<p>Of all of the interviews you've had, which interview do you think was your "best," and which was your "worst?"</p>
<p>My best was definitely Vassar, which was really comfortable, fun, and full of laughs.</p>
<p>My worst was Georgetown. Alumnus was really conceited and didn't let me talk about myself. He kept cutting me off to talk about the celebrities that he's sold houses to, his trip to Barcelona, etc.</p>
<p>^wow sorry about that Georgetown one.</p>
<p>I think Princeton so far was the best as it was a conversation, but Yale was the worst as it was my first interview and I didn't have a clue on what to say...</p>
<p>G-town was the best for me lol. We had so many connections even though we had completely different majors.</p>
<p>Worst is a tie with Cornell/Brown (of course my least-likely schools). They weren't particularly bad, but I felt like I didn't stand out and wasn't too articulate.</p>
<p>I had really great interviews at Bates, Bryn Mawr, and Smith. </p>
<p>My Holy Cross interview was pretty mediocre. My interviewer seemed very quiet and shy.</p>
<p>Best was Yale, easily.</p>
<p>Worst was Harvard, easily.</p>
<p>I had 7 interviews total.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention Holy Cross too. That went extremely well for me, probably tied with G-town. I had 7 interviews total as well.</p>
<p>My best interview was my alumni interview for WUSTL. I was kind of nervous at first. But after I introduced myself and told a little about myself, the interviewer asked me what interested me about WUSTL, and I mentioned that my uncle went there- turns out that she (my interviewer) and my uncle were friends and were in the same dorm freshman year- that definitely set a good tone for the rest of the interview!</p>
<p>I wouldn't say any of my interviews were "bad", but I was SO nervous for my MIT interview (it was my first interview, and there was a detour, so I was <em>sure</em> I was going to be late) and I didn't really know what to do.</p>
<p>I had 5 interviews for MIT, Harvard, UChicago, Princeton, and Cornell in that order. </p>
<p>MIT was fun because it was my first interview AND her first interview. She was a new EC. Harvard was okay. Nothing horrible happened and it was a pretty good discussion. UChicago was really fun because we just talked about whatever was interesting and the interviewer got really excited about things and he talked more than I did. Princeton was okay, again nothing bad and we just talked about the usual things but it was also a discussion. </p>
<p>Cornell was horrible. I'm glad that was last or I would have been traumatized for the rest. I mean, the interviewer was nice but it was just a list of questions. All the others had been conversations that had least an hour or more. This one was a whole 15 minutes. She just had a laptop with questions on a word document. She asked and typed exactly what I said and moved on to the next question. It was so awkward and uncomfortable especially because some questions were dumb and i didn't really have an answer for.</p>
<p>I'm curious to what you guys discussed that made it a good interview.</p>
<p>I've had 5 and they've all been mediocre... just me talking about my classes, ECs and why I want to go to the college. I'm a pretty boring person.</p>
<p>Best was Brown, worst was Tufts.</p>
<p>My interview for Brown was at the interviewer's house three blocks away from me. His daughters (who happened to answer the door) go to the elementary school that I went to, so we had a solid discussion about that, which was a fantastic way to start off the whole thing. He was also just genuinely friendly and interested in what I had to say.</p>
<p>My Tufts interviewer was slightly standoffish, and he followed up EVERY SINGLE QUESTION he asked me with "And why do you think that is?" I was ready to scream back in his face, "I DON'T KNOW, THAT'S JUST HOW I AM. STOP PSYCHOANALYZING ME."
...I restrained myself.
He also awkwardly asked me about my parents' professions, and he made me feel really pressured when asking me about other schools I applied to. The whole thing was just sort of uncomfortable.</p>
<p>Best were Princeton and Yale, the worst were Pomona and Dartmouth. Unsurprisingly, the order went Pomona, Dartmouth, Yale, Princeton. None of my interviews were truly bad. I just spoke better in some than in others, as did the interviewers.</p>
<p>For Pomona, it wasn't bad, but it was mostly a list of questions. The interviewer was older, which reduced some of the stress, but I was forced to acknowledge "well, this is a broad question" on a couple of them. It wasn't the best. The lady seemed understanding, and it lasted 90 minutes, but it was the least conversational of the four.</p>
<p>Dartmouth I did better conversationally, except I did a terrible job of explaining my book, and describing how I like studying economics. It was in a nice lodge by a fire, so the setting was great. There were two interviewers, which reduced the pressure a bit again. However, I know some of my classmates had the same interviews, and they invariably speak better than me. So I can't help feeling I did a bit weak in comparison.</p>
<p>Yale was held in a law office, so I dressed in a blazer and tie. I had just come from a debate competition anyways, so changing was irrelevant. The interviewers was young, but he talked well, and for a lawyer, was incredibly friendly, approachable and unimposing. Even before we sat down in a conference room, he asked me about the debate competition I had come from, so I explained it, and we discussed the school which had one. This quickly transitioned into discussing Portland itself. He talked about why he had moved their, the history of the urban development, zoning, and other interesting stuff. We did move through a short list of the standard questions, but it was conversational the entire time. He rushed me out after an hour, but I'm pretty certain it was because he had scheduled me in on a Friday, and was busy, rather than the interview sucked. It was significant improvement over the previous two.</p>
<p>Princeton was at our high school, and the interviewer was an old man (class of 1955). The interview went more along the lines of a typical college interview, in terms of questioning, but it was very conversational. He seemed particularly enamored with my book, and stated repeatedly that he hoped I would have a chance to attend Princeton. I ensured he understood it was my first choice, and this was backed up with a very convincing statement on why I wanted to go. He admitted his input held little weight, but said he would do everything possible to get me in - what I assume meant he would give a stellar recommendation. I asked him about other applicants from our area (which is relatively remote and has few Princeton applicants), and he stated there had been none. I thought that would be favorable towards me, since he would have no comparison, but I think on an absolute scale, the interview went very well. When I called him again to ask him another question, we chatted for 10 minutes about Princeton, and again repeated his statement about wanting me to go there. I think I left a favorable impression, which is really the most important thing.</p>
<p>Sorry for the length, but I'm sure someone will find this interesting (or use it to identify me).</p>
<p>Best:
Duke, easily.
The alum for my interview was, by some stroke of luck, a friend of mine (we go to the same church, and we've even worked together in Habitat for Humanity quite a bit), so we both had a great time during the interview, and clicked more or less immediately. Oh, and the interview was pretty productive as well.</p>
<p>Worst:
Stanford, no contest.
The alum was rather conceited, and only wanted to talk about his real estate near San Jose (close to Stanford for those who don't know) b/c I have ties to California. Ugh. Still, I presented myself well, and I'm sure the interview went well for the interviewer, even though I absolutely felt awful afterward.</p>