Brown interview FAQ and answers

<p>No, nibbles. We don’t see your transcript, SATs, or recs either.</p>

<p>I don’t ask any of those questions in that document tambourine links to in post 279.</p>

<p>Thank you very much!!!</p>

<p>Make sure that in your profile your contact information is correct. Sometimes students list their contact e-mail as one that has a spam blocker that prevents e-mail from unknown sources (your interview contact person’s e-mail address!) or from e-mail that is copied to more than one person (an interviewer may send the same request for interview set up to 2-3 students at once). Both of these scenarios might prevent your interviewer from getting hold of you!</p>

<p>Today was the big interview! I hear it was a wonderful experience and couldn’t have gone more perfectly. I’d like to thank all the alumni that post to this thread to help make our seniors better prepared to go after their dreams. I wish I could thank the gentleman who gave our senior the feeling that they were having a conversation and not an interview. Regardless of the outcome, it was worth the effort.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the wonderful advice and information everybody! Made me feel a bit more confident about my interview today. I’m still on an adrenaline high - the lady I met with was so nice and we had a wonderful conversation about her own academic career, my high school (a charter school - bit of a hot topic in my neck of the woods so I’m thanking my lucky stars she’s for 'em), my future plans… And it really felt like a conversation, not just an interrogation or something. Come what may this has taught me a lot. :)</p>

<p>^That’s what good interviews feel like. I love when I feel like an interview with an applicant went that way, and it shows in the interview report. Congrats!</p>

<p>fireandrain is right those are the questions they are trying to cover… the hardest was definitely “what do you think you can bring to brown?” that is the one that got me. Also be prepared with a lot of things about you that are not in the application. More will come out in the interview than you think, so when the interviewer asks you specifically, “What about you is not in the application that you would like to say,” you will have spares that you didn’t say yet</p>

<p>Is it bad if I wore golf shorts?
Pants are just so uncomfortable for me. ):</p>

<p>Bignerd16:</p>

<p>Depends on where the interview is and what the weather’s like. If you’re in a coffee shop or somewhere casual, then it may be appropriate. If you’re somewhere more formal, than absolutely not.</p>

<p>My interview is going to be at Starbucks. It’s going to be sunny.
Would shorts be appropriate then?</p>

<p>How and when are we notified of an interview for Brown?</p>

<p>I submitted my app on 12/31 and haven’t gotten an interview notification yet. Should I be worried?</p>

<p>Kappa: You should not be worried. Read the very first entry in this thread, and all your questions will be answered.</p>

<p>bignerd: I assume you live in the south or someplace where it is warm? If the shorts are clean, pressed and fit well, and you wear a nice collared shirt, you should be OK. However, I should warn you that if you get into Brown, you are going to have to wear pants on a regular basis. It’s just too cold in the winter for shorts.</p>

<p>I have received an email regarding an interview, i’m very excited and nervous, I have a unique piercing (a bridge) on my face, would this be something I should remove for the interview? I don’t feel like Brown would care, but I want to be sure. Opinions?</p>

<p>For the record, there was at least one guy at Brown with me who didn’t wear pants all four years.</p>

<p>bignerd: What kind of person is your interview with?</p>

<p>OK, mgcsinc, I stand corrected. Did he wear shorts, or was he into kilts or skirts?</p>

<p>Nina: That’s a tough one. If you look at the discussion in the parents cafe about piercings and tattoos, you’ll learn that many adults really don’t like them. But you decided to get the piercing, and I suppose you should ask yourself why you did it if you are going to have to remove it for interviews. There are some interviewers who probably don’t care, while others would be turned off by it.</p>

<p>I’m from France, and the piercing concept is really less “taboo” over there, issues like this don’t really come up. In the USA though i’ve noticed it is a pretty huge issue, the only reason i’m skeptical about removing it for the interview is that I would have 2 small marks right on the front of my face, so that might look odd, or maybe it’d just look like I had bumps I don’t know. I wish it wasn’t an issue.
Guess I shouldn’t take the risk.</p>

<p>mgcsinc: she’s an “Adjunct Professor, Legal Studies” from a community college.</p>

<p>@bignerd:
legal studies, even though a prof, community college, would be a flag to me to not chance it with the shorts (I think even in SoFL and Cal that no prof ppl in the courts wear shorts, and can be real sticklers on “decorum”) so unless you’ll be so uncomfortable that it will distract you or the interviewer, I would stick with regular pants (even “dressy jeans” would be better, but soft kahkis would likely be more comfortable) I am presuming you do own a pair of pants?</p>

<p>@nina: If you have removed the piercing safely in the past, I would recommend you do it for the interview. Unless you know the person is likely to be comfortable with it, they are going to be focusing on that and not you, esp since it is a bridge and not a more usual piercing. A little cover makeup might help with the “holes” being less noticeable. If on the other hand you are applying into a concentration where the interviewer might sort of expect you to be “a bit out there” ie art or something and you have an idea there is a chance your interviewer may be okay with the piercing (age, what they do) then maybe it is a conversation starter? (ie your decision, worry about the interview etc.) It is part of who you are (at this point in your life) and so you have to make those decisions! Good luck with your interview and I’ll be curious to hear how it goes!</p>