<p>So I had my interview yesterday, and it went pretty well according to me. I mean we were going strong for an hour [which passed by really quick!] and then his next interview showed up, so he had to say goodbye ='[</p>
<p>No matter how much i tried to put aside the question of my racial background, afterall, it came down to it. Half way through the interview, he asked me "where are you from?". Its pretty obvious I am an immigrant. Anyways, so we just talked about my culture and how it affects me for the second half on interview.</p>
<p>This culture background thing sure seems pretty important. Now my question to you guys is: Will it prove to be the "hook" for me? How much will it affect my admissions, if at all because I sure seem to be diverse (lol).</p>
<p>Just for info:
-I am a sikh (wear a turban everyday, never shaved/ cut any sort of hair)
-Moved to US 5 years ago.
-Have about 2100 SAT, 3.97GP, 4.82 QPA, awesome EC's
-Wrote commonapp essay about how turban defines my personality.</p>
<p>You asked this same question on the Brown forum – did you have a Brown or a Upenn interview? </p>
<p>You felt uncomfortable with your ethnicity being brought up but you clearly placed it in front of UPenn admissions. Why the conflict? Why the condemnation of your interview???</p>
<p>Well that was for my interview for Brown. But I didnt know how many people would reply so i posted it on UPenn as well because in my UPenn interview, the same exact thing happened but I didnt take it that seriously back then. </p>
<p>For the second part of your response, well I wrote college essays about ethnicity because that showed I was diverse and it was a big part of my personality. But for the interview, I wanted it to be more about me and what I have done in my life, not necessarily where I come from or what my parents/siblings do. And it was okay if he just asked me about them, but for both my UPenn interview (Taken Jan 5th) and Brown Interview (taken day before yesterday), nearly half (or perhaps more than half) of the time was spent asking me about my culture in India and food and why my parents came/what they do/ what my siblings do etc etc. You know what I am saying? I felt that the focus was deviating away from me. I hope you understand the dissonance.</p>
<p>to me, it sounds like a strength. interviewer was probably curious (in a good sense) and wanted to learn more. i really like the turban essay idea…</p>