My D20 has her first college interview this week and is definitely feeling the jitters. I don’t want to inundate her with a zillion websites each listing 15-20 questions that you must prep before interviews, but would like to help with a super short list of a few questions to give some thought to over the next few days. Any suggestions for the 4-5 mission critical questions? For context, the college is a women’s LAC, likely to be a senior student interviewer.
First off, interviews tend to be very low key, especially if it’s a student or alumni interviewer so tell her to relax and enjoy getting to learn more about the school.
She should be prepared to answer the “why us” question as thoroughly as possible.
Other common questions students are asked -
What is the favorite EC and if it’ll be continued in college?
Favorite HS subject and why?
Really though these meetings are just as much for her to learn about the school so I would also suggest she have questions for the interviewer. Write them down if she thinks she’ll be nervous/forget.
^^ definitely agree with the above. My interviewer for Vandy also asked about my favorite book and movie and why. May seem like a silly or super easy question at first, but if you don’t know why you loved a book you won’t be able to explain it’s impact on you. So I would urge her to just think about the things she loves and why she loves them in case they ask. Best of luck to her! Remind her to have fun and take some deep breaths, these interviewers want you to succeed!
Agree it will probably be low-key and conversational.
Some questions for her to ask:
What do students do on the weekends?
How easy is it to get to X?
How is the food?
What is your favorite campus tradition?
What one thing would you change?
Don’t ask things that can easily be looked up, e.g., most popular major, or does school have X major
I am an alumni interviewer and I view my role is trying to round out the student…what else is there about the student that is not captured in the Common App. I also want to tell them something about our college that would be interesting to them. Sometimes I help them show how they have shown growth and leadership when they didn’t even know it.
If it is a student interviewer I would imagine it is more of a “selling” interview, but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t take it seriously.
I usually ask:
What classes are you taking? What is your favorite class? Who is your favorite teacher and why?
What ECs are you doing? What do you want to continue in college?
Do you consider yourself a leader? What is your leadership style?
Tell me about your family…have your parents gone to college?
Why are you interested in our college?
Definitely she should have some questions for them.
What would you say is unique about ?
Why did you choose ?
What would you say is the typical student?
Do you know whether the school considers the interview evaluative, or just informative? If it’s evaluative, they may ask slightly more probing questions trying to get a sense of how your D thinks. So I agree she should be prepared to answer why about things like her favorite book, movie, class, etc.
But I don’t think she should worry that they’re going to grill her - my D17 did a bunch of interviews (most as a way to demonstrate interest) and with only a couple of exceptions where she didn’t click with the interviewer they were very easy going. The best interview she had was with a wonderfully nutty alum who completely sold her on the school she now attends. 
My son told his Harvard interviewer that MIT was his first choice and the interviewer spent a considerable bit of time telling him why Harvard was so great. Amusingly my kid did not get into MIT, did get into Harvard, but attended up at Carnegie Mellon. As far as I know Harvard’s interview is evaluative even though every Harvard alum I know who does interviews always complains that none of the kids they love get in, but it does show that you can sometimes get props for being honest.
@thermom
Would the school tell you whether the interview is evaluative or informative? How do you find out?
@mathmom
Love your DS’ story!
All three of mine started with “So tell me about yourself” and ended with “Is there anything else you’d like to tell me?”
Still not sure what they’re expecting you to say – I usually talked about my HS, potential major, etc. for the first and said “I can’t think of anything, but I’m sure I’ll remember what it is later!” for the second.
So maybe have something prepared for those two. Since it’s the intro and exit, it can get a bit awkward
@makemesmart Some colleges come right out and say on their web sites whether interviews are evaluative or strictly informational. You can also check a school’s common data set to see whether interviews are important, considered, not considered, etc. Any classification other than “not considered” generally indicates the interview is evaluative - but some schools give it more weight than others. If you’re in doubt, call or email admissions and ask.
Is it a college admission interview? (as OP’s question is for a 2020 hs grad, wondering if it’s for internship or for college admission). Don’t know much about college admission but for internship there is a bit more of evaluative and rest informative. S20 recently attended an internship interview - there were some basic expected questions like: tell me about yourself and why this internship but there are also a bit more involved (its a python coding role - so they asked give examples of projects you did and what type of tool you used to compile and a few more specifics). I was surprised for the level of detail - it’s not a prestigious internship, a local univ program - maybe they had more apps than usual.
So to be ready for the “So tell me about yourself” question
I would look at the "About " page and see how you can tie yourself to that.
For example:
Since its founding in 1871, Smith College has provided women of high ability and promise an education of uncompromising quality. A world-class faculty of scholars are fully engaged in your intellectual development, and an open curriculum encourages you to explore many fields of knowledge. Mentors for scholarship, leadership and service help you observe different models of achievement so you can set your own course with conviction and confidence."
So you could talk about your intellectual interests. your leadership and your service and how you are looking forward to learning from others.
@hs2020dad it’s a college admissions interview. Thanks all for the great tips!
“Tell me a fun fact” is something I’ve heard lately.
For benefit of future readers of the thread, here’s the list we printed for her to contemplate in the car on the drive to interview. She said the only question she got that wasn’t on the first list below was “where do you see yourself fitting in academically and socially here?” Wonder what they were looking for with that one? Chance to identify with a specific group, activity, or academic program? Or chance to describe what kind of learner you are?
D20 got to ask #1,3,4 on the second list and student interviewer said something about those being really good questions, FWIW.
Happy to have the first interview in the can!
QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT GET ASKED
- Tell me about yourself
- Why are you interested in [School]?
- What is your favorite class this year in school? Why?
- What activities do you enjoy? Or, what is your favorite extra-curricular activity?
- What do you think you might study in college?
- What have you read recently that you’ve liked?
- What questions do you have for me about [School]?
GOOD QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT SCHOOL
- [If student interviewer] How did you go about choosing classes your first year? Did you get input from advisers?
- How often do you [go into the city] [take classes at other schools]?
- How have you spent your summers? Did the school help you find/pursue/fund internships or projects?
- How would you describe the classroom culture here? Can you tell me about your favorite class so far?
- What one thing would you change about [school] if you could?
My husband has been interviewing for his Ivy alma mater for 10+ years and he always starts with “tell me about yourself” and goes from there into a conversation. He’s really comfortable talking to teenagers, though. He thinks it’s helpful if a student forwards a resume before the interview but that’s not required by any stretch.
Favorite class, what do you like about your ECs, what are your friends like, stuff like that tends to come up. But for him, he’d rather have an organic conversation than hear some prepared statements.
Smith (among others) has a nice, encouraging bit about interviews: https://www.smith.edu/sites/default/files/media/Documents/Admission/interview.pdf I really like it though frankly I disagree with the notion that you can’t bomb an interview. You actually can, if you’re projecting how utterly bored you are, or something that off-putting. Not that any of our DCs would do that! 
In addition to that article, I think you’ve already gotten lots of great advice.
Definitely remind your D that, as @PetraMC and others suggest, most interviewers enjoy doing this and are absolutely dedicated to putting kids at ease. (I do alumni interviewing too, and it’s easy to see that you get the best picture of a candidate who feels comfortable, not challenged.)
It may be too late for this for your D, @Itisatruth, but a piece of good advice H and I received when our oldest was starting all this was to have kids set up an interview with a school that’s not at the tip-top of their list first.
Best of luck to your D!
Thanks @HarrietMWelsch! I recall you gave that same bit of advice on a different thread and it’s very good! Our travel schedule and this college’s willingness to interview juniors dictated that it be first but I think it went just fine all things considered…