"Bad" interviewer

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>Just a few days ago I had my Brown alumni interview. Let me preface my query here by saying that this was the <em>worst</em> interview I’ve had, and quite possibly one of the most unpleasant series of exchanges that I’ve had with another human being. </p>

<p>I understand that each interviewer has his or her own approach to the process, and this particular interviewer opted for the “strictly delineated list of questions” approach. Although I am rather partial to the more freewheeling style, I have no qualms about this one. As far as I have been informed, and in my experiences for other prospective schools of mine, the alumni interview process is a casual and relatively stress-free event. Now, I won’t dwell on specifics here, but this was the type of individual who, given the opportunity, would put a fire under a prospective student’s feet, and he did. He was elderly, as many interviewers tend to be, and (as far as I’m concerned) very mildly accomplished and what I got from him was that, because of this, he treated himself as an authority on everything. Nothing I said happened to be good enough. He had a critique for virtually everything that came out of my mouth in responding to his questions, and he eventually used my commentary against me. To make a long story short, he’s simply a disparaging person who shouldn’t (in my eyes) be put in this position. I was actually turned off to the idea of Brown after meeting him, and I had to exercise restraint to not get up and walk away ten minutes into the interview (or just give him what for right then and there; I am still a testosterone-fueled 17 year-old after all). Had I know what this was going to be like, I would have declined the interview in a heartbeat.</p>

<p>Furthermore, two graduates of my school who are currently at Brown had this same gentleman for their interviews and both of them had a similar assessment. In fact, it seems like their interviews were even rougher from what I can gather. The reason I’m posting all of this is the following:</p>

<p>While, ideally, I would like to see Brown take away this man’s interviewing privileges, I realize I do not have nearly enough power to influence that sort of decision from Brown. What I would like some input on, however, is if there’s a way I can at least alert Brown of him, my account, and the accounts of my school’s graduates now at Brown. And by this I do not mean disparage him point-blank as he did to me, I’m talking about the opportunity to clearly articulate how it was that the interview went, how it made me feel, and why I don’t think he’s suited to conduct interviews on behalf of Brown.</p>

<p>I really appreciate any input. And if anyone has handled a situation similar to mine, even better.</p>

<p>Thanks,
Jared</p>

2

<p>I’m reasonably sure there is a way, and fireandrain would likely know what that process is. I seem to recall her mentioning that in a thread in the past.</p>

3

<p>Jared, I’m sorry you had a bad interview. I do sympathize with you. Two years ago my daughter also had her worse interview with an alumni from Brown. He was also an older man, with a list of questions, he challenged everything she said, and cut her off by asking another question. DD was taken back when his first question was if she had been accepted early to another college, she honestly said yes but did not tell which college (Georgetown).
DD was kind of prepared for the interview. Two days before she overheard two students from her school talking about it. One of the students had just came back from the interview and was telling how it went to another student who was going to be interviewed the next day. And the facts were very similar to what you and my DD experienced. Even though the alumni asked her the same questions he did to the first student, DD found him rough and impatient.
DD was waitlisted at Brown and accepted at Yale. So luck is on your side :)</p>

4

<p>I would contact the admissions office, tell them you thought your interviewer was oddly hostile, and ask for a second interview. If the facts are as you state, the odds are that you will not be the first candidate to make such an appeal.</p>

5

<p>Thanks Uroogla, lillymom, and cottonmather.</p>

<p>Lillymom, the interviewer asked me a question that took me aback just as your daughter’s interviewer did; he asked me for my SAT scores. This was toward the end of the interview, however. He advanced this with “I’m sure you’ve scored very well on your exams.” After which he looked at me for a few seconds and sustained it with “Are you going to tell me what you got on your tests?”</p>

<p>He told me that he did actually enjoy talking to me, and that he plans on giving me a “very good” review (and he went on to say that good reviews were rare from him, so I do feel like he was genuine about this - I could be wrong). I’m not terribly concerned about a second interview because of this. I feel like his impression of me was quite positive, but this doesn’t change my opinion of him. I still maintain that he should not be in the position of conducting interviews on Brown’s behalf, and I do plan on appropriately contacting Brown’s admissions office about it.</p>

<p>[by the way, I remember having this man as a substitute for a few classes in middle school, and he was hellfire and brimstone then too]</p>

6

<p>This person should NOT be an interviewer for Brown. We are most definitely NOT supposed to ask SAT scores, for example.</p>

<p>But if no one reports him, he will continue to interview and make other students miserable. </p>

<p>So, please call or email Alumni Relations and report him. Here is the contact info: </p>

<p>Brown Alumni Schools Committees (BASC)
<a href=“mailto:BASC@brown.edu”>BASC@brown.edu</a>
401–863–3306</p>

<p>And while you are at it, ask those other students to call the BASC office and report him, too. If several people complain about him, the chance that he is taken off the volunteer list increases.</p>

<p>I’m sorry you had such a horrible interview.</p>

7

<p>What’s wrong with asking for SAT scores? My Harvard interviewer asked me today what my SAT scores were. I told him and also gave him my resume which has my SAT scores listed.</p>

8

<p>Wow.</p>

<p>I have an interview with Brown (the interviewer is also old) next Wednesday. I think I just **** my pants right now after reading this.</p>

9

<p>Well, if this reassures any of the people who have interviews for Brown coming up, I had mine tonight and I really liked my interviewer. He was very kind, conversational, relaxed, and informative. Maybe you’ll have an interviewer like mine!</p>

10

<p>Stonesn-</p>

<p>I wouldn’t be terribly concerned. I’ve had three other interviews (being MIT, Columbia, and Yale), each conducted by an elderly gentleman and I couldn’t ask for a better pool of interviewers (I would guess 65+ for each; the MIT interviewer had his “Brass Rat” MIT class ring on and it said “50” on it, meaning class of 1950. Assuming that was his undergrad, that would mean he’s 83-84, give or take). Each one was extremely well-qualified for the task, not in any way condescending, they all genuinely understood what it was that I was saying- and I think that’s a testament to how each one ran the interview. In each case it ended up becoming a (very engaging) conversation, and the questions that were asked were tailored specifically to my interests and the direction in which I want to head.</p>

<p>So, in short what I’m trying to say here is: don’t worry about it.</p>

11

<p>My son had a really pompous and unpleasant Yale interview and he was devastated. But he was deferred so we are still alive and kicking! But he sent in his application to Brown back in November and still hasnt been contacted for an interview. He has already been contacted by Harvard and Princeton. Should he reach out to Brown or just sit tight? Of all of the Ivies I personally believe that Brown is the best fit for him. But Yale reached out to him so many times and they had Early Action not early decision so he applied there first. Any advice?</p>

12

<p>Sounds like the interviewer was totally inappropriate. This is not the way Brown wants to interact with potential students and not the intent behind the interview process.</p>

<p>I would definitely report the experience.</p>

<p>twoboys2-- Brown’s distributed interview assignment process means that there are any number of steps where your son’s name could have simply gotten stuck. Not everyone gets an interview (although we try), but it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t get one. Interviewers are volunteers and there aren’t always enough local alumni to reach every student. Sometime the regional head of the interviewing process is slow to assign students to interviewers. Sometimes they don’t have enough interviewers. Sometimes interviewers are slow to contact all of the people they are assigned. Sometimes they can’t get to everyone and the regional head has no one else to assign them to, etc.</p>

<p>I’ve had interviews assigned as late as Feb 1 (with a deadline of 1 week). There are also something like 10-20% (I think closer to 20%) of students who just don’t match up with an alumni interviewer so they aren’t interviewed. It’s not a reflection of your likelihood for success in the application process.</p>

13

<p>modeestmelody- thank you so much for your reply. We live in Westchester county in New York where you can barely turn a corner without hitting an Ivy alum. But we also have a glut of applicants as well. My son has his Harvard interview today and Princeton in the next week I think. But I might just break down and call Brown next week if we don’t hear. I know the interview is the least important. But he really does want the opportunity to be able let Brown know, beyond the application, how much he thinks that it is a perfect fit</p>

14

<p>No problem-- I’m originally from Nassau County which had to be made into 2 or 3 areas by the alumni committee. So even though there were plenty of alums sometimes the number of applicants can truly be overwhelming. Good luck to your son!</p>

15

<p>jjf: sorry to hear of your experience. It would strike me that Brown probably knows about this person although it’s perplexing why he continues to be assigned students due to his gruff nature. First and foremost, he’s supposed to be serving Brown (not the student) by providing an objective look at the student but also acting as Brown’s ambassador. He seems rather set in his ways and if I were the local coordinator, I’d drop him from the volunteer pool.</p>

<p>Good luck to you.</p>

16

<p>twoboys: Wait until Feb. 1 to call. And you shouldn’t call – your son should. And just because there are tons of Brown alumni in your area doesn’t mean it’s easy to arrange interviews. For one reason, there are also tons of applicants from your area. And most alumni don’t volunteer. I’ve done long-distance phone interviews for applicants who live in suburbs of major Northeastern cities where you’d think there would be no problem finding alumni interviewers – but there is.</p>

<p>Calexico: There is absolutely no reason for interviewers to know SAT scores. Why do I need that information to assess the student’s interest in Brown, his commitment to ECs, etc.? The point of the interview is to bring new information, or a different perspective, to the admissions process. The admissions office already knows the SATs and GPA, so I certainly don’t need to tell them.</p>

17

<p>I know they don’t need the information, but I don’t find it offensive that they ask.</p>

18

<p>You shouldn’t find it offensive. SOme schools provide this for interviewers. Maybe not Brown but it’s a case by case basis. Would you be angry if a Harvard interviewer said: “I know your SATs are XXXX…”</p>

19

<p>Calexico, the point is not that it’s offensive, but rather that Brown disallows it.</p>

20

<p>Brown explicitly disallows this and for good reason. The interviewer should not be clouded by what they believe to be your academic prowess- that’s not for them to assess. Interviewers are supposed to be looking for other qualities. You don’t want an interviewer to be clouded by some other knowledge out of context so that they are less likely to accurately see who you are as a person.</p>