BAD Interview Experience

Hi everyone,

So, today I had my interview for a top 10 school.

This was not my first interview. I was so extremely disappointed and shocked at some of the things that came out of my interviewer’s mouth.

First of all, he told he wanted to go to school to get drunk and chase girls.

Then, he continued to boast about himself for 80% of the time. Including, some F*** words here and there.

He mocked other students for wearing a suit to his interview and one for bringing his mother.

He then asked me how young my brother was, and he is two. So, he joked about how in some parts of town… some people would think he is my child. I laughed it off.

I then offered him my resume and he sharply rejected it, which I can understand.

When the interview was finished, he just said “alright” and proceeded to throw away his drink and walk out to his car without a formal goodbye and shake hand. I had to say bye when he was at his car.

I was so disappointed at the level of social inadequacy he had.

I don’t know how to react? HELP.

I would highly recommend you talk to Admissions at that college. That is very unbecoming behavior for a liason of a top ten school, and should be reported as such. Perhaps ask for another interviewer??

Wow! That almost sounds like a “What would you do?” episode! I would definitely report that to someone, in a delicate way.

Wow. Report him to the school right away!

I would definitely call and report him. That’s inappropriate on so many levels.

  1. who would want HIM to write their interview report?
  2. You don’t want him to be inflicted on any poor future applicants.

You definitely should report him. Even though alumni interviews don’t have a huge pull on the process in general, it still doesn’t help to endure an interview like that. By reporting him to the college, you are saving so many kids from having a bad experience like you did. I’m sorry you had to undergo that!

Should I call in anonymously? Except, I don’t know if they would be able to give me another interview?

I don’t think it matters whether you call in anonymously or not. They’re not going to be like “Yeah Joe, that kid you just interviewed from ____ reported you.” That would be unprofessional on their part.

I believe the university would truly want this information – no school should tolerate an individual like this as their representative – and would appreciate your bringing it to their attention.

I called them and they said that the letter was pretty favorable… and they gave me the option to perhaps get another interview? What should I do?

When you mean the letter, do you mean his report? That’s funny. Although, technically, you didn’t do anything out of line. You handled things in stride.

It’s up to you. Do you really want another interview? If you feel that you would like another alumni to provide his experience and you would like some more questions answered or you just want a do-over, then do it. Otherwise, it’s probably not necessary.

In terms of your standing, you’re fine - if it would make you feel better to schedule another, do so by all means. But you definitely did that school a favour - as an alumnus he is going out representing their image. If I were in charge I certainly wouldn’t want someone like that going around interviewing prospective students.

Put yourself in the shoes of the Admissions Committee.

An applicant called.
He didn’t like his interviewer.
Claims the interviewer acted…socially inadequate.
You’ve got the interview form and it seems fine.

Your office sent a file of applicants off to the Alumni Association.
Do you order them to immediately “fire” whatever interviewer it was?
Demand they “interview” the interviewer"?
Make him report to your office for refresher training?
Tell the Alumni association they need to train their alums better?
“Blackball” the interviewer?

??

On the other hand, if this interviewee complains and so do some others, then they might know they have a problem.
As far as the resume goes, some interviews use resumes and some are not supposed to.

I would write something like

"Admissions Counselor:

I am very interested in College X and I had signed up for an alumni interviewer. College X is known for its academics, inclusivity, and community. (or whatever) That is why my interview with was disconcerting. I thought I would let you know in case this is not how you want your college represented… Some of what he said was below:

He told he wanted to go to school to get drunk and chase girls.

He continued to boast about himself for 80% of the time. Including, some F*** words,

He mocked other students for wearing a suit to his interview and one for bringing his mother.

He then asked me how young my brother was, and he is two. So, he joked about how in some parts of town… some people would think he is my child. I laughed it off.

I then offered him my resume and he sharply rejected it, which I can understand.

When the interview was finished, he just said “alright” and proceeded to throw away his drink and walk out to his car without a formal goodbye and shake hand. I had to say bye when he was at his car.

I was so disappointed with this interview. I don’t feel like I had a chance to learn more about College X and don’t think he was a true representative of College X. Would it be possible for me to talk to anyone else?

Back to work, you guys. You have way too much time on your hands.

I would not ask for another interview. Although it wasn’t good it wasn’t a disaster. And I would have probably waited until admissions cycle was over to let them know about this one. Fortunately ones like these don’t happen all that often and I do think they would prefer to know. But I think it is not the thing to do to ask for another. If you want to find out more about the college there are other ways to do it than from an alum, some who haven’t been there for a very long time.