Has anyone had there’s yet? What’s it like? I know it’s between 1/2-1hr, but how can you possibly talk for that long? Also, are the questions hard? Could you give me an example of a possible question? I would really appreciate it if someone could answer all/some of those questions. Thanks
<p>Oh,dear! If you don't think you can carry on an articulate conversation with an adult for an hour about the things that most concern you at this stage in your life, perhaps you are not ready for college! :-)</p>
<p>Seriously - I was an Ivy interviewer for many years. I did NOT want students to give me "yes or no" answers, so I asked leading questions about their specific interests (by "leading question" I meant one that would draw out the student to do all the talking) - so I could see just what his passion or interest was, how he articulated it, whether he actually DID something and had something to say, or just wrote down an EC to look good on the application, etc. I asked WHY he had chosen my particular school, and I expected a really good answer: not that it was a prestigious school, or had great academics - instead, I wanted to see if he'd done his research and wanted this school for a specific reason (i.e., he had read the research of some professors, or visited them, etc., or knew that the school had a unique program in a specific area of interest, etc.). I wanted to see if he asked questions that were answered on the website or viewbook - if so, I knew he didn't give a d--n about the interview or his application. I was specifically instructed by my Ivy to especially seek out what this student could contribute TO the school, not just what he could GET.</p>
<p>And that's just a start. Although it is possible that you MIGHT get an bad interviewer - it has been known to happen - who just wants to talk about himself, or thinks its cool to ask bizarre questions just to see how you reply!</p>
<p>I do alumni interviews for my alma mater.</p>
<p>I schedule the chats at our local coffeehouse, a neutral place where the students feel comfortable (and are not bothered by my two hairy, high-pitched Jack Russell Terriers).</p>
<p>Questions I ask, in no particular order: How did you find out about this school? Why did you apply to this school?</p>
<p>Tell me a little about your high school. Who is your favorite teacher and why? Which class do you like the most - and least? What are your favorite ECs and why? Do you plan to continue these interests/activities in college? How do you handle the challenges of high school life? If you could change one thing about your high school, what would it be?</p>
<p>What do you do in the summer? What was the last good book you read, outside of the classroom? Is there anything you'd like me to communicate to the admissions department about you that you were not able to include on your application? (Recent awards, etc.)</p>
<p>I generally interview five to eight students every year, and every interview is different. I do not stick to a script - it's more of a conversation, so it all depends on the student. I do not see the student's GPA or test scores, so I try to focus more on the potential fit of the student with the college.</p>
<p>It's good to remember an alumni interview is <em>your</em> chance to find out more about the school, too - but please avoid questions that are already answered on the website or prospectus! (In other words, don't ask me what the business major is like when the college doesn't offer one!)</p>
<p>Hope this helps, and good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks guys! It was very helpful.</p>
<p>Damn, if only I'd read this post before </p>
<p>I just had an interview with an alumni from WUSTL today, via the telephone (as international freshwoman). She was really lovely and nice, and tried hard to make it as casual as possible. I think I kinda blew it though, as in I-didn't-impress-her-very-much.</p>
<p>She asked me what I was into (as in extracurricular activities). I told her I wasn't really into anything outside school but I hope to find something I really like at the university...(why couldn't I have said I like going to dances and performances and will start learning next year, or that I am temporarily off my karate class but will start as soon as my big exams are finished!) She asked me what I liked most about myself and I said humour (oh my god!) I told her (too truthfully) that there are people who are way smarter than me but I like my stupid optimism and funniness that gets me through... Not sharp at all!</p>
<p>Bah! If I knew what they were gonna ask me I could've been more prepared... Dang...</p>
<p>i'm having an interview on friday and i'm frantic! it's not an alumni interview, it's an admissions officers coming to my country to interview me. so that makes me even more nervous. one question for all the interviewers:do you expect really really intelligent answers? like those very philosophical ones? i mean, it would quite hard to think of those kind of answers right off the top of your head.
please help! it's my first college interview and i only got the date today! also, they haven't seen my application yet. or so i assume... i mean i only mailed it about a week ago and i live in singapore.
thanks a lot!</p>
<p>madfox and vanillaice:</p>
<p>Please <em>do not</em> fret over these interviews! Madfox, it sounds like you had a great conversation. Believe me, your ability to talk about things honestly (and under pressure) with an adult you've never met before will go a long way. </p>
<p>I do not look for a student to impress me with his/her ability to discuss Nietzsche at great lengths (although if this is your passion, I'm game to give it a go). What I do look for is a student who can talk about what's meaningful to him/her; in the end, I want to know if this student be a great addition to the college community, or if the "fit" just isn't there.</p>
<p>And it's good to remember it's not a one-way interview: This is your opportunity to find out more about the college. Why did the interviewer choose this particular college? What major did he/she select and why? Was there a teacher who profoundly influenced him/her? It's also OK to ask about non-classroom issues, such as social/cultural opportunities on the weekends. (Probably <em>not</em> a good idea to ask which frat hosted the best keggers, though....)</p>
<p>Hope this helps, and good luck!</p>
<p>Keep in mind that often the objective of the interview is to sell you on the school. Have a question or two in mind, but NOT ones that can be answered by scanning the viewbook or website.</p>
<p>From what I have seen, interviews vary tremendously from individual to individual. Some are highly structured (What was the last book you read? Why did you like it or not like it?), others tend to random reminiscences of the alum's life on campus mixed with some current selling points (Did you know Professor Freebles won a Nobel last year?).</p>
<p>Don't sweat the interview too much - it's typically a minor factor in the admissions process.</p>
<p>I agree with the above about not sweating the interview too much. As other Ivy interviewers, including Voronwe, have pointed out, generally the admissions do not count as much as other factors. However, he (or she - whichever Voronwe is) has posted on the same experience I had: while my positive interviews never could be correlated with who got in or who didn't, not one single person I gave a low rating to ever got in. Coincidence? I think not.</p>
<p>My suggestion is to go to the interview prepared to talk openly and honestly about yourself and what you feel you have to add to the college.</p>
<p>It can help to bring a resume, art portfolio (if you're an artist) or anthing that might help the interviewer learn about you and know what things to talk about. My alma mater only gives alumni interviewers basic info on applicants: name, address, e-mail, phone number, high school, race (if available), proposed concentration (if the applicant selected one) and whether the applicant's parents attended the college. </p>
<p>I am an alumna interviewer for an Ivy, and my college asks me to, when interviewing applicants, think of whether I would have liked to have had that kind of person as a college roommate.</p>
<p>This doesn't mean that I'm looking for a person who is just like me. I am, though, looking for a person who seems to truly care about some interests, and to be able to have a conversation, and to be someone who has more of a reason for going to my college than simply hoping to boost their own eventual income or prestige.</p>
<p>What I happen to have enjoyed best about my college experience was being influenced by other students who had passionate interests in areas that I had no previous clue about. I also appreciated being around others who were genuinely interested in service, something that most people at my alma mater do for fun and continue to do after they graduate.</p>
<p>I first started inteviewing applicants about 15 years ago, and most students did fine in the interview. In virtually all cases, I felt that there were good reasons to admit the applicants to the college. Because my college accepts few applicants, few got in, however. </p>
<p>I can think of only two applicants whose interviews were so abominable that I gave them strong negative recommendations. Neither got in. One burst into tears during the interview when I asked her an ordinary question like, "How did you decide to apply here?" The applicant's other responses were very brief and the applicant was clearly painfully uncomfortable throughout the interview. My impression -- which also was supported by scores that were about 300 points below the college's average, and grades and a curriculum that were similarly weak -- was that the applicant would not be able to handle the intense environment at my alma mater.</p>
<p>I liked the applicant a great deal, and ended up mentoring her for several years, including helping her gain admission to another college which was a supportive, relatively low stress environment where she rose to leadership positions. I am happy to say that she's now in grad school at a top 25 university.</p>
<p>The other applicant who stood out as having a very poor interview was one who came to my house a half hour early for his morning interview, and knocked on my door while I was still in my bathrobe. Throughout the interview, the applicant's nose ran, and the applicant never wiped their nose nor asked for a tissue. The applicant had high grades, relatively high scores (though neither was unusual for applicants to my college), but had a serious lack of social skills and ECs. </p>
<p>I think that most students can avoid having those kind of bad interviews. It's important to keep in mind, too, that with the most selective colleges, the interview is not much of a factor. Most applicants have good interviews. Even having an excellent interview with a strong recommendation from the alum will not guarantee admission. It really isn't a life or death situation. Be yourself, have fun, make sure you have a safety school that you would happily go to!</p>
<p>there are 2 types of interviews -- alumni and adcoms. An interview with an adcom is important, and is critical if the school requires it. Adcoms are trained in interviewing, do it a lot, and are judging you relative to the other applicants.</p>
<p>On the other hand alumni interviews are much less important in the process and are discounted by the adcoms. It is not easy to become a skilled interviewer, and the biggest problem (from the college's point of view) is quality control. How can they know that a rating from interviewer A means the same as the identical rating from B? Maybe A views herself as a gatekeeper determined to allow only the best students into the alma mater, while B is a cheerleader who wants to get local students in. Quite a few studies show the difficulties of reliable interviewing in career settings, and colleges are well aware of these problems. And since each alum typically only talks to a few applicants each year they seldom have exposure to the true breadth of those applying, making it difficult to judge where they lie in the applicant pool.</p>
<p>So with all these problems why do they have alumni interviews? As a trivial reason, people expect them and want to be able to "plead their case" in person so many colleges have them just because of demand from applicants and their parents. More importantly, while supportive recommendations aren't very influential in admissions, negative feedback is going to get a lot of scrutiny. Having someone actually talk to the applicant may reveal things that don't show up in the application or letters of rec. You'd be surprised how many students tell an interviewer they are only applying because they were pressured to do so, reveal they wouldn't be a good fit for the school (telling a Dartmouth interviewer they find small towns boring, for example), etc.</p>
<p>But the most important reason to have alumni interviews at all but maybe the very top schools is for a sales job. To sell to you!! There are plenty of alternatives to almost any school, and the best applicants are in short supply. Colleges know that some personal contact can help tip an applicant their way, and personal contact is more persuasive than just brochures and web sites. So one of the reasons to inquire about your interests is to later explain why their college just happens to be what you're looking for.</p>
<p>Bottom line, the alumni interview is more aimed at convincing you that X is right for you than in determing whether you belong at X, although their ears will be attuned to any negatives you may reveal.</p>
<p>As for tips to make the process easier and less stressful, first do your research and get to know something about the school. You're bound to be asked some variant of "why do you want to attend X?" so you should be able to answer that question, showing you've given it some thought. I can guarantee that every interviewer will at some point ask if you have any questions and this is no idle time-filler; they want to see if you have looked into the school and can ask some questions that aren't easily answered online or in the viewbook. And to generally ease the process, go to the library and get a book on job interviewing. They will expose you to and help you answer the broad range of questions you may hear such as "tell me about your strengths", "what accomplishment are you most proud of", "tell me about a setback you have faced and what you did about it", and the plethora of other boilerplate interview questions that are out there. These questions may be difficult if the first time you hear them is in an interview, but if you read a book on interviewing you'll be prepared to give cogent replies.</p>
<p>It's not true that colleges totally discount alumni inteviews. In some cases, the adcoms actually do know the alumni interviewers (some of whom also are very well trained in interviewing -- even have jobs in which they interview or teach interviewing!) and have a lot of faith in the interviewers' perceptions.</p>
<p>I know that I have gotten follow-up questions from adcoms in response to my interview reports, so I know that they are taking mine into consideration. In the case of my alma mater, I know that the interview does not have an enormous amount of weight. I have, though, seen evidence that if a credible alum gives a report that provides evidence that a student is a weak applicant, that student is unlikely to be accepted.</p>
<p>The types of things that I think could cause students to be rejected would be if, for instance, the interview revealed evidence that the student was unethical (It is amazing how much alumni interviewers might know about organizations that students may be misrepresenting on their applications) or was so very socially inept as to not be likely to fit into the college environment.</p>
<p>wow that was some heavy reading. thanks all! i know i'm quite ignorant but as i don't live in the States...what's alma mater?
my interview will be conducted by the associate director of international admissions. i suppose that's quite important to my application, isn't it? oh no, i'm making myself more nervous... breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out</p>
<p>I agree with Northstarmom. Local alumni know more about the area high schools and issues, information that can be useful in assessing the applicants.</p>
<p>My alma mater (literally, "fostering mother" in Latin, refers to one's college or university) <em>does</em> review the alumni interviews during the reading process. No, it's not the most important piece of paper in the folder, but is considered. At the very least, having an alumni interview indicates the student's interest in the school.</p>
<p>vanillaice, please don't get yourself worked up about this - the adcom <em>will not</em> shine a hot light in your face while grilling you on quantum physics! If you can carry a conversation, you can have a good interview. It may help to prepare before you meet with the admissions rep. Research the school's website and really think about why you want to go there. What is the school looking for in its student body, and what can you offer that will enhance it? Ask a parent, teacher, or other adult to hold a mock interview so you can practice.</p>
<p>Hope this helps, and good luck!</p>
<p>whew...i did it! i guess it went ok, i mean i had things to say mostly. but i don't know. he kept asking me if i had questions for him and i didn't have a lot. i looked through the website already quite thoroughly and they say you can't ask questions that's already covered on the website or information booklet. so i didn't know what to ask! gosh, it was really tiring to hold eye contact with him throughout the hour-long interview(long or short?) and i was having a bit of a headache. also, i went one hour early and just sat in the extremely intimidating hotel lobby for an hour! sigh...next time i'll know better than to go too early. overall, i think i didn't do too bad. thanks for all the advice!</p>
<p>my MIT alumni interview lasted for an hour and a half. If you find something you both have in common, the interview quickly becomes a conversation that both of you can enjoy.</p>
<p>Vanillaice,
I don't understand what you meant when you said "it was really tiring to hold eye contact with him throughout the hour-long interview." Did you sit there staring into his eyes the whole time?</p>
<p>Making eye contact means that when you talk to a person, you glance into their eyes a lot of times. It means you don't, for instance, stare fixedly into your lap because you are too shy to ever meet someone else's eyes. It does not mean, however, that you stare straight into their eyes all of the time because that would seem peculiar and would make the other person very uncomfortable.</p>
<p>I know that different cultures have different ideas about eye contact. In some cultures, looking into another person's eyes is considered rude, particularly if the person is older or is in an authority position over you. In US culture, though, people who don't look into others' eyes are considered rude or sneaky.</p>
<p>vanillaice - you seemed really uptight about your interview. First of all, there was NO REASON to get there an hour early and psych yourself out. I arrived at my interview about 5 min ahead of scheduled time and waited about 10 min for my EC (MIT interviewer) to show up, what in the world did you DO for an HOUR in a hotel lobby?? A tad psychotic-sounding (apologize if I mis-interpreted).</p>
<p>But most importantly, you really ABSOLUTELY should not research like crazy about how you're supposed to behave at interviews. Interviews are YOUR CHANCE to present yourself as who you are. Sure, it sounds a bit abstract, but basically it means to do and say what makes you comfortable -- because trust me, it's obvious when you're forcing eye-contact, etc. Obviously, when I say "be yourself", you have to be within the bounds of respectful and courteous behavior.</p>
<p>You take advice too literally I believe. You hear people say that you shouldn't ask questions answered in the viewbook and you memorize the viewbook and limit yourself to it. I didn't even read all of the viewbook of my top choice college. Ask them questions about the students, the teachers, their lives, their friends. It's just a conversation after all and there's no need to sound like you're reciting a cue card.</p>
<p>to vanillaice: by familiarizing yourself with the website, viewbook, etc. you should be able to generate more questions, and also convey to the interviewer that you have interest in the school. Those who have few questions or ask questions that are already answered give the impression they haven't given much consideration to the school and haven't bothered learning much about it.</p>
<p>However I'm not sure why you had difficulty forming questions based on what you read. Did nothing strike your interest and make you want to learn more about it?</p>
<p>If I was an intl applicant I could easily come up with dozens of questions just based on that status, ones I doubt are in the material you reviewed. Here's just a few: are there local alums or students here that I can talk to? Where do intl students stay on holidays or breaks if they can't go home? Are there clubs or groups on campus for intl students like me? Are there special ways of selecting intl students or are they in the same pool as US applicants?</p>
<p>The reason the interviewer kept asking for your questions is that she/he wants to gauge your interest in the school. Since few people are mindreaders, they can only infer your interest by what you do and say. Students who have plenty of questions show that they have spent some time thinking about what it would be like to be a student at the school and for such a big decision (where to spend the 4 college years) want to find out as much as they can before they decide. It also shows a mental sophistication in that you can go beyond material that is fed to you and take the next step of deciding what else you want to learn, a trait valued in academia.</p>
<p>I used your advice and did very well in my interview. Thank you all very much.</p>