Just trying to prepare kid for whatever lies ahead. Thanks in advance for your anecdotes. Did you get in despite tough interview?
Interviewers rarely ask “tough” questions, but more importantly, interviews don’t matter much (unless they’re disastrous–interviewee can’t speak English, smells like whisky, etc.).
Thank you. That’s the impression I had. But would cognac be okay?
Cognac colored belt? Absolutely.
Sometimes colleges will ask you for five words that describe you, and they’re looking for words, not phrases. Some kids will get tripped up here.
The other one that can scorch you is “why do you want to go to X college.” you have to have an actual reason, not just “the campus is pretty” or “I want to go to a liberal arts college.” Have a school-specific, unique reason that is personal to you as to why you want to attend. And definitely make sure you do your research on a school.
On another note, always try to make the interviewer feel good about themselves- i.e; connect with them in some way. At one interview I was interested in Psychology, what my interviewer majored in and wrote her thesis on, so I asked her questions about that and it was definitely fun. At another the interviewer had read a book that I also enjoyed, so I go to discuss it with her. Try to find common ground.
Great advice for connecting with the interviewer and being school-specific.
One that scorched me at Duke was “Why would Duke want you?” I flubbed this question because I was so prepared for why I want to go to Duke, but not so prepared for the question flipped on me.
Anyone had interviews for MIT, Stanford, Rice, CMU, Tufts, Case, USC - would love to hear what those were like and what to prep for!
Simply Google "college interview questions ". It’s not as if we volunteers memorize or use a pre-set list.
I had an interview for USC with an admissions officer off-campus. It was set up in a large hotel conference room area with three other interviews taking place at the same time.
My word of advice is to bring a purse or something to put your resume in (the other interviewees had their resumes and I didn’t which psyched me out! Based on your own interview, you can decide whether to give it to the person interviewing you or not) but she asked for my SAT scores and GPA anyways. It was a chill interview after the stats topic (which aren’t that impressive) and centered around why USC/why this particular program/how did you know you wanted to do ____ / what’d you do last summer questions. 30 minutes long to the dot and asked if I had questions at the end. It’s not that intense, but it isn’t as casual as a Starbucks interview or something.
I felt that I could’ve done better at the end of it, but apparently it all worked out because I was accepted for the class of 2020.
The question “why?” in general. Make sure you fully think out the explanations for why you are interested in XX, want to go to the college, want to do at the college, etc. Otherwise you can sound not too smart.
“Why didn’t you apply ED if you like our school so much?”
Re bringing a resume, my kid did that at the first two interviews, but not after that. She said it was awkward both times when she tried to hand over the resumé and she felt uncomfortable. These interviews both took place at the college. Just something to consider.
My D ended up having nine interviews for very and highly selective colleges. She felt the interviews that went the best were the ones that just evolved into conversations about her interests, etc… The interviews that she felt were not as good were the ones when the interviewer did a lot of talking, which surely isn’t the way it should go. I guess it should have been her job to redirect the conversation in those cases, but she didn’t know how to. Not surprisingly, the two interviews she thought were not the best, she didn’t get into those schools, but they were the hardest schools to get into also.
She thinks one thing she did right was be very honest and not give “yes” answers all the time. Example, on several occasions she was asked about a recent book she read, so it was easy to reference the required summer reading book, which she didn’t care for. When asked about it, she would use it as an opportunity to lightly joke about the teacher’s poor choice of book. She felt it made her seem more “real” to not be super positive about every single thing. She was accepted to 6 of the colleges she interviewed for, so she thinks she did well.
My daughter had interviews for a few selective schools, as well as Pitt (part of a scholarship interview). She was asked by the interviewer at one school “What was your greatest accomplishment?” She gave a very honest answer, which did not include a specific award or accomplishment, but rather something that she learned about herself.
All of her interviews, with the exception of Pitt, were very casual and consisted of a conversation about her HS, family, town, books, etc. The most intimidating interview- by far- was the one she had at Pitt, where she was interviewing for room and board (she already had full tuition). She described the physics professor who conducted the interview as one of the smartest people she had ever met. He asked her about research she conducted in her intended major. She did not conduct research in HS, however she quickly met kids who did. While interviewing at Pitt she came to the realization that their honors program attracts an incredible and highly accomplished group of students. That was one of her first “reality checks.”
What interests you about Harvard College?
Wrong: It is an amazing place with awesome professors.
Right: I really like the idea of the Housing System and I hope to take courses with Tal Ben-Shahar and Steven Pinker.
What can you contribute to Harvard College?
Wrong: I have a high GPA and perfect SAT scores.
Right: I am looking forward to working with my classmates on research opportunities, I want to bring my journalism experience to the Crimson, and I hope to someday help lead the Boxing Club.
Just ordered ACT & SAT Subject test reports to go to 7 colleges applying to. Likely will send to some more in the coming weeks. Thanks everyone who shared what you have done on this. No apps being submitted till at least mid or late September though.
Be prepared in case the interviewer asks,“Do you have any questions for me?” or “Do you have any questions about College X?”