<p>Rather specific, but still I want to know. </p>
<p>If I arrive before the interviewer, do I wait for him to buy coffee together? </p>
<p>If the interviewer is already there, does he buy coffee with me at same time? </p>
<p>Should I offer to buy his coffee? </p>
<p>Do I need to bring anything to the interview? Resume, ec list, sheet of questions I have? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>ok, so from my personal brown-coffeeshop-interview-experience:</p>
<p>I bought coffee when I arrived, my interviewer was already meeting with someone. I found that to be the least awkward of any possible scenarios.</p>
<p>Im not sure what to do about offering to buy....you might, but it'll probably be refused. I'm not sure if offering to buy is a little 'weird' or not...im bad at this sort of thing.</p>
<p>I brought my resume and a copy of my research abstract. the resume wasn't mentioned, and the abstract was declined ("I'm not a science person anyway"). I also brought a question list, but never really had an oppurtunity to use it...we just sort of talked. Definitely good to know I could come up with stuff to say if i had too though.</p>
<p>also...GOOD LUCK!</p>
<p>It depends on the tone in which you offer.</p>
<p>Personally, I come off as comfortable and confident in those situations (I'm wonderful at faking it, really), so I would offer to buy him/her coffee, no big deal if they say no, and then order myself one. If I were there first, I'd order coffee (well tea) for myself, and when the interviewer came in, I'd stand, introduce myself, and ask if they would like something, adding it was on me.</p>
<p>I just had an interview recently, and I arrived a few mins before the interviewer. I didn't buy coffee when I arrived, I just didn't feel like it. When he arrived he asked me if I wanted anything, I said "no thanks" and he went and bought one for himself. Was there any problem with this? I would think that it's wierd for a high school kid to offer to buy a coffee for an interviewer, the best thing to do seems to be not having coffee at all... it eliminates any awkward discussions about who's paying.</p>
<p>i really don't think it matters at all. Interviews are such a small part of your decision, and whether or not you bought the person coffee or bought yours before or after meeting up with them will matter even less. I would tell you what I did, but all my interviews were at peoples' offices or apartments.</p>
<p>I was told by several family friends who also do those interviews that offering to buy coffee is not really necessary. They are told not to accept it because it could come off as bribery, technically. I'm sure it's OK to ask, but I don't think it's a must or anything. They aren't gonna hold it against you if you don't (what if someone couldn't afford it?) </p>
<p>For my interview, I arrived 5 minutes early on purpose to buy my drink ahead of time, but then I changed my mind and waited for the interviewer, because I assumed she would order some and I could go order with her. This is what I ended up doing and it was not awkward at all, she just said "mind if I buy some coffee" and I said "sure, actually, I wanted to get something for myself". Basically, I winged it and was fine. Good question to ask though, I was freaked out before about the very same thing. I think we are all nervous and making too big a deal out of it!</p>
<p>I had the same situation as 2o_o7. I arrived about 5 minutes early and it turned out that my interviewer was still with another student. That was rather awkward. She saw me and said that I could buy coffee or just hang around and wait. I didn't buy coffee. But yeah, I guess I didn't have to deal with the whole buying coffee situation (which I was wondering about before).<br>
But I agree with Cavalier07, it'd be awkward for a high school kid to buy coffee for the interviewer.</p>
<p>My interviewer had 4 students one after the other, and he bought himself coffee every time :))</p>
<p>That's a whole lot of trips to the bathroom hahaha</p>
<p>Now I don't know if it was to keep him awake because he was so bored, or just for etiquette</p>
<p>For my interviewer, I must've been the 5th consecutive student for her to interview. She looked kind of tired which was the downside of my interview. It was early on a Saturday morning and she was there dressed in comfy sweats. The coffee that she drank was probably to keep her awake. :/</p>
<p>If the guy's already there waiting for me, I should meet him first and then get coffee right?</p>
<p>My interview was so cool: I met her at this lovely little restaurant in the middle of Brussels (Belgium, my family was there for a few years) and when I got there she was eating the most amazing looking salad I've ever seen. It drove me crazy because I was hungry and the interview lasted two hours, during most of which there was this fantastic only-half-eaten salad sitting a foot and a half from my nose. I only got a glass of sparking water (which she paid for). I can't tell you how tempting it was to order a beer (Europe, yay) just to see how she would react - I managed to resist.</p>
<p>um yea, my interview was in a library, between two bookshelves. um.....</p>
<p>LOL</p>
<p>MG I am impressed. I would most certainly have ordered a beer and probably a meal if I were sitting there that long. Heck, I may have ordered the beer just because.</p>
<p>Honestly, the beer on that side of the Atlantic is so much better it makes me want to vomit to taste the **** from here.</p>
<p>lol, yeah, especially in Belgium, where Stella Artrois (US motto is something like 'perfection has it's price') is the cheap stuff.</p>
<p>do they ask political/current events?</p>
<p>I got there early (he called to tell me he would be running late), in a very empty Starbucks.. twiddled my thumbs (I hate being alone in public places, makes me suuuper self-conscious, but I sucked it up big time).</p>
<p>When he finally arrived I stood up, shook his hand, said, "I'm gonna grab something to drink.. do you want anything? My treat." And he said, "Oh, well in that case.." (jokingly) to which I oh-so-wittily replied, "Well, I've gotta treat the guy who's gonna get me into Brown." I then proceeded to order my shaken passionfruit iced tea lemonade, sweetened, and then he got free hot water and we sat down.</p>
<p>And then we had a two-hour conversation about nothingness. To think I was so nervous I was shaking five hours beforehand, hahah.</p>
<p>wth, nothingness?! omg explain please. I want to know the topics of discussion.</p>