out that our children do know how to ‘put on the company manners’ even if they don’t do it for us. I’d be willing to bet that yours will rise to the occasion too, especially with some practice interviewing.
But it doesn’t hurt to give them a review of company manners, including a good handshake. 
thanks for the comments