<p>I would appreciate parents' advice:
My other interviews typically lasted an hour or a bit longer. UPenn's lasted 20 minutes! Some ten minutes into the interview, she asked me what leadership roles I have initiated, which caught me off guard really. My brain went blank even though there are a few significant leadership roles.. It was just not what I expected to hear, and everything went downhill from there. </p>
<p>Should I email her about my leadership roles even though most are on my app already?</p>
<p>Will this affect my admission? How badly, if so?</p>
<p>I would e-mail the interviewer and tell her you were nervous but would now like to respond to her question. Please don’t feel that bad. Many, many years ago I went on a job interview that I thought went poorly. When the interviewer asked where I was working and what I did, I went blank and blurted out that I did not remember! I ended up getting the job. You just never know.</p>
<p>Relax. Having leadership roles isn’t a requirement for getting into any college. Interviews count very very little towards admissions. You’re not going to get denied just because your interview report said “____ blanked out mid-interview and collapsed”
I would not email your interviewer about such a petty thing. The interview is over and you would just annoy your interviewer.</p>
<p>What can be fatal are things like: “I’m only applying because my parents are making me” or, “I have no interest in college right now- I’d like to travel in Nepal for a year and then teach English” or “my mom is freaking out that I want to join the Navy but to appease her I’m applying to college as well.”</p>
<p>These are things that don’t appear on the application, and the Adcom’s appreciate the alumni interviewer signaling to them that the candidate is not a serious applicant. Your leadership experience appears on your application already (presumably) and so nobody is losing sleep over you having an off day or stumbling a bit on your answers. Relax! the interview is not that important a piece of the puzzle.</p>
<p>I agree with those who say that the interview is incidental. I’ve known too many kids with great interviews, and that feedback came from the interviewer, and those kids did not get accepted. And kids with a mediorcre interview who were accepted happens all of the time too. I’m not saying that it absolutely will have no impact on your admissions chances, but the impact is slight at best, unless you said something truly offensive, got caught in a lie, etc. What happened to you happens a lot.</p>
<p>When you send your thank you note to the interviewer, you can say that you were nervous and blanked out on this question–restate it and answer it. Make the note a nice one with an upbeat tone, get some help with it.</p>
<p>As others have suggested send a note to the interviewer, and thank her for taking the time to talk to you, and use the opportunity to expand on what you said in the interview. The way I would approach the situation is not to “remind” her that you were nervous, nor to assume that she thinks that the interview went badly. You never know. She may have had a bad day.</p>
<p>Recall in the note the questions that she asked, and for one or two of the questions say that you’ve reflected on them after the interview and write down the “result” of your reflection – such as an example of the leadership role that mattered most to you. In your note you can be less formal than in your application, and you can provide anecdotes that expand on what you wrote in the application.</p>
<p>Make sure you add a sentence or two at the end of the note expressing your genuine interest in attending Penn.</p>
<p>Thank you, parents, for such kind, understanding, and insightful advice! As advised, I sent her a brief email on how I was anxious and thanked her for her time. I did not elaborate much on my mistakes. In an hour, she replied to me that I should not worry at all! So, I guess she probably did/would not report negatively, which is what you all said.</p>