@lyonshall Why don’t you just ask him what his major was when you meet with him? Then you don’t need to mention that you Googled him.
@lyonshall In my opinion, there’s no harm in doing a little bit of research on your interviewer. I don’t think it would hurt to directly mention it.
I agree
I agree…speaking only for myself. But it would not be correct for me to project my feelings onto strangers. Therefore I don’t have a clue how lyonshall’s interviewer might react.
You can roll the dice by mentioning it. Or you can take control of the situation with no risk by following the advice of lax1997, I think.
Either method yields the desired result: talking about the subject matter of the major.
One method has zero risk of offending the interviewer, the other method has at least a slight risk of offending the interviewer.
If a person is truly Brown material, he/she can draw their own map for navigating this situation from the relevant considerations.
I would play it safe and ask during the interview what he majored in, and take it from there. Some people are really creeped out that they have been researched online. Even my initial reaction is to recoil a bit – I know it’s not logical, but there it is.
@fireandrain Hi, so I’m going to have my Brown interview before and frankly I never had an interview in my life before. Because my interviewer lives very far from me, it’s going to be via Skype and that makes me very nervous. I’m a good conversationalist, very well rounded in my education (know at least something about everything). But I’ve never Skype-ed someone before, much less for an interview.
I read all your posts since 2010 and they’re super helpful! Do you have any tips specifically pertaining to online interviews?
Also, should I ask specific questions about my major? Since I applied to an alt major as well, should I talk about that as well? Or will it take away from my 1st choice major? (Chem and eng,somewhat different.)
Thanks in advance for a speedy reply.
I would find a quiet room to Skype and make sure there’s nothing noticeable behind you. No one looks good looking down at a camera, so try to have the camera at eye level or above.
You can ask questions about both chemistry and engineering, although it’s possible the interviewer might not know a lot about either one. There will be no adverse judgments about you if you are inquisitive about both subjects.
@fireandrain I am an international student and I will have interview soon… I’m nervous because I can’t talk in English well as I haven’t had any practice, while my grammar is ok… I am afraid that the interviewer will not understand my accent or that I will stammer and think of the right words… Should I tell the interviewer about my language barrier and ask her to talk slowly or is it inappropriate?
ilovelcohen: I apologize in advance for sounding so harsh. Brown students, faculty and professors all speak English fluently. If you get into a US college, you can’t go up to the professor and ask him to “talk slowly” just so you can understand. If your English is as poor as you are suggesting, are you sure you want to go to an American university? I don’t have any advice for your interview.
Perhaps I’ve exaggerated a little, because I can talk fluently and my TOEFL and SAT scores meet Brown’s requirements. I am just worried that as a shy and inarticulate person I will get too nervous and will not be able to talk fluently and freely. Have you had such international students in your experience, and can the interviewer be a little more condescending or is it just completely awful?
I’ve never interviewed an international student, or a student who doesn’t speak English fluently. I’ve interviewed students who are shy and not very articulate, and I’ve indicated that in my write-up. There are a lot of questions about “fit” on this forum – in my opinion, a student who is shy and inarticulate may not “fit” at Brown. To succeed and flourish in Brown’s open curriculum, you need to be aggressive and forthright and outspoken – you need to advocate effectively for your education.
I suggest you practice. Find someone who speaks English and do a pretend interview.
I have zero insight in how Brown accepts international students. I have no idea what level of English they are looking for. Perhaps more recent alums and current students can comment on how well international students speak English and how important that is.
Your last sentence, by the way, makes no sense – it is not correct English. Yes I understand what you are saying, but it is not worded correctly.
My alumni interview went poorly… I was extremely awkward, and was only asked “Why Brown?” and “Do you have any questions?” In the under ten minutes my interview lasted, I wasn’t able to convey anything about myself, and couldn’t acquire any additional information on the school (I personally felt as though my interviewer answered my awkwardness, not my questions). My application is extremely strong, but so is everyone else’s (it is Brown University), and I’m worried this bad interview will be the factor that breaks my application. How much impact will this have?
As we’ve said numerous times on this thread, no student is accepted or denied on the basis of their interview. A bad interview will not turn an acceptance into a denial.
Was this a face-to-face interview? That only lasted 10 minutes? I’ve had some weak interviews, but I’ve always stretched them out to at least 30 minutes. If the interviewer scheduled 10 minutes for this, then that’s a problem with the interviewer. As I’ve said time and time again on this forum, Brown needs to know about alums who do a poor job interviewing. I hope that you report this interviewer to Alumni Relations.
OTOH, you need to learn how to be less awkward in interviews – you’ll have many interviews in your lifetime.
Report an alumni interviewer who is volunteering their time? I agree not to short change an applicant but if they are a weak interviewee maybe the alumni wanted to move along to their next one. When you complete 50 interviews per year this becomes the norm, unfortunately.
You’re new here. I’ve been on this Brown forum for years and have heard numerous horror stories about alums who are condescending, mean, dismissive of students – who spend an hour of the interview talking about themselves or criticizing the school, who never ask a single question to the student. So yes, I absolutely endorse applicants reporting interviewers who aren’t doing their job.
50 interviews/year is too much, in my opinion. A 10 minute interview is not long enough to adequately answer the four questions Brown asks of interviewers.
SonicFan didn’t give enough info for me to decide who was in the wrong. For example, was 10 minutes scheduled, or did the interviewer end the interview abruptly?
Me being new has nothing to do with my opinion. I have held the Area Chair position of a region for 8 years and interviewed many years before that I believe I have the “experience” to know when an interview should run in the 10-15 minute range. The interviewer being mean and condescending is a whole other topic, and agree should be reported. But simply reporting an alumni for the simple reason of time is just flat out wrong.
I value the hard work my volunteers put in so losing someone because an interview went shorter than someone expected it would totally disrupt the number of applicants who actually get an interview. Lastly, when you are the Area Chair your job is to clean up the remnants. Evidently, I have no choice in the matter or I lose my position. Hope this clarifies my post.
I am glad you starting posting, and I am grateful for your opinion. I think the Brown forum could always use new perspectives.
No one should pull rank here based on longevity or anything else, I think
I’ve been area chair, too. And I’ve been doing interviews for 30+ years. And there has not been a single time that I’ve felt “this kid only deserves 15 minutes.”
The poster said: “In the under ten minutes my interview lasted, I wasn’t able to convey anything about myself, and couldn’t acquire any additional information on the school.” I cannot believe that admissions or alumni relations would agree that this describes an adequate interview.
This may have already been answered @fireandrain , but what are the 4 main questions that interviewers are told to ask applicants?
We are not told to ask anything. In fact, my understanding is specifically that we should not directly ask applicants the 4 questions Brown asks us about the applicants.